Ryanair - seats with extra leg room

Last year Ryanair has introduced a new feature, a paid reservation of seats with extra leg room. I'm absolutely sure it's a total discrimination of tall people. I am 6' 3'' and before their silly move I had been able to sit on those seats without paying any extra money. Now they expect me to pay £10 each way. It's not my choice nor fault that I'm tall, why should I be penalised for it? I would understand it, if all the seats were subject to reservation. Okay folks, everyone has to pay. But not like that, this is totally unfair.

An additional problem is that now everyone sees those seats while checking-in on-line. It's like encouraging to reserve those seats (money, money). Even the people who don't need them but have money to spare, can reserve them. And they do! Just in case, maybe it will be more comfortable. And then I have to stay bent double for many hours of flight.

In the past there was also a problem of large people and the fat levy, but because of a politically incorrect nature of this subject they didn't introduce it. However, the obeese people CAN do something to reduce their size. I know it because I myself use to be overweight and some time ago I've lost over four stones. Unfortunatelly I can't reduce my height.

I'm disgusted and in the future I'll try to avoid Ryanair at all cost.

Father forgets

I would like to share with you a poem which I came across a few times in my life. It's been written by W. Livingston Larned and published in Readers Digest a long time ago.


Father Forgets

Listen, son: I am saying this as you lie asleep, one little paw crumpled under your cheek and the blond curls stickily wet on your damp forehead. I have stolen into your room alone.

Just a few minutes ago, as I sat reading my paper in the library, a stifling wave of remorse swept over me. Guiltily I came to your bedside.

There are the things I was thinking, son:

I had been cross to you. I scolded you as you were dressing for school because you gave your face merely a dab with a towel. I took you to task for not cleaning your shoes.

I called out angrily when you threw some of your things on the floor. At breakfast I found fault, too. You spilled things. You gulped down your food. You put your elbows on the table. You spread butter too thick on your bread.

And as you started off to play and I made for my train, you turned and waved a hand and called, “Goodbye, Daddy!” and I frowned, and said in reply, “Hold your shoulders back!”

Then it began all over again in the late afternoon. As I came up the road I spied you, down on your knees, playing marbles. There were holes in your stockings. I humiliated you before your boyfriends by marching you ahead of me to the house.

Stockings were expensive-and if you had to buy them you would be more careful! Imagine that, son, from a father! Do you remember, later, when I was reading in the library, how you came in timidly, with a sort of hurt look in your eyes?

When I glanced up over my paper, impatient at the interruption, you hesitated at the door. “What is it you want?” I snapped.

You said nothing, but ran across in one tempestuous plunge, and threw your arms around my neck and kissed me, and your small arms tightened with an affection that God had set blooming in your heart and which even neglect could not wither.

And then you were gone, pattering up the stairs. Well, son, it was shortly afterwards that my paper slipped from my hands and a terrible sickening fear came over me.

What has habit been doing to me? The habit of finding fault, of reprimanding-this was my reward to you for being a boy. It was not that I did not love you; it was that I expected too much of youth. I was measuring you by the yardstick of my own years.

And there was so much that was good and fine and true in your character. The little heart of you was as big as the dawn itself over the wide hills. This was shown by your spontaneous impulse to rush in and kiss me good night.

Nothing else matters tonight, son. I have come to your bedside in the darkness, and I have knelt there, ashamed! It is feeble atonement; I know you would not understand these things if I told them to you during your waking hours.

But tomorrow, tomorrow, I will be a real daddy! I will chum with you, and suffer when you suffer, and laugh when you laugh. I will bite my tongue when impatient words come. I will keep saying as if it were a ritual:

“He is nothing but a boy-a little boy!”

I am afraid I have visualized you as a man. Yet as I see you now, son, crumpled and weary in your cot, I see that you are still a baby. Yesterday you were in your mother’s arms, your head on her shoulder. I have asked too much son, too much.

Three years

Well, over three years have passed since my first posting :) It's a lot of time, isn't it? How is my English now? I hope it's a little bit better that it was then. I'm aware that I still make mistakes but hopefully there is less of them than it was in 2007. What happened in the meantime? I was doing good, working, learning English, studying at the Open University... Yeah, it was a big challenge for me. I had to do all the study in English without any help in Polish. I will write more about it in another posting. My kids are happy to live in the UK. The weather is worse than is the Canary Islands but the weather is not the most important thing in life :) Together with my family we were travelling a little bit, getting to know Great Britain, we went to Spain, to Italy. I will write about it later. Well, that's all to outline it briefly.

