(no subject)
The trouble with traveling is that it can really drive home what a dirty, inefficient and obstreperous infrastructure America has. That then connects with the current gross mismanagement occurring at the post office and so forth. What I mean is, the transit system in Switzerland was fantastic. It used a unified ticketing system but hardly anyone ever checked to see if you had one but everyone almost always did because it was socially expected. It was very nice not being under constant, harassing scrutiny that just makes you want to misbehave. Of course, there were signs here and there scolding people for ticket-dodging, hidden cameras and scanners everywhere and you need to buy half price tickets to take a pet on the bus/tram/train. I doubt it's perfect, but it was a hell of a lot easier to use than any transit system I've come across in this country.
So it was immensely aggravating to go through customs at JFK with all the stupid lines, waiting and "show your papers" twenty thousand times for no real good reason except to lull more gullible people into feeling secure. All it did was make me wonder how many entrance points existed to require so many checks. I mean, seriously, they allow bottles of wine (that could be liquid agents) and candy bars (which could be anything, really) but not bottles of water? Never mind. I'm sure there are entire websites devoted to mocking airport security. We all know that American airports have become lollerskates.
It rained most the time in Switzerland, on account we visited during monsoon season. Yet, whenever we visited the countryside, it was sunny. We could look back and see the clouds hovering over the city (Zurich and Lucerne), so it was pretty funny. Anyway, you know all the picturesque shots you see meant to characterize the country? It really does look like that and the cows (and sheep) really do wear bells. We spent about fifteen minutes one day sitting on some castle ruins watching sheep run back and forth below us.
So, we went up Pilatus and developed altitude sickness, took a ferry (where I developed motion sickness), tried a toboggan run, used French like a rosetta stone, wandered around getting lost and unlost, hiked up and down many stairs, explored some battlements, found the Polish Museum by accident, ate a lot of fatty foods and the best ice cream ever, bought quite a few pounds of chocolate at the Lindt Factory store, fed birds from hand, discovered our hotel windows doubled as doors, were bewildered by the Zurich Hauptbahnhof and never did remember to push rather than pull on doors. I started to wonder if I could get a job driving one of those cute yellow postal scooters.
Instead, I'm back here, being harassed by a top-heavy postal system that has openly declared its carriers thieves stealing time/money. Because that's how you motivate your employees. e_e Oh well.
So it was immensely aggravating to go through customs at JFK with all the stupid lines, waiting and "show your papers" twenty thousand times for no real good reason except to lull more gullible people into feeling secure. All it did was make me wonder how many entrance points existed to require so many checks. I mean, seriously, they allow bottles of wine (that could be liquid agents) and candy bars (which could be anything, really) but not bottles of water? Never mind. I'm sure there are entire websites devoted to mocking airport security. We all know that American airports have become lollerskates.
It rained most the time in Switzerland, on account we visited during monsoon season. Yet, whenever we visited the countryside, it was sunny. We could look back and see the clouds hovering over the city (Zurich and Lucerne), so it was pretty funny. Anyway, you know all the picturesque shots you see meant to characterize the country? It really does look like that and the cows (and sheep) really do wear bells. We spent about fifteen minutes one day sitting on some castle ruins watching sheep run back and forth below us.
So, we went up Pilatus and developed altitude sickness, took a ferry (where I developed motion sickness), tried a toboggan run, used French like a rosetta stone, wandered around getting lost and unlost, hiked up and down many stairs, explored some battlements, found the Polish Museum by accident, ate a lot of fatty foods and the best ice cream ever, bought quite a few pounds of chocolate at the Lindt Factory store, fed birds from hand, discovered our hotel windows doubled as doors, were bewildered by the Zurich Hauptbahnhof and never did remember to push rather than pull on doors. I started to wonder if I could get a job driving one of those cute yellow postal scooters.
Instead, I'm back here, being harassed by a top-heavy postal system that has openly declared its carriers thieves stealing time/money. Because that's how you motivate your employees. e_e Oh well.