The graphics on this this Portaloo delivery truck are priceless.
I caught a glimpse of one of these trucks down on the Peninsula and was too slow to get a photo.
Then, a few days later, I spotted another one, this time closer to home and it was parked.
I had to get a shot.
Normally a photo of a guy, in high vis, sitting on a toilet with his dacks around his ankles, isn’t that funny. But when you make him the driver of a toilet delivery truck, it’s hilarious.
During our recent travels, I found this old Guinness poster in Derry, Southern Ireland.
This one was probably developed in the 1940s or 1950s and could have been illustrated by the famous British artist, John Gilroy.
Unfortunately the available information is a little sketchy.
Around the world Guinness is an exceptionally strong brand and it’s advertising like this that has made it that way.
Arthur Guinness founded the company in St James’s Gate, Dublin, Ireland in 1759. However it wasn’t until 1929 that the Guinness family permitted the beer to be advertised. And that was with the stipulation that “The quality of the advertising was as good as the quality of the beer.”
The result is that Guinness has always differentiated itself from other ‘beers’ in a unique and interesting way.
There are many stouts but only one Guinness.
Lack of staff at service venues was rampant when we left Australia five months ago.
It’s exactly the same in a lot of Great Britain right now.
Most of these ‘Staff Wanted’ signs were taken in Northern Island and Wales.
Surprisingly, the last one was captured at Campernile, our airport hotel in Berlin.
The results of this shortage, especially in Great Britain, are that many places are closed or only offering limited service and hours.
During our recent trip we found ourselves forced to eat dinner between 5:30pm and 6:00pm, as the venues were booked out after that and many were closing at 7:30pm.
They just didn’t have the kitchen or serving staff to stay open later.
This pandemic has many symptoms and they are widespread.
Food delivery vans can be boring, however this one is designed around a great idea.
And it’s selling the product in a very appetising way.
I found this one in Haverfordwest, Wales.
The Christopher Street Day Parade is a well established Pride march, held annually in Berlin.
This year it was on July 23rd.
This poster, that was opposite where we were staying in Berlin, is a celebration of Coke’s support for the gay community.
It incorporates their iconic ‘swoosh’ morphing into an LBGTIQ+ rainbow, as it passes through an empty Coke bottle.
Very clever, understated and also great branding.
Every piece of packaging contains a barcode.
I found this one on a milk carton in Porto, Portugal.
How clever of the designer to use the graphics of the bar code to emphasise the freshness of their milk.
A big healthy cow munching on fresh nutritious grass.
Total, the French multinational petroleum company, has decided to move into the area of sustainable power and rebranded itself as TotalEnergies.
This move to green energy is laudable, however the newly developed name and logo is to my mind, a fiasco.
It’s too complex, too long and not memorable, or even aesthetically pleasing.
The company website goes to great lengths to rationalise the new design. Which is in itself is an indication that it’s not self expiatory.
‘Total’ as a word means ‘complete’ and ‘absolute.’ So why not stay with a perfectly simple name and let the design and the accompanying PR do the work.
After all isn’t a picture worth a thousand words.
This whole project has been over thought and I can see the client’s ‘guiding hand’ being a major factor in this disaster.
Over the years we have been lucky enough to have visited many countries.
We are about to start travelling again and given the crisis in Ukraine, it’s interesting to reflect on how politics can effect travel.
Of course these interruptions are minuscule, compared to the suffering and loss of life that has been inflicted on the people of Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine, or as Vladimir Putin describes it a: ‘special military operation’ has altered the face of Europe. Not since the Second World War has there been such an upheaval of the status quo.
With the current instability in Eastern Europe and the tendency of government policies to demonise people who don’t agree with them, we now find our travel options more limited than ever before.
We have always judged a country by its culture and people, not the politics.
Our travels have taken us to places that, under current circumstances, wouldn’t be possible now.
In 2007 we spent two weeks in Russia.
A country that now regards Australia as hostile. This is a result of the sanctions that have been rightly placed on Putin and his cronies.
Also with war comes the inevitable flood of refugees fleeing the conflict. They usually go to neighbouring countries and that swells the population and puts pressure on the infrastructure.
A good example is the number of Ukrainians escaping to Poland.