The most funny thing about human beings

People always think crooked: they are in a hurry to grow, then lament their lost childhood. They loose their health to make money, then loose the money to keep their health. They are so anxious about the future, that they neglect the present, and thus live in neither the present nor the future. They live as if they were never going to die, and die as if they had never lived.

One common language for a better communication

I think that one of the world's problems causing many conflicts is a lack of one shared language for the whole humanity. We need to speak one language if we want to save the world. One could say “Don't re-invent the wheel”, it is said that English is an universal language and it is easy to learn. Well, I am afraid it is not true. Looking from the perspective of the English speaking people it could be so, but Spaniards have their Spanish, Frenchmen their French etc. They don't want to resign and the world will continue to be divided. In other countries English is spoken by the vast minority of people because of its difficult characteristics. The solution for this communication problem is simple, there is an international language called Esperanto which is designed to be as easy as possible for everyone. It has many words similar to English, German, Spanish and French. It is a democratic language beyond divisions. It is easy to learn and after around two years of learning it a student is able to speak fluently. So, if we want to communicate better we need it as soon as possible. Of course we don't need to abandon our own languages, Esperanto is thought to be a second language.

Do we need so much meat?

In my opinion one of the main world's environmental problems is that we produce too much meat. Cattle breeding is taking too much of the world's resources. There is so much water needed, feed planted, so much carbon dioxide expelled etc. The truth is that we people don't need so much meat to live. Well, I would say that we don't need it at all as I am a vegetarian. It is possible to replace the meat with a well balanced diet and it is really easy to do. There is only a change of habits needed. Apart from saving the world there are other benefits like a much healthier life and a better look. I think that the main reason that we eat so much meat is that it suits food industry.

Instants

This time, I would like to present my favourite piece of poetry. This poem was written by Jorge Luis Borges. It's my translation from Spanish.

Instants

If I were able to live my life anew,
In the next I would try to commit more errors.
I would not try to be so perfect, I would relax more.
I would be more foolish than I've been,
In fact, I would take very few things seriously.
I would be less hygienic.
I would run more risks,
take more journeys,
contemplate more sunsets,
climb more mountains, swim more rivers.
I would go to more places where I've never been,
I would eat more ice cream and fewer beans,
I would have more real problems and less imaginary ones.

I was one of those people who lived sensibly
and prolifically each minute of his life;
Of course I had moments of happiness.
But if I could go back I would try
to have only good moments.

Because if you don't know, of that is life made,
only of moments; don't lose the now.

I was one of those who never
went anywhere without a thermometer,
a hot-water bottle,
an umbrella and a parachute;
If I could live again, I would travel lighter.

If I could live again,
I would start to walk barefoot
from the beginning of spring
and I would continue barefoot till the end of autumn.
I would take more turns on the merry-go-round,
contemplate more dawns,
and play with more children,
If I would have another life ahead of me.

But already you see, I am 85...
and I know that I am dying.

Social websites

Recently I heard a lot of noise about the use of social sites like Facebook and the dangers related to this phenomenon. I think that it is all right as long as you follow the rules and keep a level head. We have to listen to reason in our network life as we do it in a real life. It is obvious that we cannot put our secrets in public sites. Before we make public any information, we should think for a moment about potential consequences of doing it.

I know that sometimes the people met in the network can become the real friends. It happened to me several times. Similarly on the network we can find friends from childhood. Recently I use the Polish site Nasza Klasa (Our Class) which helps people to find classmates and refresh memories giving them back forgotten moments of youth. That site brings together people from the old days, making a virtual reconstruction of real schools and class.

Of course everything depends on the kind of people who we are. Our need for friendship and contacts with other people determines what we do. I am happy with the existence of social sites and do not collect friends, I made friends being careful and aware of potential dangers.

The world’s variety

The world's variety is very fascinating. Everyone of us has his own reality and consciousness. We are all the same, but at the same time we are so different. We live together on our Earth, as small as grains of sand, but at the same time we seem to be so great, and it astonishes me. The scale of variety is so big that is not easy to grasp it. I see it better than majority of people, because I experienced the change in my life. I changed twice the country of live,  language and reality. I have a fascination with watching culture diferences. It helps to understand others, to realize that the world is not flat and there is not always only one truth. I wish we all could open our eyes wider...

