Paul Brownjohn @Paulos_the_fog@qoto.org
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
Just because it's spring - the glorious yellow alyssum saxatile
Is there a mycologist in the house?
These are growing out of one (and only one) of our 5 compost bins. I have never seen anything quite like them before - can anyone identify them?
The thing that annoys me about the absolute chaos at the port of Dover, is that it was an absolutely 100% predictable problem.
As Britain is no longer a member of the European Union, every British passport now has to be examined for validity (not less than 6 months) and stamped to indicate the date of entry into the Schengen zone. Moreover, every passport must now be checked to see if the holder has already reached or exceeded the maximum stay of 90 days per 180 days in the Schengen zone. The French authorities foresaw the delays that this would occasion and asked the port of Dover to provide them with additional border control booths where they could station extra officers. The port of Dover recognised the forthcoming problem and asked the government for £30 million to completely reorganise the port to make room for the required extra border control booths. The tory scum offered 0.1% of the funds requested so the necessary work has not been undertaken.
As is usual with this government of tory filth, they are now blaming the French and the European Union for problems for which they, themselves, are absolutely 100% to blame!
The French have no option whatever other than to make the checks on each passport and stamp them in as it is required by the other members of the Schengen zone and European Union regulations (regulations that the British government were adamant should be imposed when Britain was still a member of the EU. “Hoisted with his own petard” springs to mind!), just as the same checks are made on the passports of aliens entering the United Kingdom by the UK border force.
The British need to get it into their thick skulls that they are now aliens in the European Unions rather than welcome friends and colleagues!
The other day, there was an AWACS aircraft circling low over Luxembourg low enough for the huge radar antenna on the top to be clearly seen - I wonder what it was doing.
So, something like this:
Retired software engineer & woodworker.
Anglo-francophone.
Detest tories. Subscribe to green, leftish radical politics but not to any particular political party!.
Love the EU and all it stands for, moreover, I spent the last 10 years of my career working at an EU agency.
Enthusiastic photographer, especially wildlife and most especially butterflies.
Slightly knowledgeable gardener.
Atheist; loathe almost all religions and pity the people deluded enough to follow them. I make exceptions for Buddhism as it isn't really a religion in the strictest sense of the word as it doesn't postulate the existence of any god, and Jainism which is the epitome of peace.
For anyone who is interested, my header photo is of the most stupendous sunset I have ever seen. On the right is the waterfront of Vientiane, the capital of Laos, on the left is Thailand and in the middle, acting as the border between the two countries is the mighty Mekong river.
Joined Nov 2022