Three weeks into the conflict and the population of the Polish capital, Warsaw, had risen by 15%.
After five weeks over 4 million had left the Ukraine – that’s approximately a quarter of the population.
By the time of publishing this blog, that number had risen to over 6 million.
There is even a reverse effect with Russians either unable to leave the country, or not wanting to, due to fears of persecution within Europe.
Those that have managed to escape have taken the train to Finland. That was until the normally neutral Finish government stopped the service and closed its borders with Russia.
Both Finland and Sweden are now looking to join NATO, which might rule those countries out as a destination for Russian tourists.
In 2012 we made a long awaited trip to Egypt.
This was a year after the Egyptian Revolution of 2011 and the fall of the long time president Hosni Mubarak (1981-2011)
After the revolution and the removal of Mubarak, a new president, Mohamed Morsi, was elected by a popular vote. He was then ousted by General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who subsequently became the next head of state in the 2014 presidential election.
The country is still not settled and isn’t recommended for tourism due to fears of terrorist attacks.
Also in 2012, we spent a month in Turkey.
We travelled by car, boats, planes and busses and had a fabulous time.
Talking to many locals, who are always interested to chat to Australians, we discovered that there was some disquiet about their current Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
Since then Erdoğan has taken over as President and Turkey has undergone a radical process of Islamification.
It’s no longer the moderate, secular country that was created by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in 1923.
In 2014 we travelled from east to west across China, starting in Hong Kong.
These days, with the tensions high between Canberra and Beijing, Australians have been warned about the possibility of arbitrary detention for ‘endangering national security’
This same excuse is now being used by a number of governments trying to stop any descent.
After crossing China we travelled trough Central Asia, visiting a number of ‘The Stans’. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan.
Many of these former Soviet states are still loyal to the Kremlin, so currently they would not be pre-disposed to Australian tourists.
Politics isn’t the only thing to put a break on travelling.
Again in 2014, we had a two week break in Tonga, visiting Nuku’alofa and Fafa Island.
The January 15, 2022 volcanic eruption and the subsequent volcanic plume and tsunami has devastated parts of this tranquil Pacific archipelago.
The clean up and rebuilding, since the disaster, would be putting a huge strain on the infrastructure.
Tourism is a vital part of many economies and not travelling there would also be a disaster.
It therefore all comes down to choosing where to go, so you don’t get in the way – or get arrested.
As we fast approach the May 22nd Federal election, the streets are full of political adverting.
Most of it is boring propaganda, however this one caught my attention.
The two word message is both simple and strong, but it’s the placement that got me.
It’s brilliant.
Apparently these posters are all over Melbourne and people have even taken to putting them on their own private rubbish bins.
And they are paying $20 for the privilege.
Breakdown 2022.
January 28th, 20232022 was a year of breakdowns, here they are in order of their demise.
While we were at Sorrento I decided to clean the lenses of my sunglasses.
I was in the front seat of the Subaru at the time and as I was cleaning one the of the lenses popped out of the frame and vanished under the front seat.
I tried to retrieve it but the more I searched the further I pushed the lens beneath the seat.
I even asked the Subaru dealer if they could search for it when I next took it in for a service.
They say they looked but couldn’t find it, however I don’t believe they did and just put it into the ‘Too hard’ basket.
In the end I had to get two replacement lenses, as I was told that there would be an obvious colour difference if I only got one.
Just before we left to go on our trip to Europe, the heater in the Sandringham dishwasher stopped working.
We had no time to replace it and just had to put up with dishes that were washed but never dry.
This was in May and we didn’t get to replace it until October, when we returned.
We had to wait for over a week for it to be installed, with three attempts before they got it right.
Firstly, when the new machine arrived, it was found to be damaged and had to be returned to the warehouse.
Then, when the replacement arrived it was only accompanied by one guy. We needed two, as it had to be moved up two fights of stairs.
Two guys came with the first machine, why there was only one on the second delivery is a mystery.
Finally they sent out a technician and this time he was accompanied by a big burley guy who could have lifted the machine up the stairs on his own.
While we were in Europe we heard, via the people who were staying in our apartment, that the reverse cycle air conditioner had stopped working.
