I tried to post a video on this Blog. Unfortunately it does not seem to work.
The video shows the opening image, but refuses to move.
Sorry, I would have had several good videos.
Bertstravels
Friday, February 13, 2015
Thursday, February 12, 2015
SILVER
Congratulations to Team Canada.
In the Alpine World Championships only the powerful Austrian Team was able to defeat
Team Canada.
With a Silver Medal in the "Nations Cup" the Maple Leaf waves proudly.
Bertstravel
was nervous to the end.
In the Alpine World Championships only the powerful Austrian Team was able to defeat
Team Canada.
With a Silver Medal in the "Nations Cup" the Maple Leaf waves proudly.
Bertstravel
was nervous to the end.
Wednesday, February 11, 2015
The Two Faces of HSBC
This past Monday I wrote to you about the unquestionable, indisputable, astonishing in depth degree of honesty of HSBC.
I told you that it is the second richest bank in all the world with gazillions of Dollars, Euros, Pounds
etc on deposit from untold oodles of depositors.
And, most important, I told you that they admitted "in writing" that they owed me money and that I could have it back simply by calling them or writing them a letter.
This debt is at the very least over 10 years old and must have accumulated substantial interest by now.
I had forgotten that I have a credit balance in my HSBC MasterCard account.
Fortunately, HSBC did not forget and with this unfathomable degree of honesty they offered to re-imburse me.
What do I read in today's Newspaper ?
I cannot believe such an accusation: It is claimed that they assisted thousands of depositors to evade Taxes, which they ( the depositors ) would have had to pay to their own Governments.
Apparently we are talking about BILLIONS of Dollars owed to various European countries.
And, so it is claimed, HSBC set up its modus operandi specifically to the end effect to assist Tax evaders from various countries to cheat their own folk.
We are talking here about simple individuals, corporations, drug dealers, money launderers, crime-syndicates and who knows what other nefarious shady customers.
If you read today's papers, listen to the News casts on radio and television today and surely for the next little while and compare this to HSBC's offer to send me a refund of my credit, you will end up shaking your head in disbelief.
Who is HSBC ? Saint or Sinner ?
The Titan of Integrity, a Saint ?, or the Financial Devil Incarnate ?
Bertstravels
can only shrug his shoulders and/or shake his wise old head.
I told you that it is the second richest bank in all the world with gazillions of Dollars, Euros, Pounds
etc on deposit from untold oodles of depositors.
And, most important, I told you that they admitted "in writing" that they owed me money and that I could have it back simply by calling them or writing them a letter.
This debt is at the very least over 10 years old and must have accumulated substantial interest by now.
I had forgotten that I have a credit balance in my HSBC MasterCard account.
Fortunately, HSBC did not forget and with this unfathomable degree of honesty they offered to re-imburse me.
What do I read in today's Newspaper ?
I cannot believe such an accusation: It is claimed that they assisted thousands of depositors to evade Taxes, which they ( the depositors ) would have had to pay to their own Governments.
Apparently we are talking about BILLIONS of Dollars owed to various European countries.
And, so it is claimed, HSBC set up its modus operandi specifically to the end effect to assist Tax evaders from various countries to cheat their own folk.
We are talking here about simple individuals, corporations, drug dealers, money launderers, crime-syndicates and who knows what other nefarious shady customers.
If you read today's papers, listen to the News casts on radio and television today and surely for the next little while and compare this to HSBC's offer to send me a refund of my credit, you will end up shaking your head in disbelief.
Who is HSBC ? Saint or Sinner ?
The Titan of Integrity, a Saint ?, or the Financial Devil Incarnate ?
Bertstravels
can only shrug his shoulders and/or shake his wise old head.
Monday, February 9, 2015
H S B C
These initials stand for the "Hongkong Shanghai Banking Corporation".
It is the World's second largest Bank, and has in excess of 2.671 Trillion Dollars.
