It’s been an interesting couple of days on the Faroe Islands.
Seeing their national day has show how fiercely proud of their Faroese culture, language and life the islanders are.
Whilst they may technically be part of Denmark, you get the distinct feel that this is a separate country.
And that’s been highlighted by some of the language I’ve heard to describe Denmark.
It’s been said in jest, and I get the impression that the chance of an armed uprising to remove the colonial power is not likely to happen, but on lots of occasions I’ve heard the Danish (and more importantly the Danish Navy and Army who have bases on the islands) described as the Occupiers.
One phrase that I think hints at an underlying sadness that the Faroes are still part of Denmark was “When the British left one set of occupiers were replaced with another. We still invite the British back”
The British invaded the Faroe Islands shortly after Denmark had fallen to the Nazi’s to stop the islands falling into their hands and to secure the North Atlantic supply lines. The Faroese, in turn helped to keep the British alive through fishing and running goods to Scotland. The cost in terms of Faroese lives lost was high. Following the end of the war it looked as though the Faroes could become a separate country, but by 1948 all the plans had been watered down to effectively “Home Rule” within Denmark.
Whilst the language is more civil it’s very reminiscent of the issues raised by the Scottish regarding the UK.
I doubt either situation are tenable in the longer term, so perhaps the question should be, which one will happen first – The Faroes gaining their independence, or the dissolution of the UK?
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Small facts of Island Life
According to the tour guide on Tuesday, the Faroes get their fruit delivered on a Monday. Fresh fruit is therefore only really available on a Monday or a Tuesday, except for the Banana’s which are delivered green on the Monday so they ripen up towards the end of the week.
So, no popping to Waitrose on a Thursday for a fresh ugly fruit and two kiwis then!
(The sound of a Londoner, well out of their depth with Island life!)
So, no popping to Waitrose on a Thursday for a fresh ugly fruit and two kiwis then!
(The sound of a Londoner, well out of their depth with Island life!)
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
Feel sorry for the cleaners
I’ve never been particularly sporty, so have never participated in sporting celebrations, which appear to be emptying champagne over yourself, your competitors and anyone else in range.
I’ve always felt that the correct place for Champagne is in a glass and then shortly after down my throat, not all over the floor.
So I’ve never experienced what the aftermath of these celebrations is actually like.
Wandering back through town from the restaurant this evening I wandered past the area where the prizes for the rowing competition had been handed out.
The winners had been given trophies and medals and then had done the customary champagne spraying ritual.
A couple of hours later and the area absolutely stank (and I’ve had to walk through Car Parks in Croydon on a Saturday morning before, to put it on a scale). It was also incredibly sticky.
I’m assuming that they are going to clean it up the same way they prepared the area last night, by getting the fire brigade trucks to blast it with their hoses.
However it was a bit of an eye-opener (or more a nose-opener) and I now can only feel truly sorry for the poor person who has to clean up the podium after a Formula 1 race or other Champagne fuelled celebration.
I’ve always felt that the correct place for Champagne is in a glass and then shortly after down my throat, not all over the floor.
So I’ve never experienced what the aftermath of these celebrations is actually like.
Wandering back through town from the restaurant this evening I wandered past the area where the prizes for the rowing competition had been handed out.
The winners had been given trophies and medals and then had done the customary champagne spraying ritual.
A couple of hours later and the area absolutely stank (and I’ve had to walk through Car Parks in Croydon on a Saturday morning before, to put it on a scale). It was also incredibly sticky.
I’m assuming that they are going to clean it up the same way they prepared the area last night, by getting the fire brigade trucks to blast it with their hoses.
However it was a bit of an eye-opener (or more a nose-opener) and I now can only feel truly sorry for the poor person who has to clean up the podium after a Formula 1 race or other Champagne fuelled celebration.
Góða Ólavsøku
Good St Olaf’s Wake!, today is the eve of Ólavsøka, a national holiday in the Faroes and as with all good eves, it’s when all the boozing and celebrations take place before the serious business of the day proper including religious ceremonies and the opening of the parliament.
The population of the Faroes is around 48,000 people, and it looked as though every single one of them and quite a few more had crowded into Tórshavn today to celebrate.
The streets were filled with people wandering around in national dress (including young kids), and everyone was in a party mood.
I couldn’t help but notice a couple of interesting points:
- I think the Faroese must have a target of smashing the 50,000 mark as the number of babies was amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large number of buggies in the same place at the same time.
- The big sound of the event was the very Faroese Vuvuzela, and the Irn Bru stand appeared to be doing a roaring trade, but apart from those small examples of Globalization the rest of the celebrations were very much Faroese.
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Interesting interpretation of day
The Faroese appear to take a different approach to the concept of a day.
For most people a day lasts for 24 hours. Here in the Faroe’s they appear to have made that up to at least 60 if not more.
