Category Archives: transport

Blue parking badge failing those most in need

Frank Gardner

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There ought to be parking permits specifically for wheelchair users like the BBC’s Frank Gardner
— Boris Johnson

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Suppose you’re in the car and you are looking for somewhere to park.  In fact, you’ve been looking for somewhere to park for the past 25 minutes, and the kids are starting to hit each other and the windows are fogging up so that you have to rub them with your sleeve.  People behind you keep hooting because you are going so slowly, and your stressometer needle is edging towards critical as you drift further and further from the place you need to be ;  and then suddenly you see a space — a gap between a row of cars of at least six axe handles in length.  Enough for you to park!

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Why does Atatürk Havalimani* have all the money?

* havalimani :  airport

Ataturk-check-in

Istanbul’s gleaming and expanding airport is a symbol of a nation going places …

… Heathrow is not,
argues Boris Johnson.

Heathrow-check-in

The other night we were filling in time at Istanbul airport, and I was watching an official dart around on one of those new Segway gizmos.  Have you seen one?  They are extraordinary.  It was as though his feet had grown wheels.  This way and that he sheepdogged the passengers, twisting and curvetting and generally running rings round them like some Spanish midfielder.

“What a poser !” I exclaimed.  “He’s just showing off.  He doesn’t need that thing at all.”  And then he pushed down the stick and he shot off into the distance like Usain Bolt – and we understood why he was equipped with electric feet.

Continue reading Why does Atatürk Havalimani* have all the money?