Gye Greene's Thoughts (w/ apologies to The Smithereens and their similarly-titled album!)
Tuesday, November 17, 2020
Pandemic prediction -- future of travel
It is now November 2020: the COVID-19 Pandemic has been going on since February or March of this year.
Here are my prediction regarding international travel:
-It will take many years to develop a workable vaccine.
-"Life in a pandemic" will become "the new normal": people will just accept the additional precautions (physical distancing; masks; hand-washing) as "what you do".
-Recreational international travel can't get put on hold forever. Therefore, travel will resume -- but it will incorporate various COVID-19-related precautions, such as:
-Physical distancing on airplanes -- which means that they'll only be able to fly at about one-half capacity (family groups, and parties traveling together, will not have to be seated apart). This will double the price of air fares -- but people will be desperate enough to pay them.
-People will not be allowed to leave the airport during long layovers (e.g. to explore the town).
-Mandatory two-week quarantine periods, both before, and after, each leg of the journey.
-Specialized cruise ships will become more cost-effective than air travel: the journey across the ocean will be part of the "two week quarantine" period.
I was in Seattle for nearly all of December, visiting family. Apologies to my friends over there: due to our tight schedule, I made the decision that I'd be visiting only family, not friends. I'll be back in Seattle in a few months for a fairly large family get-together, so I'll catch up with friends at that point.
Over the next few weeks I'll post some blog entries remedially.
Once I got to Seattle (in very early December), I discovered that I couldn't remember my gmail password -- so I couldn't access my e-mail account -- or my blog! Thus, the big gap in blog entries. The lesson learned is to not change my password the day before flying out on vacation -- or, if I do, to write it down and carry it with me. And Google didn't believe my various attempts to restore my account while away -- so I had to wait until I got home.
Awkwardly, once I got back to Brisbane -- after being away for nearly a month -- I discovered that I had also forgotten my computer login. Or rather: I'm pretty sure I remembered the "log in after the screensaver kicks in" password, because I use that several times a day. But I couldn't remember the "decrypt the hard drive" password that preceeds the other one, because I only use that once every day or so.
Actually, I'm pretty sure I did remember it -- but the computer didn't believe me. Maybe I used to hit "shift" in a way that I don't remember.
For security reasons, I hadn't written the password down. Hm. That's gonna change...
So, after many, many failed attempts at unlocking my computer, I ended up having to wipe everything and re-install Mint Linux 17. Took about an hour for the install, but another hour or two for me to re-install addtional bits of software (e.g. recording software). So, not horrible.
Luckily I didn't lose any actual data (documents, photos, audio files), because I had done a full backup (but not a disk image; just all my personal files) before we went on vacation. But it was still a bit of a nuisance.
But -- now I'm back!
And I hadn't realized how... lost... I was without my computer.
So now -- over the next few weeks -- I get to empty the photos off my phone, write down a very long list of quotes, log the gifts I received for Christmas, and -- eventually! -- record a song I wrote about a really nice guy at work.
Yesterday we went to the Ekka -- basically, the "county fair": rides, animals, carnival foods.
It drizzled all day; therefore the crowds were only about one-third of what they usually are; therefore it was the best Ekka experience I've ever had!
-Basically **no** lines at the food stalls.
-Basically **no** lines at the rides.
-Because there were no lines -- and rides seem more enticing when there are already people **doing** the rides and having fun -- the kids got extra-long turns on the rides. (That is: No point in shoo-ing the riders away, then having empty rides. Bad for business.)
-We didn't have to "swim" through the crowds. Loads of room.
Because we knew what the weather would be, we just dressed for it. I wore double socks and gumboots: when I putter around the yard on weekends I wear gumboots all day, so I knew I could wear them without getting blisters. I also wore a windbreaker and a wide-brimmed hat (canvas, so it got soaked -- but it still kept the rain out of my face). The kids wore raincoats with hoods (also jeans and sneakers -- but these got only slightly damp). The Lady wore a water-repellent coat with a hood.
The Ekka was as noisy as always -- maybe even noisier, since there weren't the same crowds to absorb some of the acoustic energy. In previous years I'd remembered to bring earplugs, for the evening fireworks -- but this time I forgot. So the noise -- particularly in the "rides" area -- was starting to get to me.
When we passed by the first aid station I asked whether they had any foam earplugs. Luckily, they did! So the whole rest of the day was **much** better.
At various points I sat off to the side with the bags, and read my magazine, while The Lady took the kids to the various "Look! Animals!" sections.
I'm not in to "seeing the animals" ("Isn't that the same pig as last year?") or the fireworks (too much noise and bright flashing lights). I enjoy the bumper cars, though.
