RE: What is The Fascination of Beckham as a Footballer?????

OK Snowman, point taken. Sorry.

I still don’t see why Ginola and Cantona had such success internationally. I guarantee you that Ginola was simply a scapegoat, the French manager (Houllier?) used him to detract attention from himself. The puzzling thing is why subsequent managers took the same attitude?

RE: What is The Fascination of Beckham as a Footballer?????

This actually surprises me.

The common perception in the UK is that the French disowned both Eric Cantona and David Ginola for some mysterious reason.

Hey Snowman, I’m not a Xenophobe. You’re just picking up on me calling Cantona a “gallic twit” aren’t you? If I’d said “black haired twit” would you think I disliked black haired people?

RE: Have a drink on me…

I’m a bit of a control freak to be honest, so I rarely drink on board. Plus, the wine that you get with your meal is usually just coloured vinegar. Maybe I’ll bring some conkers next time?

I have to say though Wywiwyg, the inferrence of your post was a bit holier than thou. In a pub, the licensee will be charged by the police if they persist in serving alcohol to someone who is obviously drunk, or even if there is reason to believe he’s had too much.

So the big question is – why the hell do you give a passenger another drink if he’s blotto? Surely the cabin crew have to use their judgement – I mean, they can be strict about not letting a passenger fly if they appear tipsy on the ground, but they have no such qualms once they are aboard.

Also, airlines should start giving mineral water out as an option with the tea and coffee. Last time I flew Virgin (Upper) they placed a big bottle of Evian on your seat prior to boarding. As it happens, they have an actual bar on board. Do you think they learned from experience?

RE: AF and low budget airlines

lol!

Milan Bergamo = Rome North.
Liverpool = London North.

Imagine their theoretical US expansion…

Reykjavik = New York North
Kansas City = Los Angeles East

Unless I had a few days to kill (and nothing better to do than waste time) I probably wouldn’t use Ryanair. However, Easyjet do seem to actually fly to some proper airports!

RE: London City – Brilliant Airport

It’s the best airport I’ve used. The comfy leather seats in the Departure lounge, overlooking the apron, are superb. I’ve been in much worse business class lounges!

The only drawbacks are twofold:

1. As usual, airlines take extreme sadistic pleasure in making people leave a nice departure lounge and wait for an eternity at the gate;

2. It is bloody impossible to get to LCY by land! They are finally building an extension to the DLR, after how many decades?! If you want to get to a London airport during rush hour, you basically have to use the express rail links. IF you find a taxi, it will take forever in traffic.

Gripes aside, it is a wonderful airport. I just love takeoffs. My last one was a Dash 8-300 of Flybe, they stand on the brakes and gun the engines, then roll down the runway with great acceleration. Tremendous fun. Second best take off in the UK, after Plymouth (v. short runway, you take off over a road and a small factory!).

Plus, views of Canary Wharf etc. are very good when descending into LCY.

RE: What is The Fascination of Beckham as a Footballer?????

I don’t disagree with anything you said, except for the narrow minded bit!

But your implications seem a bit awry. OK, I admit Cantona is a bit cleverer than the average footballer. That much is obvious – when a footballer has a GCSE qualification in woodworking, his team mates call him “The Prof” for god sake!

But that doesn’t necessarily mean that he is anything other than a bit brighter than the average footballer.

I haven’t read any of his work, I’m just judging him based on his Seagull comment. In this isolated context, he does indeed look foolish. Maybe I will reconsider my thoughts if I ever do read more deeply about him.

RE: GLOBAL DEVELOPING POWERS-2003!!!

Back to the original comment about “power” meaning more than pure military assets: SA has the strongest local economy by a country mile. Other western nations also have more interest vested in SA than elsewhere.

The industrial and economic advantage SA has over the rest of Africa is substantially more pronounced than the Brazilian advantage over the rest of Latin America!