Miss Kolka

Oh yes..

Had such a wonderful weekend away from Paris, away from all the sounds and the stress.

Wish I could always have 3 day weekends.. I think everyone should. Then there would be more work for everyone and people would enjoy their job more - being there less.

Apparently in Norway they finish work around 3 in the afternoon.. That would also be nice.

Who am I kidding - that would not work in my little workaholic mind - I would just get confused.

Lets work more - to earn more (guess who's Politician's motto this is??)

Well, Mr. President - not everyone wants to escape their personal life and therefore work 16 hours a day, or  can vacation in their millionaire friends' houses. And isn't money there to spend? How are you going to spend it if you work all the time?

Funnily I read an interview with a girl I would not consider a special friend of mine - seeing her status and former "doings" (aldur og fyrri störf hmm hmm)  and for once she actually said something not too stupid :" I have never met anyone who wished they had worked more".

There you have it - Enjoy life while you still can - work is only there to give you an extra push.  

After a long day at work - a day a little bit different

where you could hear an amazing voice on every corner - a little bit of opera every half hour.

A day that could have been exciting and interesting with alll that we could have said about the amazing Pavarotti.

But somehow it became a stressful day, people shouting and the news agenda so unclear. Bosses critizising every little word and technical errors all over the place.

Shame we could not pay a proper tribute to the maestro.

Well, here I am - asking myself the same question yet again. After surfing the net endlessly for some news, something else,something different (and wondering whether the word news does really come from the word "new")- Im not satisfied. I want to learn, I need to discover new things but I dont know where to look.

On a normal work day, I wake up and switch on CNN- then I think to myself that what I hear is in some respect what I followed already yesterday and quickly check Al-jazeera before scanning bbc.co.uk and mbl.is. While brushing my teeth and doing my make-up I tend to listen to the news report on France inter radio - that is if Im on time - more often than not I miss the news seeing that Im late. On some rare occasions I end up listening to an interesting analysis on something "off-news" or a more magazine-like topic like why french workers are the most unhappy nation at work. How fitting.

Then comes work - often at high speed - especially if Bush junior or Sarkozy are to announce some "major" policy changes. Get ready for the breaking news - Switch on the red light. It might be something exciting...except that its ALWAYS the same speech, just with different words.. the policy makers of the west trying to convince people that their action are "right" and the only way forward. And we believe every word of it - at least we do not contradict them the slightest although we might have evidence to the contrary.

Maybe its the lack of time, or the fact that we only have a limited group of journalists that we end up with "fact" stories about what he or she said and what has happened in a chronological order. Forget the analysis or too much criticism when we are talking about our own rightous world leaders.

Then Iranian president Ahmadinejad pops up and announces something about his nuclear ambitions.
This can then be heard by various senior producers: "ok we will do a story on this but we cannot just take everything he says as an absolute truth so a little analysis and putting the event in a more global context is necessary".

Finally!But why can't we do the same regarding other leaders - aren't journalists known for their synicism and critical minds? Lets use them - lets get out of the framework - and LETS actually differ from CNN, BBC and all their friends. Only then can France24 become relevant. A big bravo for Journalist Gulliver Cragg and his Iran story this week... funny enough I could not find it on our website (not important enough to save it more that 24 hours perhaps??).

But why is it that these diplo stories are always considered newsworthy?? All that comes out of political press offices becomes news. What about the refugees that wanted to return home to Nahr al-bared in Lebanon? These people actually have nothing to return to - and we already played the story 3 times, so the story is dead. Or about people going around their daily business in Iraq - despite the bombings.. I think we need to remind ourselves that they are real people, not just numbers. Or do just more light stories..and laugh about silly things.

Oh no, lets rather put Bush in the headlines. That's a seller.

I need alternative news reports...

already checked alternet.org

and Znet.

but I still feel dry and I haven't learned anything new.

AH...I could check out CNN's Christiane Amanpour's yearlong investigation on god's warriors . There is a reason that CNN is known worldwide..even though we dont always agree.

All around Paris this is what you see.. bikes, bikes everywhere! Its the new hype - Paris city is counting on people to take the bikes now instead of the ever so popular metro or bus. Which in itself is good and better for the enviroment. Especially when its not raining, that is to say only the last 3 days of our WHOLE summer. But lets hope we'll get a fairly dry winter.

Although bicycles and bikers have become a common sight in the city, parisians have still to learn some basic cycle-manners. Like not parking cars on cycle lanes, leaving some space on the right for bicycles to pass and stop screaming at girls in skirts who like to take their bikes, (or the new velibs) instead of being accosted daily in the metro. The city has made some arrangements with bike lanes in some areas but there's still some room for improvement. Especially in comparision to the queen of cycle cities, COPENHAGEN. (which is even better than Amsterdam - see pictures on flickr ).

Want to try out the velib and feel the wind in your hair? Don't forget to subscribe ( 1 euro for the day or 30 euros for the year) but that's only the subscription. After you have subscribed , chose a bike. The first half hour is free. After that the second half hour is 1 euro, the third is 2 euros and after that 4 euros every half hour. Don't understand the system, don't worry, you're not alone - it is french after all and it takes some time to get used to. But then its great. That is if you find a spot to hand in your bike at your destination. The biggest problem users are experiencing is that there are no free spaces to park the bikes within the half hour.. so then you have to go half of the way back to find a free space to avoid paying 57 euros for a 8 hour workday! Isn't it then better to actually "steal" a bike for the 150 euro credit you promissed in case of a "non-return"?

With velib, after the first 30 minutes.. who knows what's going to happen?

I just know that I'm glad I have my own bike...

But RATP, you still get one "Klapp" for trying

Who said Cat's were independent creatures that do not try to please their owners? They can even imitate us - that is, if they fancy doing it

That could be worrying for me I since my cat is completely deaf and sleeps around 23 hours a day... But then again I think it might take it after other family members.

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