It wasn’t a small job as the main unit, that sits on the roof, needed to be replaced as did all the wall units.
From all accounts it was a bitterly cold winter in Melbourne, so it needed to be fixed quickly.
Fortunately Geoff, our tenant, works in the aircon business and through his contacts was able to get a new machine installed quickly and all at a very good price
While we were travelling with Ev, Steph and Aida in Portugal, Thea became ill.
She lacked energy and struggled to do some of the usual, touristy things. By the time we reached Granada in Spain, for Brianna’s Birthday, she was barely able to climb up a short flight of stairs.
Once we got to Barcelona, the last stop before flying to Rome for the son of a friend’s wedding, we decided that she should see a doctor.
The hotel was great and got us an English speaking doctor within a few hours.
After the doctor’s visit Thea was immediately sent to hospital and there diagnosed with Severe Anaemia. After four days of tests and blood transfusions she was discharged. But not before we had to pay a hefty fee for the hospital’s services.
As a result of this we missed the wedding, which had been originally planned for 2020, postponed to 2021and finally arranged for 2022.
There were associated expenses, that followed Thea’s hospital visit and this all mounted up to quite a lot.
Once we returned home we were then faced with the task of getting the travel insurance company to cough up.
They eventually did, which was a relief.
On our trip though England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales my small Sony RX 100 camera decided to stop working in Northern Ireland. It was a lost cause as I couldn’t take a shot or even get the camera to shut down.
Fortunately the memory card was still readable and I could download the shots that had already been taken.
I was then forced to use my full size Olympus camera with the associated three lenses. Even though it is a relatively small camera, the entire package weighs a bit and I had a sore back for a few days.
Not long after we returned home and settled back into our apartment the washing machine gave up the ghost.
We had to wait two weeks because Miele wouldn’t allow their installer to put our old Bosch dryer, which was still ok, onto their new machine.
Basically they wanted us to buy a new dryer.
We went back to where we purchased the machine and got their installers to do the job.
The actual installation was a nightmare, as the installers weren’t permitted to do anything mechanical, apart form connect the new machine.
They wouldn’t remove the dryer, from on top of the old washing machine, as this would require removing two screws. In the end I unscrewed the dryer and showed them that it was now free from the old washer.
They reluctantly removed the dryer, installed the new machine and put the old dryer back.
Even then there were still issues.
Once they wheeled the old machine down to the garage and started to load it onto their truck they discovered that it still had water in the drum.
They then refused to take it away and suggested that I would need to get the council to remove it.
I then pointed out to them that the machine was standing right in front of a drain, in the garage floor and all they had to do was open the washer’s door and tip the water out.
Some sense prevailed and they finally took it away.
But that wasn’t the end of it.
Once we looked at the installation of the new machine we realised that it had been connected to the hot water tap, not the cold, as it should be.
We had to then get them back again.
I try and do the right thing and back-up my computer on a weekly basis.
I use two drives, just to be sure, which is fortunate as the newest drive, a Western Digital, which was still under warranty, stopped working.
We then had fun getting the money back form Office Works. They wanted the old drive returned, which I wasn’t willing to do, until I had removed all the back-up files.
Not that easy when I couldn’t even see the drive on my Mac.
Fortunately Thea managed briefly to see it on her PC and wiped the disk clean.
Then the Subaru had a flat tyre which couldn’t be repaired and had to be replaced.
And finally, just to end the year, Thea picked up her second dose of Covid and that was after she had already had five vaccinations.
Apart from losing confidence in things mechanical, I have also lost faith in the people who install them.
This has certainly been a year of ups and downs.
The (break)downs are listed above but the ups were most certainly the trip to Europe and catching up with Hayden, Andrea and Brianna in Berlin. As well as the wonderful two weeks we spent with Ev, Steph and Aida in Portugal and then Briana’s birthday celebrations in Granada.
It was very special to see the two cousins Brianna, aged 3 and Aida, 18 months, meet and start a friendship.
There was also all the other travelling we did to Switzerland to see Denis and then the month and a half driving around England, Scotland Ireland (North and South) and Wales.
These adventures will be the subject of further blogs this year – that’s when I actually get around to doing something about them and assuming that nothing breaks down.
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