I think I mentioned, perhaps half a year ago, that I got into a "Wouldn't it be cool to live in Norway for a year?" kick. I did a fair amount of internet research, including getting a list of small-to-medium-sized villages and Google Maps-ing them.
That interest lasted a few weeks, until I realized that the daydream of moving to Norway was based on hanging around the house doing music and woodworking. The finances were unclear in my daydream, but probably involved lottery winnings. And I realized that if I won the lottery, I'd end up just staying home and doing music and woodworking without having to move to Norway to do it. Ah.
Anyhow, a few days ago a data analysis at work -- in an indirect way -- made me encounter the Isle of Man. I didn't know where it was, so I Wikipedia'd it. And now I'm on a "wouldn't it be interesting to move to the Isle of Man" kick.
The island is pretty oval-shaped. Not very big: To drive from one end of the island to the other is 30-40 minutes (I don’t know the speed limit).
Also, the ferry ride from Liverpool(!!!) to the island is about 45 minutes, and I think the ferry ride from the island to Dublin is about an hour.
The internet says that the weather is pretty mild: from memory, it stays just above freezing during the winter, but substantially cooler than Brisbane during the summer!
And most of it's fairly rural -- so, lots of room for a workshop and a recording studio in the back yard, if you buy right. Maybe something like this.
Also, they have karate, tae kwon do, boxing, and mixed martial arts available. They used to have wing chun; not sure if they still do.
But, once again: if I had the money to do that, I may as well just stay here.
About half of the animal demonstrations at the noontime (11am?) show at the Australia Zoo was birds. The other half was crocodiles.
Once the bird demos started, it was easy to tell why some people chose to sit where they did: they were near where the birds would come, perch, and then fly back to the trainers.
This clip shows some huge sort of bird. I don't remember the name -- but it was **huge**!!! It came flying in from over the stadium wall. Near the end (0:07 - 0:12) you can see a trainer in the lower left of the screen. Relative to that person, I reckon the wingspan is about 8 feet, maybe wider.
In this one, you can't really make out the audio, but they asked for volunteers from the audience. The woman was told that the birds were trained to fetch rectangular pieces of paper. She was told to take a $10 bill, fold it into quarters, pinch it between her fingers and then hold her arm out.
Yeah, the person laughing like a dork is me.
This final video actually happened in our backyard: it's a willy wagtail. The reason for the name is apparent once you see them.
Yesterday we visited Australia Zoo -- founded by Steve Irwin and his mom and dad, and carried on by Steve's wife and kids.
Good stuff!
Steve's memory was everywhere, such as the sign at the end of the parking lot, indicating their wildlife hospital (see above)...
..and the ''no entry'' sign, below, with Steve's outline.
Below is a take on the old joke: ''Walk this way...''
At their noontime show (or maybe it was 11 o'clock? I forget), it was neat that despite their fame, the Irwins still participate. Here's Terri (from Oregon, originally!):
...and here's Bindi:
Bob is off to the side, out of harm's way. Terri says he's not allowed to feed the crocs until he's ten.
We saw a wombat being transferred from its main enclosure to somewhere else. Basically, they just put a dog harness on it, and the zookeeper walked it down the path...
At the wombat pen, they had footholds for the kids embedded into the cement wall -- so that they could see over the wall. That's a good design.
In the large, open area for wallabys (a type of small kangaroo) to wander about, they had a ''safe zone'' for them to go to when they got tired of people: a good idea.
In the wallaby area was a wallaby that clearly had an itchy tummy:
There was a big fiberglass crocodile that was there for a photo op.
I found it interesting that none of my kids thought to ''ham it up'' and get their picture taken while being ''eaten'' by the crocodile (i.e. climbing inside its mouth) : **my** sibs and I would've!
My wife and I thought it amusing that, after spending all that money (although it goes to a good cause) for a family admission, the kids' favorite experiences of the day were the playground, ''spinning teacup'' ride (see below), and the jumping castle.
To the Irwins' credit, they **could** charge for these -- but they don't. They also don't charge for the noontime show that I mentioned above. I appreciate that: it shows class.
I can't make fun of the kids too much, though: I was at one of the world's most famous zoos, and what did I take the most pictures of? Wood-slab tables (in the eating area) and wooden park benches!
Here, I wanted to record the leg structure of the slab table. I have no idea whose hand and wristwatch those are: no one I know.
Here's the bench that caught my attention, in the ''Africa'' zone. I like how it has natural edges, rather than being milled.
Note how the back of the bench is connected. I think these would be tusked through-tenons, but using what appears to be a railroad spike instead of a wooden wedge.
The seat, too, appears to be a tusked through-tenon. Again, with a railroad spike.
This table -- again, with un-milled edges -- was somewhere there, as well.
