The snow cannons stand silently on green slopes. Slopes which are meant for sliding down at break-neck speeds on a pair of wooden slats... slopes which, at this time of the year are supposed to be covered by white, glistening snow.
If, at least, the temperatures were not 10 to 15 degrees above the freezing point, but 0 degrees or lower, the snow cannons could be used to produce this white stuff, and the ski races could be held on a narrow white band amidst otherwise green slopes. But, as it is, these snow cannons are probably the only cannons standing mute.
The polititians, Federal and Provincial are, however, far from standing around quietly. They mouth off any time and about everything. Right now the Socialists are on a rampage about "Rent control" .. as if there were not already enough of this in Austria. Now they want to put a ceiling of 7 Euros per m² on all rents... although nobody has yet mentioned a ceiling on the costs to operate an apartment building. The only saving grace for Austrian owners of apartment buildings is the fact that most rents are net rents and the tenant pays for such things as electricity and heating...
But of course the Minister of Housing clamors for more government housing to be built.
We poor Torontonians know what this means: More instant ghettos doomed for delapitation.
I well remember when our company bid for the management of a group of social housing buildings.
In order to prepare an operating budget, we were allowed to examine those properties. (we bid for over 800 suites)
We started on the roof: There was not a single air handling unit which functioned. One exhaust unit in fact housed a pidgeon nest. so you can imagine how long ago this one had broken down.
We walked down the stairs, floor by floor... handrails loose or missing... graffiti on every floor.
All the way down to the underground garage. Serious damage to the concrete slabs. Down to the sump pump pit. There was a pit, but no sump pump.
This was then and probably still is now, Government operated social housing.
So that's what the Austrian Socialists are heading towards.
It's a slippery slope... More slippery than the snowless ski runs in Schladming.
Bertstravels knows:
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Sunday, November 25, 2012
This is LATE AUTUMN ????
One day after the other: between 10 and 15 degrees, bright sun shine.
I walk around outdoors without a sweater or jacket. Just a long sleeved shirt.
This is ridiculous. It's supposed to be cold and damp and cold again.
I'm supposed to complain about the low temperatures instead of walking around as if it were the middle of May.
The mayor of our town, Bleiburg, invited all the 'Seniors' to a lunch in the Community Center.
There was pork and gravy and dumplings, with a green salad.
I know that one does not look a gift horse in the mouth...
The mayor is a very nice and competent man. Bleiburg could not have a better man in this position.
He is fluently bi-lingual ( German and Slovenian). When he talks, he talks too fast. I speak not a word of Slovenian, but I don't understand his German either when he speaks publicly. When I speak to him on a one to one basis, I have no trouble understanding him....
Well, as I said, one does not look a gifthorse in the mouth: But I have never eaten a worse piece of meat.
The dumpling was watery and tasted like a ...a...a... well, like a watery dumpling.
We went there to show him our respect. It was, however, a big price to pay.
I entered 4 pictures into a competition put on by the "Scientific Organisation of Carinthia."
The Vernissage is this coming Thursday, 29th November.... I got an e-mail inviting me to attend, because it said, I am a prize winner.... It's just a question which prize I won. First or fourtyest ?
Fourty of all the entries have been chosen to be shown in the Museum for Art. I'll keep you posted...
On Friday, the 30th November there is a "Christmas Market" put on in an Estate about an hour's car ride from here. I've been invited to exhibit 11 of my pictures there. They are about 50 x 100 cm in size and are, in fact, 'printed on canvass'... I shall post some pictures of this market...
Tonight, we are driving to Klagenfurt to listen to some Choirs... I would like it if they sang Carinthian Folksongs... but they always want to be modern... and they sing "Old Man River" and things like that..
It just does't fit........
Oh well, what else do you want to know ? You mean that this is more than enough ???
Then let me say: Talk to you later
Bertstravels.
I walk around outdoors without a sweater or jacket. Just a long sleeved shirt.
This is ridiculous. It's supposed to be cold and damp and cold again.
I'm supposed to complain about the low temperatures instead of walking around as if it were the middle of May.
The mayor of our town, Bleiburg, invited all the 'Seniors' to a lunch in the Community Center.
There was pork and gravy and dumplings, with a green salad.
I know that one does not look a gift horse in the mouth...
The mayor is a very nice and competent man. Bleiburg could not have a better man in this position.
He is fluently bi-lingual ( German and Slovenian). When he talks, he talks too fast. I speak not a word of Slovenian, but I don't understand his German either when he speaks publicly. When I speak to him on a one to one basis, I have no trouble understanding him....
