Business Travel

In Hamburg for most of this week at a maritime exhibition. Will be catching up with some old buddies - the world of maritime sales is quite small and incestuous. Won't be joining the younger members of the fraternity for the creep-up-the-Reep though - far too old and sensible for that.

Spotted this at the airport:

Not as good as 50 Spades of Grey - a study of erotic ironmongery.

Came out vie Brussels (yes, it doesn't make much sense, but it is cheaper) and was amused to see vastly more people of Asian and African descent (or even origin) at the EC Citizens passport immigration queue than indigenous Europeans. Remember I'm from Old Sodbury and besides the odd Celt from across the border, all I get to see is Anglo Saxons.

Brussels is far too French for me; was glad to get to Hamburg and some Teutonic efficiency. Despite arriving and departing from the same terminal at Brussels, I nonetheless had to go through immigration control and security. And the airport signage was, well........ French in terms of instructional value.

The part of Hamburg where my hotel is looks like a suburb of Istanbul. Went out for a meal in the evening and had a choice of Turkish, Turkish, Turkish, Afghan, Turkish or Vietnamese. Went for the Vietnamese.

Large cities are fast losing their original cultural identity and increasingly becoming a melange of cultures. To get a glimpse of the indigenous culture, the tourist now has to venture into the countryside.