The Barrow Boy

Greyhound buses to operate in the UK

thebarrowboy — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 13:18:42 +0000

A true American icon is about to hit Britain’s roads. You can read the article here.

U.S. National Debt Clock

thebarrowboy — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:26:55 +0000

One scary Web page…

http://www.usdebtclock.org/

Panamanian teens grounded…permanently

thebarrowboy — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 20:25:00 +0000

The new government has reinstated the 9 pm nationwide curfew for all minors not accompanied by a responsible adult. Not sure what the reaction to such a law would be in Costa Rica or the UK but most people here seem to approve of the measure.

The government does not take a dim view of all young people, however. The 21-year old daughter of a minister was appointed consul in Canada. The list of appointees to diplomatic posts has raised a lot of eyebrows. Like his predecessors, the President is using his powers of patronage to hand out these plum jobs in return for political support.

Costa Rica is world’s greenest, happiest country

thebarrowboy — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 14:22:53 +0000

According to an article in today’s Guardian, Costa Rica “tops index ranking countries by ecological footprint and happiness of their citizens”

A rainbow over San Jose, the capital of Costa Rica

“Costa Ricans top the list because they report the highest life satisfaction in the world, they live slightly longer than Americans, yet have an ecological footprint that is less than a quarter the size. The country only narrowly fails to achieve the goal of what NEF calls “one-planet living”: consuming its fair share of the Earth’s natural resources.”

PS: the BBC now has a deeper analysis/explanation of this index. You can read it here.

Anyone for a 99?

thebarrowboy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:50:33 +0000

The new president of Panama was sworn in yesterday. He pledged to keep his three main campaign promises, the first of which was to get tough with criminals. He owns a chain of supermarkets called “Super 99″ and one of them was attacked by an armed gang last night. A shoot-out ensued. Not an auspicious start… but at least the gang was caught.

Non-British readers may like to read about “99s” in the UK here.

Privatisation has been a train wreck

thebarrowboy — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 22:42:53 +0000

Britain’s railways and Spain’s appear to be gulfs apart. Former Mayor of London Ken Livingstone is right to call for the re-nationalization of the rail network after the latest fiasco (the government has had to bail out one of the private operators). You can read his column in The Guardian here.

The trains in Spain race swiftly across the plain

thebarrowboy — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:22:14 +0000

Like most countries, Spain succumbed to the motor car a long time ago. Unlike, Britain, however, it did not give up long-distance travel by rail for travel by coach [bus].

Forty years ago, the rail network in Spain was very poor and the country backward by European standards. To visitors, that was one of its attractions, however. I once spent 20 hours on a train from Madrid to Barcelona, trying to sleep on newspaper on the floor of the corridor.

How times have changed. The Guardian has an article about Spain’s new high-speed AVE trains. I understand the enthusiasm for these trains completely, especially as air travel has become such a nightmare.

Noir of the Week

thebarrowboy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 18:52:18 +0000

I love the Noir of the Week website. This week they turn the spotlight on the Glass Key, based on a Dashiell Hammett story.

“All of the key components of noir are present in this film: a very definite crisis of patriarchy, strong willed femme fatales and a plot centered around an expose of a political nature. And in regards to the surreal aesthetics attributed to noir film, what else could so gloriously conjure the ghost of Andre Breton like the shots of a somber black umbrella parade through the rain at Taylor Henry’s funeral?”

Check it out.

So much more than a vampire flick

thebarrowboy — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 16:30:22 +0000

I’m not a great horror fan but Swedish movie Let the right one in (Låt den rätte komma in, 2008) is an exceptional offering. The film has so many themes – including social alienation, the trials of puberty and adolescence, love, revenge and pedophilia – that you’ll be thinking about it long after you finish watching it.

Set in Stockholm in 1982, the two first-time actors who play the main characters – a 12-year-old boy and a 12-year-old vampire who strike up a friendship – give remarkable performances.

I always enjoy the cinematography of movies set in Sweden and in this case the bleak, white winter landscape and pallid faces are contrasted with the scarlet of clothes and other objects – including blood.

I can’t recommend this film too highly. It is one of the best new movies I’ve seen in a long time. There is so much to get your teeth into…

Las Lajas finally has a decent hotel

thebarrowboy — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:16:36 +0000

My family and I love to spend time at the beach. By that I mean the simple pleasures: swimming, eating and sunbathing on unspoiled, largely empty beaches. The nearest long stretch of beach is at Las Lajas. That is about a one-hour (very pleasant) drive from David, now that the road is paved all the way.

Until now, food and accommodation was almost non-existent at Las Lajas but this weekend my wife and I visited the new Las Lajas Beach Resort. It is a small hotel (14 rooms) right on the beach, with a pool and a bar/restaurant. The rooms have air conditioning, nice bathrooms but (as yet) no cable TV. Wifi is available in the bar but not in the rooms, it would seem. The food is not very inspiring but is inexpensive (eating out is quite a challenge in Chiriqui in general; Boquete has the most options, David very few.)

The manager is a very friendly, trilingual Dutch lady. The Panamanian staff were very helpful and friendly too. This is the bartender, Julio, who was raised locally. He told us that as a boy, when there was no road, only a track running between the fields, he used to transport the fish his grandfather caught out to the town on horseback – in the middle of the night. He was a great source of information.

These are photos of the hotel.

Horses (with saddles!) are available for those who like to ride.

Not surprisingly, we had some rain but when it cleared it made for a spectacular sunset.

And there were lots of crabs about.

Full marks to the hotel for keeping their section of the beach clean. Litter is a big problem in Panama in general and the beach is no exception.

A German couple who used to have a restaurant at the beach have now built some cabins with a swimming pool in the town of Las Lajas (i.e., not at the beach). We went to Paradise Inn for dinner. As I remember it, the place doesn’t look quite like the photo on the Web page but I didn’t have my camera with me so couldn’t take photos of my own.

The pool has not been completed yet, nor have all the cabins. But the food was good and Christian and his partner great hosts. We looked at – and loved – the cabin for four people. The Inn is another welcome addition to the area as it increases the options close to the beach.