Of course, it’s not every day, just on particular day.
Thursday is the Faroese national day – St Olav’s day.
Except today is Tuesday afternoon and the national day celebrations have already started with the town centre completely closed to traffic and bands playing live in the streets.
Then again, perhaps the Faroese have a slightly more mature attitude to dealing with their national day than other people.
The really heavy party is tomorrow night, so the hang-over’s from hell take place during National Day and not on the day afterwards.
Of course, that’s assuming that it doesn’t just turn into a 60 hour drinking marathon, in which case the hangovers won’t strike until Friday.
For most people a day lasts for 24 hours. Here in the Faroe’s they appear to have made that up to at least 60 if not more.
Of course, it’s not every day, just on particular day.
Thursday is the Faroese national day – St Olav’s day.
Except today is Tuesday afternoon and the national day celebrations have already started with the town centre completely closed to traffic and bands playing live in the streets.
Then again, perhaps the Faroese have a slightly more mature attitude to dealing with their national day than other people.
The really heavy party is tomorrow night, so the hang-over’s from hell take place during National Day and not on the day afterwards.
Of course, that’s assuming that it doesn’t just turn into a 60 hour drinking marathon, in which case the hangovers won’t strike until Friday.
Monday, 26 July 2010
Did it shrink in the wash?
It’s pretty wet in the Faroe Islands. So you would expect that some things might shrink a bit in all that water.
I’m slightly concerned that it appears to also be shrinking the planes.
When I checked in at Stansted I was assigned seat 17F a seat on the back row.
The fact that the plane only went back to row 17 already indicated that this wasn’t the largest of aircraft.
We were called forward to the gate 10 minutes early and I was one of the first people to board, which was lucky as I walked down the plane and got the distinct feeling that there was something missing.
What were missing were rows 16 and 17.
They did sort of exist, in so much as there was a 16 A, B, C and a 17 A and C, but no D’s, E’s or F’s for either row.
I checked with the stewardess who suggested I sit in 15F for the moment as the flight was almost full, but they didn’t normally fill those rows.
Thankfully nobody boarded with a boarding card for 15F, but it’s a bit of a concern that between the details being loaded into the system and the plane arriving it had shrunk by two rows.
Of course, there is always the chance that it was just ServiceAir being incompetent...
I’m slightly concerned that it appears to also be shrinking the planes.
When I checked in at Stansted I was assigned seat 17F a seat on the back row.
The fact that the plane only went back to row 17 already indicated that this wasn’t the largest of aircraft.
We were called forward to the gate 10 minutes early and I was one of the first people to board, which was lucky as I walked down the plane and got the distinct feeling that there was something missing.
What were missing were rows 16 and 17.
They did sort of exist, in so much as there was a 16 A, B, C and a 17 A and C, but no D’s, E’s or F’s for either row.
I checked with the stewardess who suggested I sit in 15F for the moment as the flight was almost full, but they didn’t normally fill those rows.
Thankfully nobody boarded with a boarding card for 15F, but it’s a bit of a concern that between the details being loaded into the system and the plane arriving it had shrunk by two rows.
Of course, there is always the chance that it was just ServiceAir being incompetent...
Sunday, 11 July 2010
When Speedy Boarding goes wrong
I’m quite happy to buy speedy boarding when it’s going to be to my advantage, but I’ve learnt quite quickly where to spot when it’s not such a good deal.
If the price at Gatwick is £8 and the price on the way back is £8 then it’s probably fair to assume that it’s an air bridge in both cases. When it is £8 at Gatwick and £5 at Cologne there is a pretty large chance that there is likely to be a bus journey involved.
And this is where the problems arise.
The Speedy Boarders get called forward first and take their seats on the bus. Then the Families with young children and those with special assistance board the bus, then the general boarding starts, onto the first bus, and then onto the second bus behind.
This means that the very last person to walk through the gate (me in this case) squeezes themselves into the bus, jammed up against the now closed doors and the buses set off.
The buses get to the plane and open their doors. First out of the doors and up the steps would be... me, I was right by the doors not jammed in the middle of the bus, in fact the very last people to board are those who have paid for speedy boarding.
Yes, you got a seat on the bus for the 5 minute boarding process and the 90 second drive to the plane, having paid at least £5 for the privilege.
I got the first choice of seats for the 60 minute flight back to the UK having paid nothing, and been able to stay seated at the gate until there were only three people left to go through!
If the price at Gatwick is £8 and the price on the way back is £8 then it’s probably fair to assume that it’s an air bridge in both cases. When it is £8 at Gatwick and £5 at Cologne there is a pretty large chance that there is likely to be a bus journey involved.
And this is where the problems arise.