(that's Trillions) on deposit from over 60 million customers.
More than 10 years ago, I was one of those customers and my deposit there formed a part of the total deposits, too tiny to measure or too insignificant to express in numbers.
Yet today I received a letter from their office in Montreal, a letter, opened by me with some trepidation and wildest expectations.
What could it be ?
Did I win the "Least Important Customer" Award ?
Or could it be that they found an error in one of my transactions, which, with compound interest now amounts to a huge sum ?
Which I owe them ?
Or they owe me ?
The envelope carried, in red capital letters this bilingual imprint:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ENCLOSED * RENSEIGNEMENTS IMPORTANTS A L'INTERIEUR
With somewhat shaking hands I opened this ominous looking envelope.
Then I put it down on the top of my desk.
For a few minutes I could not get myself to remove the content (one sheet of paper) from the torn envelope.
I poured myself a glass of good wine. A Chardonnay from the Napa Valley, which I had kept for just such an occasion. I first took a little sip of the wine, then, in one fell swoop I emptied the whole glass.
Then I leaned back in my swivel chair and slowly I withdrew this thrice folded sheet of paper.
With eyes closed, I held it tenderly between thumbs and first fingers of both hands.
I swallowed hard and slowly I began to read:
Dear Egbert H Reitter,
(so far, so good.. they knew my First Name, my middle initial and spelled my name with 2 ts )
This surely was a promising beginning and, as it behoves a British Banking Corporation they came right to the crux, the point, the issue of this entire mega transaction:
... and then the opening sentence, which must be the opening sentence of every letter, ever written by any banker:
"A review of our records show...."
Ha! I caught them at a grammatical error. so, if they want Zillions of Dollars from me, I can prolong the issue ad infinitum, due to such a glaring mistake:
"A revue" is singular... there was evidently just one revue... therefore it should be: "shows"...
with an "s" at the end of "show". ( third person singular )
I breathed a little easier. Any Corporation, even a bank, even the second largest bank in the world, if it can make such a mistake, can be defeated.
I rolled up my shirt sleeves, ready to do battle.
Then I read on and it became evident to me that nobody, but absolutely nobody ( with the possible exception of a Banker ) would believe me: I decided right then and there to photograph this letter and the envelope and post it here as proof of the absolute integrity and honesty of HSBC, the second largest bank in the entire world... with ZigZillions of Dollars on deposit from "a whole bunch of people like you and me" as well as from super large Corporations !
Back to the letter:
A review of our records show(!) that there is a credit balance of $0.01 on your HSBC Master Card account, which has been inactive for some time.
To request a refund, you can contact us by phone at 1-866-406-4722 or write to us at the following address.
HSBC Bank Canada
PO Box 100
Station M
Montreal, Quebec
H1V 3L6
We appreciate your time and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely
Edgar Barbosa.
Head of Credit Cards and Unsecured Lending
HSBC Bank Canada.
Can you imagine ? The world's second largest Bank with untold Zillions of $$$ on deposit, serving 60 Million customers in 6600 branches, all over the world... owes me money.
They do business in the USA, Canada, Mexico, in every country in south America, including Fire Island (?)
in Africa, ( I know that they are present in Kenia, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, because I have seen their offices in these places ) of course in every country in Europe and everywhere in Asia as well as Australia.... did I forget anybody or have I mentioned every nook and cranny in the world ?
This Bank, which is the second largest in the w.....
owes me money ! Sure it's only one miserable Cent, but... they admit that they owe me money...
Anyway, they are everywhere and therefore they cannot escape me.
I've got them cornered.
If they won't pay up in Austria, I will serve them a writ of collection in Zimbabwe when next I go there.... or in Canada, I'll be there all of July...
I shall follow them into the remotest corner of this globe.
You hear ? HSBC !
You cannot escape... you might as well give up and send me the $0.01 by certified cheque....
or deliver it in CASH to Bleiburg in Lower Carinthia... that's right next to a place called Raune in Slovenia.
