DO YOU BELIEVE THIS ????

It was on the train from Vienna to Hamburg. Normally about a 12 hour train ride.
This time, though, the train ran late. Due to a construction site, the train had to be re-routed and therefore had lost precious time.
There was great jubilation and several passengers with obvious glee took photographs of  Hamburg's station clock, so they might have a record of this wonderful experience. It is, of course, not every day that a train from Vienna to Hamburg arrives 121 minutes, that is 2 hours and 1 minute, behind schedule. This is true reason to celebrate. Isn't it?
You think these passengers had all gone a bit crazy, maybe due to the pressure and anxiety of coming 2 hours late to an important business meeting, or maybe to their own wedding ?
I mean, how often do you hear about passengers on a train celebrating the fact that they are arriving at their destination late? Two hours late? Two hours and one minute late?
It does seem a bit Kafkaesque, doesn't it?

What then did those passengers celebrate?
Very simple! They celebrated the fact that, due to the delay of their arrival they will be refunded part of the price of the ticket:
If the train is late by one hour or more, each passenger who completes a request-form receives a refund of 25%. Should they be so lucky as to run 2 hours late, they receive a 50%  refund. It matters not if the delay was caused by 'force majeur' such as a flood, or a mud slide or any other natural disaster, out of the control of the railway, or however caused. The refunds are payable upon request. 

The number of travellers who are lucky enough to obtain such refunds climbs from year to year, although the rate of punctuality seems to improve. In the year 2010 there were 10.400 lucky travellers. This number climbed in 2011 to 21,000, 
At the end of 2012 the Austrian Railways paid a cool 358,000 Euros ( about 482,000 Dollars) to its lucky customers. Due to Europe-wide flooding conditions it is expected that this years pay-outs will establish a new record.

Now, it is not as if the Austrian Railways made huge profits in their operations and could well afford this generosity. The fact is, that the ÖBB is writing huge deficits which must be covered out of the Governments General Revenue, the ÖBB being a State-run organisation. This means that if a train runs late, the Austrian Taxpayer finances the penalty.

Sorry... can't talk to you any more... gotta rush to catch my train, hoping that it will NOT arrive on time.

Bertstravels....

One Man's Castle

Once there was a brick layer. He became a builder
and, because he was clever and diligent,
he made a lot of money, which he did not waste on beer.
He had built many mansions for very rich people
and finally he decided, he was going to have
a Mansion, bigger and better than any he had built.
So, about 20km from where I live,
in a very very small community of retired farmers
who live in modest, but pretty homes,
he built his "dream house"
For others it might be a Nightmare, but it was His Dream.

What a shimozzle

Let me briefly again touch on the embarrasing improper and untimely withdrawal of the Austrian contingent of the UN  troops.

Now the Austrian Chancellor claims that there was nothing improper since the situation on the Golan Heights to which they were detached as observers has changed and that therefore the contract is  Null and Void and its conditions need no longer be observed by the parties.
What a cop-out this is. I find it difficult to believe that the political leader of a country can use such a flimsy excuse to cover up the incompetence of his administration.

A contingent of soldiers from the Fidschi Islands will now take the place of the Austrians. Will they also state that due to the dangerous situation they shall not be bound by a contract?

You know for whom I feel sorry? 
I feel sorry for the Austrian soldiers, who I am sure are as good and brave  as those of  any other country. The decision to abandon their position, I suspect, was not a military decision, but a political one.
I am certain that, had they been asked, the Austrians would have stayed and continued to help keeping the peace in this God -forsaken neck of the woods.
The Politicians make the decisions and the Military MUST obey.
It is a crying shame that some Newspaper articles referred to this withdrawal as an act of cowardice.
It was no such thing.
It was an act of political expediency which the Generals and the Privates have to follow.
There is simply no choice if we want to preserve our status of a Democracy.

idle chatter

I could go on and on, writing about the wonderful heat wave we are, or at least I am, enjoying here.
The High temperature has reached the mid thirties, in other words, around 34 to 36 degrees. That's plenty hot, of course, but you won't hear me complaining. I've complained enough during the cold and then rainy weather. Our swimming pool gets a real work out. In and Out and In and Out.... then just lie in the sun until dry and into my studio on ground floor. Anyway, God in France could not live any happier or better...

So let me chat a bit about the withdrawal of the Austrian Contingent of the UNO peace keeping forces, employed on the Golan Heights , to keep the Syrians and the Israelis from engaging in border skirmishes, or real battles, or maybe even another war. Together with a number of other countries, they "held the fort".
During the last few weeks or months, things tended to heat up a bit. The fortified encampment of the "blue helmets", as the UN troops are being called, came under fire and these troops, who essentially have only "observer status" sought refuge in their bunkers. They did, after all, not go there to fight battles with either side of this never ending conflict. It is interesting to observe that on several occasions UN forces had to withdraw for protection to the Israeli forces on the other side of this no-man's land, since they were fired upon by Syrians and/or their allies. At no time was it the other way around: At no time did the blue helmets have to seek protection from the Syrians due to attacks by the Israelis. 
It seems to me that this alone should tell us who are the aggressors in this area.

The Austrian Government, always ready for a good cause helping their respective political campaigns, decided to withdraw its contingent from the Golan Heights and bring them back to Austria.
Both parties, forming some sort of coalition, swiftly agreed to such a withdrawal, since it was quite obviously a vote-getting maneuver.
They almost fell all over each other to show the voters how concerned they were regarding the lives and well being of the Country's armed forces. "Bring our brave soldier's home" was the battle cry of the politicians.