Well, as I said, one does not look a gifthorse in the mouth: But I have never eaten a worse piece of meat.
The dumpling was watery and tasted like a ...a...a... well, like a watery dumpling.
We went there to show him our respect. It was, however, a big price to pay.
I entered 4 pictures into a competition put on by the "Scientific Organisation of Carinthia."
The Vernissage is this coming Thursday, 29th November.... I got an e-mail inviting me to attend, because it said, I am a prize winner.... It's just a question which prize I won. First or fourtyest ?
Fourty of all the entries have been chosen to be shown in the Museum for Art. I'll keep you posted...
On Friday, the 30th November there is a "Christmas Market" put on in an Estate about an hour's car ride from here. I've been invited to exhibit 11 of my pictures there. They are about 50 x 100 cm in size and are, in fact, 'printed on canvass'... I shall post some pictures of this market...
Tonight, we are driving to Klagenfurt to listen to some Choirs... I would like it if they sang Carinthian Folksongs... but they always want to be modern... and they sing "Old Man River" and things like that..
It just does't fit........
Oh well, what else do you want to know ? You mean that this is more than enough ???
Then let me say: Talk to you later
Bertstravels.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
The "PENDLERPAUSCHALE"
What ? You don't know what a 'Pendler' is ?
Do you know what a Pendulum is? Ah, now we're getting there. A Pendulum swings back and forth and back and forth...
Therefore, in Austria, 'a pendler' is a person who drives back and forth from his home to his work and back and forth again...
You get the idea? So far, so good.
If my memory serves me correctly, many people who live in Ajax, or in Whitby, or in Barrie, but work in Toronto, go back and forth either by car or, when possible by public transportation.
Nobody thinks about Government paying you an allowance because you drive to work. You either find a job nearer your home, or you find a home nearer your job, or you just drive to work in the morning and home again after the office closes.
Well, that's not the way they do it in Austria:
Here you get a "Pendler Allowance".
You just fill out a rather detailed form, stating how far it is from your home to your work, and wether there is public transportation, and how far you would have to walk from your home to the closest public transportation stop. You may, for instance, live 10km or more from the nearest railway station, or there is no bus running from the railroad to your job etc etc... this entitles you then to take your car and you get paid as follows:
If you can use Public Transit:
20km .... you get 696.00 Euros p.a.
40km .... you get 1,356.00 Euros p.a.
more than 60km .... you get 2,016.00 Euros p.a.
The above is the 'small Pendler Allowance'.
If you have to use your car, because of certain existing conditions
you get much more, right up to 3,672 Euros per year. (large Pendler Allowance)
There are no restrictions as to your annual income, or the distance which you travel.
I live near a lovely lake, the Klopeiner See, on the shores of which are several expensive villas, occupied by people earning, I assume, well in excess of $150,000.00 per year. Are they entitled to charge society for the fact that their office is in Klagenfurt, about, say, 50km from the front door of their home ? Surely not, you say ! Wrong... It matters not how much they earn... it matters not how far away from their jobs they live... they are entitled to either the "small Pendler Allowance" or if they cannot or "cannot be expected" to use public transportation, the "large Pendler Allowance".
Nobody considers the fact that such mollycoddling encourages people not to even try to find work closer to home, or home closer to work.
Also, nobody worries about the fact that the further you drive, thereby polluting the environment more, the more you get paid by this insane regulation.
And it does not seem to anger anybody that even "the rich" get this socialist inspired payment?
Where, on the one hand Austrian politicians scream: "Tax the Rich"
on the other hand they pay them to drive to work.
If this is not "Alice in Wonderland" I don't know what is.
Maybe I should figure out how far Bertstravels travels, I might get paid by this crazy Government.
Bertstravels.
Do you know what a Pendulum is? Ah, now we're getting there. A Pendulum swings back and forth and back and forth...
Therefore, in Austria, 'a pendler' is a person who drives back and forth from his home to his work and back and forth again...
You get the idea? So far, so good.
If my memory serves me correctly, many people who live in Ajax, or in Whitby, or in Barrie, but work in Toronto, go back and forth either by car or, when possible by public transportation.
Nobody thinks about Government paying you an allowance because you drive to work. You either find a job nearer your home, or you find a home nearer your job, or you just drive to work in the morning and home again after the office closes.
Well, that's not the way they do it in Austria:
Here you get a "Pendler Allowance".
You just fill out a rather detailed form, stating how far it is from your home to your work, and wether there is public transportation, and how far you would have to walk from your home to the closest public transportation stop. You may, for instance, live 10km or more from the nearest railway station, or there is no bus running from the railroad to your job etc etc... this entitles you then to take your car and you get paid as follows:
If you can use Public Transit:
20km .... you get 696.00 Euros p.a.