The Speedy Boarders get called forward first and take their seats on the bus. Then the Families with young children and those with special assistance board the bus, then the general boarding starts, onto the first bus, and then onto the second bus behind.
This means that the very last person to walk through the gate (me in this case) squeezes themselves into the bus, jammed up against the now closed doors and the buses set off.
The buses get to the plane and open their doors. First out of the doors and up the steps would be... me, I was right by the doors not jammed in the middle of the bus, in fact the very last people to board are those who have paid for speedy boarding.
Yes, you got a seat on the bus for the 5 minute boarding process and the 90 second drive to the plane, having paid at least £5 for the privilege.
I got the first choice of seats for the 60 minute flight back to the UK having paid nothing, and been able to stay seated at the gate until there were only three people left to go through!
Get to the gate on time
It was once called being a little odd, why would you want to be standing at the departures gate an hour before the plane is even due to land.
Today, with the low-cost airlines and the scrum of boarding (or Self Loading Freight as some in the airline industry refer to the passengers) there appears to be nothing wrong with running straight from the front of the checkin queue through security and to the gate to be the first to board.
The airlines appear to have everyone so well trained now that you end up with the bizarre scene I witnessed today at Cologne airport.
As the flight was back to the UK, outside of the Schengen zone, you have to pass through a passport check before you leave Germany. This means that the gates for the flights to the UK are the other side of some passport booths and a screen.
Once checkin had opened the first waves of passengers flooded through only to be stopped in their tracks at passport control by the total lack of any border police.
And there they stood, for the next 45 minutes, not bothering to wander through the terminal building, not bothering even to sit in the very pleasant restaurant right by passport control that I had settled myself into.
Then, 30 minutes before we had to be at the gate, a border police officer got into a booth, and within a couple of seconds a 60 person, at least, queue had formed for people to file through, so that they could wander down to the departure gate, where there were no facilities.
I finished my meal and drink and was about the one before last customer to go through, as the police officer who checked my passport appeared to finish his shift as soon as he had seen me through.
Perhaps there might be a happy medium between rushing for the gates and waiting to be final called.
Oh yes, it’s speedy boarding...
Today, with the low-cost airlines and the scrum of boarding (or Self Loading Freight as some in the airline industry refer to the passengers) there appears to be nothing wrong with running straight from the front of the checkin queue through security and to the gate to be the first to board.
The airlines appear to have everyone so well trained now that you end up with the bizarre scene I witnessed today at Cologne airport.
As the flight was back to the UK, outside of the Schengen zone, you have to pass through a passport check before you leave Germany. This means that the gates for the flights to the UK are the other side of some passport booths and a screen.
Once checkin had opened the first waves of passengers flooded through only to be stopped in their tracks at passport control by the total lack of any border police.
And there they stood, for the next 45 minutes, not bothering to wander through the terminal building, not bothering even to sit in the very pleasant restaurant right by passport control that I had settled myself into.
Then, 30 minutes before we had to be at the gate, a border police officer got into a booth, and within a couple of seconds a 60 person, at least, queue had formed for people to file through, so that they could wander down to the departure gate, where there were no facilities.
I finished my meal and drink and was about the one before last customer to go through, as the police officer who checked my passport appeared to finish his shift as soon as he had seen me through.
Perhaps there might be a happy medium between rushing for the gates and waiting to be final called.
Oh yes, it’s speedy boarding...
Saturday, 10 July 2010
There must be a very empty flight somewhere
I’m currently reading a very funny travel book “Ruinair: How to be treated like shite in 15 different countries... and still quite like it” (no prises for guessing which blue, white and yellow, Irish based, low-cost airline is the target).
One thing that keeps coming across is the concept of the “Load factor” that’s the number of seats sold on a flight. Ryanair and easyJet both coming in at the mid 80%’s
Which is odd, as the last few times I have flown easyJet the planes have been almost, if not actually, 100% full.
So who’s on the easyJet flight where there is only one other passenger?
One thing that keeps coming across is the concept of the “Load factor” that’s the number of seats sold on a flight. Ryanair and easyJet both coming in at the mid 80%’s
Which is odd, as the last few times I have flown easyJet the planes have been almost, if not actually, 100% full.
So who’s on the easyJet flight where there is only one other passenger?
Dutch Love
I can’t help but notice that the Germans have suddenly discovered a deep and undying love of everything Dutch.
A lot of the houses are flying Dutch flags next to their German ones.
Orange appears to be the colour of choice.
I can’t work out if it’s a sudden desire to be friendly with their neighbours, or more a reaction to being knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands opponents in the final, Spain.
A lot of the houses are flying Dutch flags next to their German ones.
Orange appears to be the colour of choice.
I can’t work out if it’s a sudden desire to be friendly with their neighbours, or more a reaction to being knocked out of the World Cup by the Netherlands opponents in the final, Spain.
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