Bertstravels
is prepared to accept Euros, Can$ or US$... no Rubels please.
It is the World's second largest Bank, and has in excess of 2.671 Trillion Dollars.
(that's Trillions) on deposit from over 60 million customers.
More than 10 years ago, I was one of those customers and my deposit there formed a part of the total deposits, too tiny to measure or too insignificant to express in numbers.
Yet today I received a letter from their office in Montreal, a letter, opened by me with some trepidation and wildest expectations.
What could it be ?
Did I win the "Least Important Customer" Award ?
Or could it be that they found an error in one of my transactions, which, with compound interest now amounts to a huge sum ?
Which I owe them ?
Or they owe me ?
The envelope carried, in red capital letters this bilingual imprint:
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ENCLOSED * RENSEIGNEMENTS IMPORTANTS A L'INTERIEUR
With somewhat shaking hands I opened this ominous looking envelope.
Then I put it down on the top of my desk.
For a few minutes I could not get myself to remove the content (one sheet of paper) from the torn envelope.
I poured myself a glass of good wine. A Chardonnay from the Napa Valley, which I had kept for just such an occasion. I first took a little sip of the wine, then, in one fell swoop I emptied the whole glass.
Then I leaned back in my swivel chair and slowly I withdrew this thrice folded sheet of paper.
With eyes closed, I held it tenderly between thumbs and first fingers of both hands.
I swallowed hard and slowly I began to read:
Dear Egbert H Reitter,
(so far, so good.. they knew my First Name, my middle initial and spelled my name with 2 ts )
This surely was a promising beginning and, as it behoves a British Banking Corporation they came right to the crux, the point, the issue of this entire mega transaction:
... and then the opening sentence, which must be the opening sentence of every letter, ever written by any banker:
"A review of our records show...."
Ha! I caught them at a grammatical error. so, if they want Zillions of Dollars from me, I can prolong the issue ad infinitum, due to such a glaring mistake:
"A revue" is singular... there was evidently just one revue... therefore it should be: "shows"...
with an "s" at the end of "show". ( third person singular )
I breathed a little easier. Any Corporation, even a bank, even the second largest bank in the world, if it can make such a mistake, can be defeated.
I rolled up my shirt sleeves, ready to do battle.
Then I read on and it became evident to me that nobody, but absolutely nobody ( with the possible exception of a Banker ) would believe me: I decided right then and there to photograph this letter and the envelope and post it here as proof of the absolute integrity and honesty of HSBC, the second largest bank in the entire world... with ZigZillions of Dollars on deposit from "a whole bunch of people like you and me" as well as from super large Corporations !
Back to the letter:
A review of our records show(!) that there is a credit balance of $0.01 on your HSBC Master Card account, which has been inactive for some time.
To request a refund, you can contact us by phone at 1-866-406-4722 or write to us at the following address.
HSBC Bank Canada
PO Box 100
Station M
Montreal, Quebec
H1V 3L6
We appreciate your time and hope to hear from you soon.
Sincerely
Edgar Barbosa.
Head of Credit Cards and Unsecured Lending
HSBC Bank Canada.
Can you imagine ? The world's second largest Bank with untold Zillions of $$$ on deposit, serving 60 Million customers in 6600 branches, all over the world... owes me money.
They do business in the USA, Canada, Mexico, in every country in south America, including Fire Island (?)
in Africa, ( I know that they are present in Kenia, Tanzania, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa, because I have seen their offices in these places ) of course in every country in Europe and everywhere in Asia as well as Australia.... did I forget anybody or have I mentioned every nook and cranny in the world ?
This Bank, which is the second largest in the w.....
owes me money ! Sure it's only one miserable Cent, but... they admit that they owe me money...
Anyway, they are everywhere and therefore they cannot escape me.
I've got them cornered.