As with the slab tables in the food area, I wanted to know how the legs were constructed.
So, yeah: my take-away message from the Australia Zoo is that they have neat-o tables and park benches. Plus cute wombats and itchy wallabies. :)
Seriously, though -- we had a good time.
--GG
UPDATE: The Australia Zoo is about two hours north of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. It's in a specific town, and if you Google Maps it you can see that the critters, if they escaped, could end up in people's back yards pretty easily.
I just now Googled the lyrics to ''The Wreck of the Old 97'', and discovered that I've mis-heard the lyrics all these years: I thought it was ''Montville, Virginia!''.
Anyhow.
One of the things we did on our holiday is visit the little town of Montville, which The Lady hasn't visited in many years.
Of course, as with the rest of our vacation, it rained. That took the shine off of wandering down the street, looking in to various shops. And the kids were all whiny. I ended up taking the kids to the car and sitting with them while The Lady looked into one last shop.
We also took the long way back to our rental place. You wouldn't know this unless you were from Western Washington (state) -- esp. north of Everett -- but the weather **and** the terrain really reminded me of back home.
It's up in the hills a ways, so year round it's cooler than the lower-lying areas (like where we live) -- which would suit The Lady just fine. She said she sometimes wishes she could live somewhere up there, on a bit of acreage. Not too many universities or govt. departments to work at, though. Maybe after we retire...
We're about halfway though our first ''family trip'' **ever** -- if you don't count flying back to Seattle to visit my parents and siblings. We're up at the Alexandra Headlands, near Maroochydore, staying at a rental place that's just a block or two from the beach.
It's been drizzling fairly constantly since we got here -- which is unfortunate, since the month prior to this has been reasonably clear. Ah well.
Took a day trip to the Bundaberg ginger factory. Took the tour, rode on the train, and etc.
As we walked past the parked train, something caught my attention. Notice the red lines I've added to the photo, which emphasize the direction of the brackets that hold the ''door'' closed on the front of the steam train. Three of the four seem fine -- but that lower-left one seems a little dodgy...
As it turns out, it's not **really** a steam train: it has a gasoline-powered engine. But still: take pride in your work, people!!!
I wonder how many tourists notice that mis-aligned bracket?
On Tuesday of this week I was abruptly struck with the notion of living in Norway for a year. Not forever: just a year; long enough to get a sense of the culture.
I wouldn't travel around. No, I'd just live in a village or small town, rent a house, and experience day-to-day life. And, during the winter, freeze my butt off.
Partly this was caused by my being part Norwegian, and hearing from various sources that Norwegians, in general, are very nice people.
Of course, part of this daydream is not having to work for a living -- because that burns up a lot of time. Instead, I'd just hang around the house doing woodworking and recording songs. Maybe take weekly classes in some Norwegian martial art (Norse Fu? Norse-jitsu?).
So: win the lottery; move to Norway (with my wife and kids, of course!); hang about for a year; move back to Australia.
Of course, once I won the lottery, I could do all of that -- woodworking, recording music, taking martial arts -- while staying here in Brisbane. So maybe it's not the ''Norway'' part at all...
--GG
UPDATE: And, two nights later, I stayed up past my bedtime Googling and Wikipedia-ing large villages and small towns in Norway -- including Google Earth-ing them to get an ariel view. Nuts, I know...
When I travel on my own, I often get day-dreamy and philosophical.
These photos are snapshots of the hotel room I hung around in from about 6pm one evening until noon the next day.
It's not a whole lot: a bed; a lamp and a reading chair; a desk and desk chair; a t.v.; a microwave and mini-fridge; a dresser, a closet; and a sink and (not pictured) a bathroom.
18 ft x 12 ft (yeah, I measured).
It was large enough that I didn't feel claustrophobic at all. And my mind wandered to the notion that, if I was a single dude, I could live a pretty comfortable life life right there. I'd come home from work, microwave some food, sit in the chair and read. Have a desktop or laptop computer at the desk: check e-mail, surf the net a bit.
Most of my hobbies would be severely curtailed: I'd have a hard time doing woodworking (although! If I shoved the bed into one corner, I could probably fit a small workbench in there...). And my audio recording would be limited to things I could jack directly into the computer: no acoustic drums! Either an e-drum kit, or just program the beats directly.
**Very** hard to find a place for a multi-gym. I'd have to get a gym membership.
And I'd have a lot more un-occupied time in the evening: sign up for martial arts classes again.
Oh -- and I'd have room for **far** fewer "things". I'd have to be **much** choosier about which books I kept, how many tools to keep, and far less keeping things "just in case".
And I'd probably be a bit lonely, now and again (but I highly doubt I'd get a pet). So I'd probably socialize more with co-workers, to compensate.
