Starting on a light note; this make-shift water capturing device at Frankfurt airport struck me as quite contemporary art-sort-of-thing. Most amazingly, the airport company Fraport clearly considers it essential to document its ownership of the plastic sheating, itself surely the physical expression of a German norm (industrial standard). I just wonder why? (50,000 people work at the airport and roundabouts).
Moving onto heavier stuff; Inbetween flights I met a chubby man in one of the cosy all-glass smokers' cabins, sponsored by cigarette companies and invariably inadequately air-conditioned. We got chatting, as smokers do. He was just back from Varna, Bulgaria, where he is involved in building a new shopping centre. Of course, I immediately asked: "Is construction still on-going?" and he replied "Yes", indicating that the financial crisis has not hit that particular spot on our planet. He didn't much care for Bulgarians, he ventured, so I asked why. Describing the dirt in Varna's backroads, he also informed me that Bulgaria was a sex tourism destination. "In the Sofia Kempinski, kids are placed in a row like a string of pearls, so the old buggers can pick one". Hardcore porn is standard in all hotels he's been in (No, I did not ask if he liked watching them). Waitresses in a popular restaurant chain called 'Happy' something are forced to wear very short hotpants. We finished our cigarettes and wished each other 'bon voyage'. I was left quite shocked that a new member country of the EU would allow child prostitution to take place, so openly (not that the hidden version is any better).
No comments:
Post a Comment