I arrived at Frankfurt Hanh Airport (in the middle of nowhere) to take a Ryanair plane to Pescara, destination Christmas holidays. I had one handbag with me with the right size, I didn’t know its weight but I thought it was approximately right. I successfully passed through the security check with my handbag arriving at the gate more than one hour earlier, then I remained in the boarding area awaiting for the beginning of the boarding procedure. When this procedure began I joined the queue along with all the other passengers, I was almost at its end. Once at the desk I was told to stop by a Ryanair officer who wanted to check my handbag. I was very surprised by the extremely late check. Anyway, I reported I had checked the dimensions already so the man decided to verify also the weight. My handbag was exceeding the limit of 10 kgs, so the man asked me to pay a 35€ fine and to do this just there at the exit (yes, at the gate!?!).

After a couple of minutes (while I unsuccessfully tried to get rid of some weight) I decided to accept the fine. I didn’t have cash in my wallet so I asked if I could pay with my credit card (VISA Electron) or with a laser card (Maestro) but this was not possible since no machines were available for this type of payment. So I was asked to run outside and get some money at the ATM while another Ryanair’s officer offered to hold my handbag and wait for me (“Run! Run!”). So I went out and got some cash, I passed through the security check again (skipping the queue to hurry up, not more than 10 mins had passed in total) to arrive again at the gate. There, I sadly saw my handbag left unattended and the gate closed. I can’t describe my disappointment, I started to swear in Italian but probably I should have known some German.. That night I had to pay for a double room (thank God I was not alone) in a hotel just outside the airport. I also needed to buy another ticket for the same route Hanh-Pescara luckily still available for the day after.

I wonder.. why don’t continue to let people pay at the destination as it has always been? Why should I be forced to pay with cash at the boarding gate where there’s no ATM? Why are they running such checks at the very last moment? These things are all against the same customers, but for what purpose? Please correct me if I’m wrong, all this crap looks to me as a way to “legally steal” money from the customers.. Do you think I’m exaggerating a bit? I can’t refrain myself from sending a complaint to Ryanair and ask for a refund. Since I’m sure most of you have experienced problems with this company (who hasn’t?), in case you like the idea you can join me and send your own complaints to the address below. I’ll keep you updated anyway..

EU PASSENGER
COMPENSATION DEPT.
PO BOX 11451
SWORDS, CO. DUBLIN
IRELAND

Google search engine integrates Google Suggest which, as soon as you enter any keyword, tries to complete your search by providing a list of suggestions with the most “popular” keywords based on the number of hits. Considering how much Mr B cares about his own public image, I think he wouldn’t be happy at all if he discovered such results (however I bet he already knows..). The web search engine for the IT domain shows the following list of suggestions:

While these are the results shown in Google Images, certainly more bizarre:

Apart from the fact that it doesn’t seem to be searching for information about a political figure, some combinations appear paradoxically auto-ironic as nobel / mafia or morto (dead) / crocifisso (crucified) / beato (blessed) or again corna (horns, which in Italian stands for cheating on somebody) / d’addario / noemi , reflecting the different popular topics followed by the Italians on the web. Probably Mr B understimated Internet, too difficult to control, unless some illiberal sneaky law will get soon introduced.. For those who strangely are still wondering why there’s such bad thinking about him, googling a bit would definitely be a way to easily get a sort of an answer..

GLOBAL WARMING – DOOMSDAY CALLED OFF

PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4 – PART 5

GREENHOUSE CONSPIRACY

PART 2 – PART 3 – PART 4 – PART 5 – PART 6

Sorry, this post is not available in English, but you may want to read this blog in Italian.
Click

The only fact that I decided to post the quote below inside my blog will certainly look strange to anyone not familiar with my country. Why should I need to remind such a concept? Shouldn’t it already represent a well established and unbreakable principle, the foundation of every aspect of the political life of a civilized country? My answer is in the title, “politics of the past”, when morality and political dignity still seemed to inspire the ideologies of the political class ..

“[...] the plea I make to young people is to try to be honest, politics must be conducted in an honest manner. [...] if there’s any politician who takes advantage of politics to do his dirty interests, it must be denounced without fear.” – Sandro Pertini

Today’s quote (in the sidebar on the right) states the following thought:

“The only thing we know about the future is that it will be different” – Peter Drucker

Unfortunately, considering how things are currently going in Italy it’s really hard for me to believe in that ..

While in Italy the initiative seems to go almost unnoticed, someone seems to have even tried to start the debate on a page of Ubuntu Forums, a technical forum dedicated to the Ubuntu Linux distribution, as long as a moderator decided to stop the conversation with a “no politics please “. It’s really incredible we’ve come to such a situation in Italy ..

Along with Giant’s Causeway and Cliffs of Moher, Glenveagh National Park is another spectacular place you definitely have to visit if you happen to be around Derry or Londonderry.

Once arrived in the north of Ireland, in County Donegal, we reached Lough Veagh to walk along its shores towards Glenveagh Castle (so the name of the park). Passing through those amazingly red landscapes, unexplainably immobile and silent that day, where the golden eagle and the red deer are just some of the notable inhabitants, was definitely an extraordinary experience. I promised myself to write about it and so here I am.. However I’ve just realised how pointless is spending words to explain what nature is already able to describe itself through its images. For this reason I’m stopping here leaving you with some of the photos I took..

This is the link to the whole gallery: Glenveagh National Park and Castle

This year I decided to celebrate Halloween as people do here..

I decided to carve my first pumpkin (shown on the left) and I tried to organize an Halloween party, a kind of a funny experiment which I must say turned out particularly well. I also realised how different is the atmosphere here.. Halloween is neither just a small feast nor an event for kids only, it is instead largely celebrated. Just another simple excuse to enjoy a crazy night out..

It was nice to dress up again, as I was used to do many years ago when I was a child, although this time with a completely different spirit..

Today’s sentence gives us back a bit of credibility, demonstrating that our constitution works (at least that one..) regardless of any assumed political “flavour”. A sacred principle has been re-confirmed (or just defended), law is equal for everyone. Unfortunately its actual application still demonstrates various defects (no need for examples here), however this cannot represent a valid reason or an excuse for legislating ad personam.

Art. 3
All citizens have equal social dignity and are equal before the law, without distinction of sex, race, language, religion, political opinion, personal and social conditions. It is the duty of the Republic to remove those obstacles of an economic or social nature which constrain the freedom and equality of citizens, thereby impeding the full development of the human person and the effective participation of all workers in the political, economic and social organisation of the country.

Art. 138
Laws amending the Constitution and other constitutional laws shall be adopted by each House after two successive debates at intervals of not less than three months, and shall be approved by an absolute majority of the members of each House in the second voting. Said laws are submitted to a popular referendum when, within three months of their publication, such request is made by one-fifth of the members of a House or five hundred thousand voters or five Regional Councils. The law submitted to referendum shall not be promulgated if not approved by a majority of valid votes. A referendum shall not be held if the law has been approved in the second voting by each of the Houses by a majority of two-thirds of the members.

Source: Costitution of the Italian Republic