40km .... you get 1,356.00 Euros p.a.
more than 60km .... you get 2,016.00 Euros p.a.
The above is the 'small Pendler Allowance'.
If you have to use your car, because of certain existing conditions
you get much more, right up to 3,672 Euros per year. (large Pendler Allowance)
There are no restrictions as to your annual income, or the distance which you travel.
I live near a lovely lake, the Klopeiner See, on the shores of which are several expensive villas, occupied by people earning, I assume, well in excess of $150,000.00 per year. Are they entitled to charge society for the fact that their office is in Klagenfurt, about, say, 50km from the front door of their home ? Surely not, you say ! Wrong... It matters not how much they earn... it matters not how far away from their jobs they live... they are entitled to either the "small Pendler Allowance" or if they cannot or "cannot be expected" to use public transportation, the "large Pendler Allowance".
Nobody considers the fact that such mollycoddling encourages people not to even try to find work closer to home, or home closer to work.
Also, nobody worries about the fact that the further you drive, thereby polluting the environment more, the more you get paid by this insane regulation.
And it does not seem to anger anybody that even "the rich" get this socialist inspired payment?
Where, on the one hand Austrian politicians scream: "Tax the Rich"
on the other hand they pay them to drive to work.
If this is not "Alice in Wonderland" I don't know what is.
Maybe I should figure out how far Bertstravels travels, I might get paid by this crazy Government.
Bertstravels.
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Recent Prize Winners !
Purple on Green
Bell Ringer
Sunset at Lake of Two Rivers
As Rose is a Rose is a Rose
Thursday, November 15, 2012
MAXIMUM RENT LAW . The Dream of Austria's Socialists
There are about 960,000 apartments in the City of Vienna. Three quarters are rental apartments, while the rest fall into the categories of Condominium or Co-Op suites.
In the center of this wonderful city, rents are higher than on the outskirts, (with some exceptions).So what else is new?
The Vice Mayor of Vienna, Mrs. Maria Vassilakou, has now called for legislation, placing a 'cap' on these rents.
The "Kurier", one of Austria's major Newspapers has listed average rents charged in various parts of Vienna.
In the First District, which is the true down town , featuring St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Opera, the major Concert halls, the 'Musikverein', the Kaerntnerstrasse, one of Europe's finest shopping streets, Museums, Theatres, Art Galleries, and so on, rents are, understandably the highest in Vienna and in Austria.
There, this report states, an average apartment rents for 12.3 Euros per square meter.
If we assume the average apartment to comprise about 75 m² we can extrapolate a monthly average rent of about 922.5 Euros. (about $1,200.00)
Of course there are apartments renting for considerably more. But that's the way it is with averages. There consequently must be other apartments renting for considerably less.
Now, the Vice Mayor suggests a 'rent-cap' of 7.00 Euros per m². This would put a "cap" of 525.00 Euros per month on an apartment in downtown Vienna.
The SPÖ (Socialist Party of Austria) naturally supports this proposition enthusiastically, as does the Labour Union.
The Opposition uses such terms as "Stone-age Communism" and suggests that the good Vice-Mayor really does not have even the most rudimentary understanding of Economics.
I have not seen any supporting statistical evidence, but I believe the claim of some building owners, that at this level, they would be better off just locking the front door of their properties and forget about the Rental Business, immediately converting their properties to the 'Condo-Status'....
What these poor guys don't yet quite understand is that such a Government would quickly prohibit such conversions.
Fortunately, Housing is a provincial affair and this administration has rejected this idea, calling it "a totally unrealizable suggestion".
Does this mean that they might go along with it if it were a "realizable" suggestion? Have they no opposition to this idea on "moral" or "economic" grounds??
Having spent many years in Property Management in the Province of Ontario, I know well the disasterous results of a Socialist Government's "refining" such legislation.
Just remember what Bob Rae (of the New Democratic Party) said to a reporter, when asked how he would change the ratio of Privately owned rental suites (80%) to Government Housing (20%)....
You do not remember ?
Well let me refresh your memory:
He said he would introduce Legislation to make ownership of apartment buildings so onerous and non-profitable, that the Owners and Developers would beg the Government to take their buildings off their hands."
Yes, that's what the Socialists would do, or at least that's what Bob Rae would have done: They would conduct Expropriation without Compensation without even batting an eyelash.
Watch Out, Austria. At first it starts with a "dream suggestion" of a minor official. You never know though, where it ends.
That's the way
Bertstravels sees it.
