I'm back and observing

I was in Portugal for the last week and the only TV was news - euro news - and the only two stories to make the waves were the "Madeline McCann mystery: did the parents kill her?" and the more interesting to us, on this side of the Atlantic, - the "Northern Rock (the 5th largest Mortgage Company in the UK) goes bust and causes a bank run". So coming back to the usual stories - "Harbour Front Tenders Deferred" and "A Community Centre is urged" makes me think that I was never away.

So here are the observations:

• Roundabouts (traffic circles) work in Europe very well why can't they work here?
• I couldn't find a Marina in the Algarve that didn't have a commercial first floor and none that weren't people places. It can be done everywhere in the world but Cobourg!
• The election campaign is moribund, except at my house, "What's that sign doing on our lawn" she says. "Working I hope" I say.
• The Referundum is sadly an ignorant issue - lots more work needed here.
• I can't find any report of the dunk tank at the St Mike's Fair. You would have thought an enterprising paparazzi might have taken a pic of Peter D being dunked. What a sycophantic press we have around here!
• It's good to be back

When I returned I looked at all of the links on the left - What I read on the net, and was really impressed by Garth Turner's cross country tour. Not for the content but for the way that he described his internet audience and collaborators on his website actually coming out to put a face to the name at every stop. Very impressive and makes the meaning of the word interactive truly that!