If they won't pay up in Austria, I will serve them a writ of collection in Zimbabwe when next I go there.... or in Canada, I'll be there all of July...
I shall follow them into the remotest corner of this globe.
You hear ? HSBC !
You cannot escape... you might as well give up and send me the $0.01 by certified cheque....
or deliver it in CASH to Bleiburg in Lower Carinthia... that's right next to a place called Raune in Slovenia.
Bertstravels
is prepared to accept Euros, Can$ or US$... no Rubels please.
the images above and below are genuine documents
received yesterday. Sent by HSBC at a cost of about $2.00.
Friday, February 6, 2015
Mona - translated -
A stunning multitude of my readers , well some of them, actually my daughter, demanded that I translate the Poems about Mona Lisa, which appear below in German, into English.
I attempted to do this and thereby confirmed a discovery, made many years ago.
I cannot just decide to "sit down and write a poem or an essay".
When i do this it normally comes out a bit stilted and with little flow.
The Originals, in German and in English, flowed without effort as a consequence of a discussion.
The translations below..... well, let's say ... well, let's say nothing... it's better that way.
I attempted to do this and thereby confirmed a discovery, made many years ago.
I cannot just decide to "sit down and write a poem or an essay".
When i do this it normally comes out a bit stilted and with little flow.
The Originals, in German and in English, flowed without effort as a consequence of a discussion.
The translations below..... well, let's say ... well, let's say nothing... it's better that way.
The Painter and his hungry Model.
Lenny mixes white and black
while Mona's looking for a snack.
What is this constant cry of hunger?
Lenny asks with look of anger
The painting hasn't started yet
you want already to be fed
I did not bring you cheeze and bread.
Come back next week on Wed-nes-day
when I shall cook with much Hurray
„Last Supper“ showing food and
drink
a work of art, in just a blink.
The Gap
A little smile !
Yes ! Just like that!
I'd rather paint
you with no hat.
Close your lips!
Your teeth, don't show them
the gap in front
could be a problem
Thus spake Lenny
in Verona
to his model
called just „Mona“.
This simply expresses
Bertstravels
suspicion that Mona Lisa was well on her way of getting fat through over-eating and that she had lost a tooth and the rest were rotten due to a case of scurvy.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Mona Lisa
A little while ago we had a conversation about the origin, or better, the reason for the creation of some of the major works of art. Inevitably the question of Mona Lisa's smile came up.
I think that any consideration of Mona Lisa's smile, (or is it a smirk?) is a silly mental excersice in futility.
After all, I mean, who cares ? There she is and she smiles. Why should she frown ? It's not a terrible thing that's happening to her. She sits still for a few hours and gets her portait painted, and gets told by the artist, who isn't exactly an unknown amateur painter either, that she is absolutely beautiful and that her beauty is beyond compare.... and ladidadida...
He's Leonardo da Vinci, who even at the time of this painting was a famous artist, and I am sure was promised a big fat fee from Mona's husband, a rich merchant in Verona.
Anyway, this conversation urged me to write two or three little didis, which I want to let you read also.
I am sorry, but the best are both written in German and therefore probably not understandable by my English speaking followers.
Particularly the last of the three, called "The Gap" explains the reason for her enigmatic smile.
She had one of her front teeth missing.
So now you know the secret.
Leonardo da Vinci was not a competent dentist.
so surmises
Bertstravels.
I think that any consideration of Mona Lisa's smile, (or is it a smirk?) is a silly mental excersice in futility.
After all, I mean, who cares ? There she is and she smiles. Why should she frown ? It's not a terrible thing that's happening to her. She sits still for a few hours and gets her portait painted, and gets told by the artist, who isn't exactly an unknown amateur painter either, that she is absolutely beautiful and that her beauty is beyond compare.... and ladidadida...
He's Leonardo da Vinci, who even at the time of this painting was a famous artist, and I am sure was promised a big fat fee from Mona's husband, a rich merchant in Verona.
