The Saturday Rant – 8 August 2009

Well here it is Saturday again and a lovely sunny day it is here in the Hutt. Not that Adam has been that active as he did not get home from Melbourne until after 1:00 a.m.

Then for some reason woke up at 6:00. so has had a slow day so far.

Despite the fact that he has had a good week a number of things have provided Adam with topics for the Saturday Rant. Other topics have come to mind as well which will be the topic of posts on their own account.

Well let’s get on with it, as the bishop said to the actress:-

Firstly

Australians are better off

Are they really? For a start they have to tolerate Tintin, aka Super Kev, as PM, but all the time we read about how wages are so much higher etc, etc.

Yet this last week Adam began to wonder.

In a pub close to the hotel a small beer was A$5 a glass, a pint of lager was A$8, a can, a can mark you, of Guinness was A$9. This was a pub in the student area around RMIT and Melbourne University.

There are plenty of cheap and good Asian eating places, but is the differential between here and Australia that great when tax, social security, medical and cost of living is properly assessed or is much of it a perception?

Some years ago a colleague and friend took a transfer to Sydney and despite various corporate allowances and a good salary found the cost of living , taxes etc were such that they were no better off than when in Wellington.

So are they really better off, or is it a case of the ‘grass is greener’?

Secondly

Taxi Drivers,

Why is it that taxi drivers, especially ones at Australian airports, seem to have such great difficulty in understanding where it is that one wants to go. After all the hotel Adam requested has been in that location for many years.

Having succeeded in explaining to his taxi driver, eventually, the destination required Adam was astounded when we approached the hotel and then proceeded to make as if to drive past the place. This caused Adam to wonder whether the driver read English or not.

Then of course at the time of 9/11 Melbourne was the city where many taxi drivers celebrated the terrorist attack, so perhaps Adam should not be surprised.

Thirdly

Hotel Room consumables

Following the comment on beer pricing above, Adam found the price for a small bottle of mineral water in his room to be extortionate at A$4. He went out and bought a 1.5 litre bottle for A$2.90 at the over-priced, but nearby convenience store.

Why do hotels persist with this pricing policy? All over the world you see hotel guests buying water and the like and taking it back to their rooms.

Pity you cannot do the same with internet connections, but hopefully that day will come.

As an aside this was another hotel which uses the environment ploy as an excuse not to replace towels daily.

These are the sort of niggles which prevent a place from fully achieving it’s potential in the eyse of customers.

Fourthly

Air New Zealand- seat belts

Now the flights were pleasant, in so far as travelling in a metal tube several thousand metres up at high speed is ever pleasant.

Yet again though Adam wonders why it is that seat belt length is so inconsistent as between seats in a row and between rows on the same aircraft type.

On the flight to Australia, Adam being some what generously proportioned found he needed an extension seat belt, yet on the plane back again in an aisle seat no such belt was needed, the standard belt was sufficient. Time and again this happens. It is a never ending irritation and annoyance. Further it suggests that the specifications for the seats and the belts are not being adhered to.

Then of course there were the several irritation sexperienced with the in-flight enetrtainement system, but we will leave these to another day along with the incredibly indifferent food, the lack on both flights of the Air New Zealand inflight magazine and Adam’s bewilderment at how some passengers seem to ahve amounts of cabin baggage that surely cannot meet the advertised restrictions.

Fifth and final

Wellington Airport – International Arrivals

Since the last time Adam flew into Wellington Airport on an international flight a number of physical changes have been made to the arrival area. Or it maybe that his flights did not use this particular entryway.

One of these is the installation of a ramp for passengers to use as they make their way to the Immigration Area. The ramp is fine, but it ends with a turn into a corridor which is narrower than the ramp. What would happen if they was a fire? Would this turn and more constricted corridor be a hazard?

Seemed strange to Adam.

Conclusion

Time’s up bishop, said the actress.

So there we are another week and another set of chronicles of the minor pinpricks and irritations that Adam came across this week.

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