Linux User Groups in West Midlands

As I said before, I'm a Linux fan. In Poland I've been involved in a local Linux User Group activities. In Spain I was a member of other LUG. Now it's time for English LUGs! My first meeting was at South Birmingham Linux User Group in May this year, where I got to know several SBLUG members as Zeth Green for example. Because of my weak English I can't be a member on equal terms, but I'm lurking the mailing lists of some LUGs. Lately I went to the meeting of the Wolverhampton LUG. It was a very interesting talk about IPMI made by Adam Sweet with a live presentation of this platform on Linux. I'm planning to go to a meeting of Coventry LUG and Warwick LUG as well. I'm curious about how the UK's LUGs are doing. Besides I like to get to know interesting people involved in Linux OS.

Looking for a Linux job

Well, I'm a Linux fan and for about seven years I've been using this Operation System at home and professionally as well. The problem I have in UK is that I can't find any job in IT with Linux involved. I sent a lot of CVs to various employment agencies and... nothing. I uploaded my CV to various job sites, the same result. I'm starting to feel redundant. Although those agencies were looking for the Linux System Administrators, in spite of being experienced in this matter, I was skipped. I don't know, it could be because of my poor English, but I think in this job you don't need a perfect language skills. The most important is your knowledge, am I wrong? All right, at present I work as unskilled labourer and I'm improving my English skills. The strange thing is that I couldn't find a job as SysAdmin nor a simple Computer Technician. In Spain was easier find something in IT with poor Spanish. UK has not dealt kindly with me ;-)

To travel is to live

Sometimes I hear the question "Why?! Why you decided to move from Canary Islands to United Kingdom, are you crazy?". Maybe... OK, first and almost I like to get to know new countries. I started from Spain/Canary Islands because it was something completely different from my mother country. However after almost three years of living there, I felt saturated and thought I have to go. My Spanish was good, I speak fluently but why not to learn next language?

Why England? Because I wish to learn English, which is the most important language in the world. The most important, but not the only one, as think many of English people surprised by the fact, that somebody can't speak English :-) Therefore here I am, working very hard to improve my abilities of English language. I think England is the better country to live if you want to learn English, isn't it?

Besides I like to travel. Not only on holidays, because in this way you can't get to know any country. I think if you want to do it well, you have to live at least couple of years in one place. To learn local language, to know mentality of inhabitants, to explore important places etc. This is my way of do it, I like this style of life. Apart from that I think it's good for my children because they learn many languages, cultures and get open-minded. They learn how to adapt to new circumstances which is very important ability in the contemporary world. In every country they attend regular schools for years that enrich their knowledge. They like it as well, because their curiosity of the world is fulfilled. As said Hans Christian Andersen "To travel is to live"...

I have to add that there is another thing. To date I didn't stabilize my professional situation. If in England I'll find what I'm looking for, maybe I'll stay here.

It happened!

All right, I'm writing seven months after the first post and I can say I've done it! I live in United Kingdom. The place choosen for this stage of my life is Birmingham. Why Birmingham exactly? I had several reasons, one of them was the average cost of house lettings. While in London the price of letting of three bedroom house is about £1000, in Birmingham you can find something for about £550. Apart from that Birmingham is the second largest city in the country. Besides, I had good associations with this city like: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, Electric Light Orchestra, UB40 etc. :-) So, after spending hours with my family discuting about it, we decided that I have to go to Birmingham on my own, to find out more. After one month that I spent in UK in May, we decided to move at the end of June.

First two months we were becoming used to new country, exploring the city. The weather in July was rainy and we had to wait better conditions for our trips. Anyway we took advantage of every sunny day to get to know new city. In September our children started their schools and we began work. Because of our poor english we can't work in our professions and I work as driver, while Ula works as packer of watches. I hope I find a job in IT, because after nine years of experience in this field, I feel a little strange doing something else.

Getting started

Well, it's time to start to write in English... It'll be a disaster :-) Don't worry, if you don't want to read it, you can click on the cross, you know... in the right corner of your viewer :-) I decided to write in English for practise a little my rustic English (without offend a countrymen). Who am I? I'm a geek from the planet Earth, firstly from the country where I was born - Poland. Secondly from Spain, where I was living a couple of years. Precisely from the island of Gran Canaria and the city of Las Palmas. And now I think about move myself to United Kingdom. Well, I'm not all alone, because I'm walking through the way of my life with my family. My wife Ula and my children Rafa and Ola. I'm looking for the place... The place of my life.