In the center of this wonderful city, rents are higher than on the outskirts, (with some exceptions).So what else is new?
The Vice Mayor of Vienna, Mrs. Maria Vassilakou, has now called for legislation, placing a 'cap' on these rents.
The "Kurier", one of Austria's major Newspapers has listed average rents charged in various parts of Vienna.
In the First District, which is the true down town , featuring St. Stephen's Cathedral, the Opera, the major Concert halls, the 'Musikverein', the Kaerntnerstrasse, one of Europe's finest shopping streets, Museums, Theatres, Art Galleries, and so on, rents are, understandably the highest in Vienna and in Austria.
There, this report states, an average apartment rents for 12.3 Euros per square meter.
If we assume the average apartment to comprise about 75 m² we can extrapolate a monthly average rent of about 922.5 Euros. (about $1,200.00)
Of course there are apartments renting for considerably more. But that's the way it is with averages. There consequently must be other apartments renting for considerably less.
Now, the Vice Mayor suggests a 'rent-cap' of 7.00 Euros per m². This would put a "cap" of 525.00 Euros per month on an apartment in downtown Vienna.
The SPÖ (Socialist Party of Austria) naturally supports this proposition enthusiastically, as does the Labour Union.
The Opposition uses such terms as "Stone-age Communism" and suggests that the good Vice-Mayor really does not have even the most rudimentary understanding of Economics.
I have not seen any supporting statistical evidence, but I believe the claim of some building owners, that at this level, they would be better off just locking the front door of their properties and forget about the Rental Business, immediately converting their properties to the 'Condo-Status'....
What these poor guys don't yet quite understand is that such a Government would quickly prohibit such conversions.
Fortunately, Housing is a provincial affair and this administration has rejected this idea, calling it "a totally unrealizable suggestion".
Does this mean that they might go along with it if it were a "realizable" suggestion? Have they no opposition to this idea on "moral" or "economic" grounds??
Having spent many years in Property Management in the Province of Ontario, I know well the disasterous results of a Socialist Government's "refining" such legislation.
Just remember what Bob Rae (of the New Democratic Party) said to a reporter, when asked how he would change the ratio of Privately owned rental suites (80%) to Government Housing (20%)....
You do not remember ?
Well let me refresh your memory:
He said he would introduce Legislation to make ownership of apartment buildings so onerous and non-profitable, that the Owners and Developers would beg the Government to take their buildings off their hands."
Yes, that's what the Socialists would do, or at least that's what Bob Rae would have done: They would conduct Expropriation without Compensation without even batting an eyelash.
Watch Out, Austria. At first it starts with a "dream suggestion" of a minor official. You never know though, where it ends.
That's the way
Bertstravels sees it.
Sunday, November 11, 2012
ELECTIONS USA
The elections in the USA are over and Barack Obama was re-elected.
It seems strange to me that, although, if I were an American voter, I would have voted Republican, this time, however, I simply had to go for Obama. Mitt Romney, somehow, did not impress me and the far right stance of his running mate, Ryan, was a bit frightening.
One must consider that the Vice President is but a heart beat from the Presidency.
The difficult times Barack Obama had during his first four year term will not become much easier, since the Republicans in the House of Representatives outnumber the Democrats 233 to 193.
Everything will depend on Obama's ability to convince some Reps of the 'rightness' of his plans and also on some Republicans to show a willingness to compromise their stance for the good of the country.
Then, and only then will it be possible to pass through Congress new and progressive legislation respecting Health and Welfare as well as Education.
I believe that the difficulties will happen in Internal Affairs and not so much on the international stage.
*******************
Let me put the financial situation of the USA and China into some perspective, driven by a rational examination of some numbers and not by an emotional America-bashing as practiced by many Europeans.
The Gross Domestic Product of the USA amounts to 14.447 Trillion US Dollars.
Second ranked Chinas GDP comes in at about 5.739 Trillion US Dollars
The average annual GDP per person in the USA amounts to about US$48,500.00
while the average citizen of China produces approximately US$8,500.00 annualy.
The USA owes a staggering 16 Trillion Dollars to a variety of creditors:
Currently, publicly held debt amounts to 11.411 Trillion US Dollars (about 72% of GDP).
Debt owed on an 'Intergovernmental basis' runs at about 4.850 Trillion , for a combined Total of the above mentioned US$16.261 Trillion.
Only (?!) about 5.3 Trillion Dollars (46% of Public Debt) is owned by foreign investors, with China and Japan leading International creditors with about 1.1 Trillion Dollars each. China therefore holds about 6.7% of the total Debt. Therefore I say to those who claim that "China could buy America tomorrow" : "Do your Math and think before next you utter nonsense.