Yep -- a **very** different life from my current one. Not a horrible life -- just more peaceful than the one I have. And lots of people live ones very similar to that.
BUT -- my regular life is **very** good, as well. And I'm not interested in trading it.
Just the mind-wanderings I get when I travel alone.
The day before I was to fly out, it continued to snow, with a whole lot of extra predicted.
(Photo to the left: me standing barefoot in it. It's been a while since I've been at my parents' house with snow about.)
My dad suggested that it would be prudent to spend the night in a hotel near the airport, rather than try to slog my way through from my parents' house, the morning of. I agreed.
So: my dad booked me (and paid for!) a hotel room, and a few hours later I took the airport shuttle down. Spent the night there. Walked a few blocks and got Taco Bell for dinner (yay! As I've mentioned, no Mexican fast-food in Australia...) Watched the Bourne Identity on cable, plus various Spanish-language soap operas (no, I don't speak the language; but the cultural nuances were interesting).
The next morning, had the included breakfast; packed; took the hotel shuttle to the airport -- and -- well, rode an airplane home.
I've noticed during this visit -- all my bus rides and train trips -- that I've been singing Simon & Garfunkel's ''The Boxer'' and ''America'' to myself. Especially when I'm on the bus, or the train. Or in an airport.
(If you're not familiar with those songs, presumably they're on YouTube. I'll let you do the search yourself.)
''The Boxer'' is about a young man moving to New York City. It's about being in a strange place, and specifically mentions the winter.
''America'' is about a young couple setting out cross-country on (IIRC) the train and Greyhound busses. It just came to me as I rode on -- well, trains and busses.
Upon arriving at Sea-Tac airport, I noticed three things:
1) At customs: Wow! There **is** a distinctive ''Northwest'' accent! Can't specify it -- but it's distinct from all the Americans I hear on the t.v. shows.
2) Walking through the terminal, towards the outdoors: Dang! Caucasians in Seattle are really pale! Almost blue. They look kinda unwell. In Brisbane, everyone's either tanned, freckly, or sunburnt.
3) Curbside, waiting for my brother to pick me up: Woo! I can see my breath!!! (i.e. coldness!)
Why do people like to stand in line for ten or fifteen minutes, just for the privilege of getting on the airplane early? It seems like that would be a punishment: that you want to put off, as long as possible, climbing in to the flying tin can.
It's not like getting on early gets you a better seat: it's assigned seating.
Addendum: I asked my dad about this. He noted that getting on early lets you stash your carry-on luggage in a better place.
Fair enough. I only have a knapsack and a small messenger bag, so it doesn't matter to me.
(And ''Korean Airport Toilets'' would be a good album title or band name.)
My wife has pointed out that I take photos of toilets more than most people. And she's probably right.
The first two photos of toilets (below) I found interesting because the toilet seat converts from ''adult size'' to kid size. Clever! Never seen that before.
(Addendum: While visiting Builder Cousin, I noticed that the toilet in his main bathroom also has this type of toilet seat [he has three kids]. So maybe it's not as rare as I thought.)
I also thought this one was clever: the urinal on the right has hand rails, for the elderly and enfeebled folks that still prefer to use a urinal (rather than sitting).
On the road, visiting friends and family in the U.S. (At least, the ones in the Seattle area.) Haven't been back since three Christmasses ago -- when snow messed up our travel plans and prevented us from visiting a few people on our list.
This time I'm traveling solo (wife and kids are still in Brisbane), which means I can visit more people without boring the kids to pieces.
Sadly, I only have a limited time in the U.S. -- so I won't be able to see everyone that I'd like to.
The shorted flight was from Brisbane to Seoul (Korea) to Seattle (thx to Mom and Dad for paying for the ticket!). Had a 12 hour layover, so the airline was kind enough to give me a voucher for a free hotel room. I had planned to be ambitious and spend the time learning how to use looping software (freeware) that I had installed on my laptop but not yet had a chance to use.
Had the (free!) breakfast, first, while reading. Then went up to my room. Sat down in the comfy chair, just to try it out -- and woke up a few hours later. Decided that I must be tired, shrugged, and climbed in to the bed. So, no looping software.
Above is the Christmas tree they had in the hotel lobby. Note the scale of it, as indicated by the fella in the lower right of the photo.
I'm going to Seattle to visit friends and family in a few months. It's always busy, and fairly highly-scheduled, trying to fit everyone in.
So, last night I dreamed I was staying at my parents for a few days. I was in the guest room checking e-mail, while a series of friends and relatives stopped by.
I eventually emerged from the guest room, to discover that everyone had given up and left. Dangit!
The message: Don't spend too much time on e-mail or other "administrative" tasks while in Seattle?