In their haste, they did not bother to read the contract signed by the United Nations and The Government of Austria. This document clearly states that each party may terminate this agreement, but must give 3 months notice of their intention to do so. 
Isn't it just a bit embarrassing to have a contract of such importance and not being aware of its conditions ? How many lawyers does the Department of Defence and the Department of External Affairs have on their pay roll ?  I would hate to guess, since the number would probably be staggering. None of these "learned councillors" considered reading this paper before unilaterally saying, "we're out of here" without due notice.

This politically motivated withdrawal has another victim: The soldiers, who, upon returning home will get only single instead of threefold payment.

Now, I grant you, I know nothing about war fare or the art of soldiering.
But I do know contracts and the importance of reading them and knowing their contents, before taking action which is regulated by this document.

You need somebody to teach you about "Contracts"???
Just call
Bertstravels.

Time goes by.....

It's been six days since last I posted some pictures on this Blog. I suppose the quickest way to loose the few viewers I have is not to post anything for a long time. However, I was so busy working on my Africa Safari shows, that I simply had no time to do much of  anything else. 

So I could not tell you about the horrendous floods Europe is suffering from. In certain areas whole towns had to be evacuated, and many buildings were destroyed by the rushing water. The fire fighters, the armies and thousands upon thousands of voluteers worked day and night, trying to stem the flood with uncountable numbers of sand bags and other contraptions in an effort to keep the water from reaching homes, businesses and factories.

The town in which I grew up, Braunau am Inn, fortunately lies very high and was not inundated. 
Bleiburg, where I now live also is on high ground and was therefore saved from this disaster.
It was, however, almost impossible to go from one place to another, because all low lying streets were completely washed out.

Why were the floods so particularly devastating this time around?
It rained and it rained and it rained some more and just when you thought it had stopped and you could see the occasional blue strip between lowlying clouds, the strip disappeared and it started to rain again...
I think that the biblical rain of 40 days and 40 nights was kid stuff compared to us here.
I almost started to build an Arch. Had my name been Noah, I would have done so.
(does anybody remember Bill Cosby's conversation between God and Noah ??)

Let me tell you something else: My years old hearing aids no longer worked, so I didn't bother to wear them any longer. It was very frustrating. Christin, or anybody else for that matter who wanted to tell me something, had to put up with repeated requests to "say it again".. or " what was that?"... 
To go to a play was totally useless, since I could not understand the spoken word any longer.
Careful examination of my ears revealed that I had "moderate to severe" hearing loss, depending on the frequency and that I could no longer hear or could not differenciate between the letters: P, G, K, T,
and additionally, in a certain range between F,S and H.
Well, that takes care of a lot of letters, making it impossible to understand words and then whole sentences get lost.
I absolutely had to listen to TV with earphones or, although I could hear the actors speak, I understood absolutely nothing. That, of course, reduces watching TV  without ear phones to Soccer and  Snooker....

Enough of this..... Today I received my new In-Ear Hearing Aid- and it is as if a miracle had happened.
I CAN HEAR AGAIN:............... I almost cried....

But crying is something we do not do here, at
Bertstravels.

Had enough of AFRICA ???

Four Vervet Monkeys, framed by the foliage of a
tall tree.

A Saddlebill Stork.

How did the Elephant climb down this
steep embankment?
(probably has a ladder hidden somewhere)

The curved and dangerous looking horns
give this antelope its name: "Sable"

Seven little Maribus
sat upon a tree
if four flew off
there'd be just three.

Daily Life on Safari

There are a number of interesting observations to be made
when viewing this picture:
BUT ONLY IF VIEWED IN THE LARGE FORMAT:
The Solar Panels provided us with enough power
when fed over a transformer into a battery.
This battery in turn kept our refrigerator box
nice and cold, so that we could always enjoy
fresh meat, cool wines and cold G&Ts.

Please observe the positioning of our "mosy-tents":
right adjacent to and almost touching the Cruiser and close
together, so that access to the front could be blocked
with the freezer box. This would enable us to slip into the Cruiser
if we were confronted by a curious Hyena or Lion. In addition
the tents were covered by a non transparent covering
so that we could not be seen from the outside.
This set up was followed in areas of high predator activities.
Let me add, that we never needed these precautions.
No Hyena or Lion ever showed the slightest interest in us.

A rare occasion: When crossing a river, shallow enough
to exclude Crocodile or Hippo activities, we took the
opportunity for a thorough wash or a bath.
A bit of bio degradable soap,
sitting in the clean, running river
gives us a seldom enjoyed chance to get clean.

Refreshing, inside and out.
This picture does not need to be viewed in the large format.

If no shallow river was available,
this "ultra modern" shower had to suffice.
Its operation is self explanatory.

JUST PICTURES - a Vernissage -

It's Satuday, 1st June 2013, and about 40 people,
mostly invited friends, show up at the Vernissage
of 14 of my pictures. At the beginning we show a
16 minutes slide presentation of some of "my best".

Let me say myself, it was a very successful
showing of my hobby.

From a critical, art-savy group of people
I heard some pretty nice things.
That most of them were friends of ours might have had
something to do with it.

 

In any event: It was a fun evening.