Anyway, this conversation urged me to write two or three little didis, which I want to let you read also.
The painter and the Model
Smile, for
heaven's sake
don't always
frown,
your angry looks
they get me down!
Don't laugh, don't
grin
just smile a bit !
But also, do not
stiffly sit!
You look as if
you're in a Coma
So Lenny, said to
Mona.
Der Maler und das hungrige Model
Lenny beugt sich über die Palette
und Mona gern ein Sandwich hätte.
Was ist's mit Dir und Hungerschrei ?
Kaum fängt sie an, die Malerei,
und schon verlangst Du was zum Essen
und ich hab Wurst und Brot vergessen.
Du musst hier sein, Mittwoch nächster
Woche
weil dann, mit vielem Drum und Dran
Das „Letzte Abendmahl“ ich koche.
Die Scharte
Ein kleines
Schmunzeln waere gut.
Ah, ich mal dich
lieber ohne Hut!
Zeig nur die
Zaehne nicht beim Lachen.
Die Lücke könnt
uns Sorgen machen.
So sprach Lenny in
Verona
zur Bürgersfrau
mit Namen „Mona“I am sorry, but the best are both written in German and therefore probably not understandable by my English speaking followers.
Particularly the last of the three, called "The Gap" explains the reason for her enigmatic smile.
She had one of her front teeth missing.
So now you know the secret.
Leonardo da Vinci was not a competent dentist.
so surmises
Bertstravels.
Sunday, February 1, 2015
Some Like It Hot
It's still snowing off and on and it stops only when the temperature drops.
It's cold and the damn snow has to be shoveled from the sidewalk in front of the house.
I really do not like it.
Actually, I absolutely hate it.
I am watching the Australian Tennis Open.
Djokovitch and Andy Murray are in the Final.
After every exchange they wipe the sweat off their faces with towels handed to them by young attendants. They just toss the towels back and never say "thank you"...
I wish I could go outside and be hot, hot, hot... but outside it is cold, cold, cold.
So I seek refuge in some pictures which were taken in warmer climes and at warmer times.
In fact, it was outright sizzling then, and I liked it a lot better than the cold of today and yesterday and likely tomorrow.
So come with me to South-Eastern Zimbabwe, to the almost dry river bed of the Runde.
The sun is blazing from a cloudless sky.
A family of Impala find refreshment in the narrow, shallow rinnsal.
When a herd of buffalo appears, you see the dust cloud first.
It's cold and the damn snow has to be shoveled from the sidewalk in front of the house.
I really do not like it.
Actually, I absolutely hate it.
I am watching the Australian Tennis Open.
Djokovitch and Andy Murray are in the Final.
After every exchange they wipe the sweat off their faces with towels handed to them by young attendants. They just toss the towels back and never say "thank you"...
I wish I could go outside and be hot, hot, hot... but outside it is cold, cold, cold.
So I seek refuge in some pictures which were taken in warmer climes and at warmer times.
In fact, it was outright sizzling then, and I liked it a lot better than the cold of today and yesterday and likely tomorrow.
So come with me to South-Eastern Zimbabwe, to the almost dry river bed of the Runde.
The sun is blazing from a cloudless sky.
A family of Impala find refreshment in the narrow, shallow rinnsal.
When a herd of buffalo appears, you see the dust cloud first.
to enjoy these pictures you had best view them in the largest possible format.
A small group of male Impala
find water in a puddle of the Runde river.
Our guide, Ant, and John, my friend and travel companion
also seek refreshment in the less than knee deep water of the Runde.
(I think the hat on a stick in the r/l corner looks funny.)
At first you see dust rising above the bushes.
Then a herd of buffalo appears.
15 to 25 animals first then slowly 50 more until
finally we counted over 250 heads of 'Cape Buffalo'
During the wet season the Runde is a considerable river.
The dry season changes it into a rinnsal.
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