Clearly, this level of debt is not sustainable for a future fiscal course.
If any country has the capability to extricate itself from such a situation, the United States of America must be considered a likely candidate.
(the above financial information was taken from Wikipedia)
This, in any event, is the considered opinion of
Bertstravels.
Friday, November 9, 2012
Music in Vienna
We spent some time in Vienna...
Three days to be exact. The weather was not particularly great.
In fact it was cloudy and intermittently it rained.
This,however, did not bother us. The first night we went to see and hear the Canadian Superstar Songstress and Pianist Diana Krall. Accompanied by String Bass, Guitar, Violin, drums and an electronic keyboard, she played the piano and sang, as only Diana Krall can. She is truly a superior artist. Her voice is so utterly expressive, that it seems to change in timbre when the mood of the song changes. Her Piano playing is simply superb, ranking her among the finest Jazz pianists of today. The Great Oscar Peterson wrote about her:
"....I admire Diana because her approach has a dignity and truth to it that immediately captures one's musical attention....."
Diana Krall plays with a youthful exhuberance but at the same time with the soulful experience of a seasoned Musician.
Her side men also were of the highest quality.
The concert lasted about 90 minutes. Ninety minutes of sheer enjoyment. I would gladly have sat there listening for another 90.
The next evening, we visited the "Grosse Musikvereinssaal," a magnificent concert hall, where we heard the "Wiener Philharmoniker" (the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra). It is difficult to immagine a more perfect body of sound..
The conductor was a relatively young man from Columbia:
Andres Orozco-Estrada. He brought a seldom heard vigor and speed to the three pieces on the program.
And what a varied program it was:
Luigi Cherubini (1760 -1842) Konzertouvertüre G. Dur
Igor Strawinsky (1882 - 1971) "Concerto en Re"
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) "Symphonie Nr. 4
It is hard to imagine three much more divergent compositions then those three. All were performed at an up- tempo which made even Schubert's "Tragic Symphony" a true joy to hear.
No sooner did we get back home, than we drove to Klagenfurt's Opera and a performance of the Check composer Leo Janacek's "The Clever Little Fox"... a bit weird.... with all the performers running around dressed like different animals... oh well, I shall not bore you with a detailed description of the plot... You can find it yourself... I am sure it's on Google-
Tonight, I'll rest a while with John Irving's "Last Night in Twisted River".
For the next couple of days I shall not travel:
Bertstravels.
Three days to be exact. The weather was not particularly great.
In fact it was cloudy and intermittently it rained.
This,however, did not bother us. The first night we went to see and hear the Canadian Superstar Songstress and Pianist Diana Krall. Accompanied by String Bass, Guitar, Violin, drums and an electronic keyboard, she played the piano and sang, as only Diana Krall can. She is truly a superior artist. Her voice is so utterly expressive, that it seems to change in timbre when the mood of the song changes. Her Piano playing is simply superb, ranking her among the finest Jazz pianists of today. The Great Oscar Peterson wrote about her:
"....I admire Diana because her approach has a dignity and truth to it that immediately captures one's musical attention....."
Diana Krall plays with a youthful exhuberance but at the same time with the soulful experience of a seasoned Musician.
Her side men also were of the highest quality.
The concert lasted about 90 minutes. Ninety minutes of sheer enjoyment. I would gladly have sat there listening for another 90.
The next evening, we visited the "Grosse Musikvereinssaal," a magnificent concert hall, where we heard the "Wiener Philharmoniker" (the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra). It is difficult to immagine a more perfect body of sound..
The conductor was a relatively young man from Columbia:
Andres Orozco-Estrada. He brought a seldom heard vigor and speed to the three pieces on the program.
And what a varied program it was:
Luigi Cherubini (1760 -1842) Konzertouvertüre G. Dur
Igor Strawinsky (1882 - 1971) "Concerto en Re"
Franz Schubert (1797 - 1828) "Symphonie Nr. 4
It is hard to imagine three much more divergent compositions then those three. All were performed at an up- tempo which made even Schubert's "Tragic Symphony" a true joy to hear.
No sooner did we get back home, than we drove to Klagenfurt's Opera and a performance of the Check composer Leo Janacek's "The Clever Little Fox"... a bit weird.... with all the performers running around dressed like different animals... oh well, I shall not bore you with a detailed description of the plot... You can find it yourself... I am sure it's on Google-
Tonight, I'll rest a while with John Irving's "Last Night in Twisted River".
For the next couple of days I shall not travel:
Bertstravels.
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