Oh, shoot...

A young man in Bucharest became so fed up with security measures surrounding the upcoming NATO conference that he posted an internet ad offering his terrace, with a clear view of the conference venue, as a sniper position. But, it seems, the security people don't have a sense of humour. Full story in the Times Online. (Although we're not sure why they put it in their 'Women' section.)

Oh dear...

Lithuanian road rage

I want to blab on a bit about driving in Lithuania but much of what I say here will be equally applicable to other former-Soviet countries.

For a long time, we’ve been including a box about driving in Lithuania in Vilnius In Your Pocket. Here’s the opening paragraph:

Lithuanian drivers are bloody-minded and completely bonkers, making any journey in a car a bit of an edge-of-the-seat adventure. They are especially fond of tailgating, cutting lanes and dangerous overtaking manoeuvres. Indeed, Lithuanian drivers are now, officially, the worst drivers in Europe. The country has the highest rate of fatalities in the European Union.

That attracted the ire of one Lithuanian reader who had picked up a copy of Vilnius In Your Pocket while returning home on a flyLAL flight. (Vilnius In Your Pocket is available to passengers flying on flyLAL flights until April 15.) She wrote a huffy letter to one of the local rags – 15min – who then contacted us for comment. The story of how we had labelled Lithuanian drivers as blood thirsty monsters ended up on the front page, with a hint of pink-eared outrage that we had dared to print the facts and had done so with – shock! horror! – humour.

The article also appeared online (you can see it here) where comments could be added by readers. Out of some 215 comments, 84% were positive, supporting our article and praising us for having dared to write the truth. We call that a result, and our comments on Lithuanian driving will remain. So there!

That would be enough of a story, but events over the Easter weekend added a very sad twist of irony to the story. The son of Lithuania’s Transport Minister was killed in a road accident on the weekend. He was a passenger in a car being driven by his girlfriend. She lost control, and the car spun and slammed into an oncoming trolleybus.

Reports suggest that she was driving very fast. The driver of another car that they passed, who was travelling at around 60kp/h, claims that they passed so fast he could hardly see them. It has also been suggested that the Transport Minister’s son, who was reportedly a safe and careful driver, may have been drinking and therefore asked his girlfriend to drive. That would have been a very wise thing to do were it not for the fact that his girlfriend was to drive him to his death.

The Easter weekend newspapers were also filled with a litany of other reports of other similar accidents from around Lithuania. It makes for deeply depressing reading.

So, while we feel vindicated of the accusation that we are being unnecessarily negative for labelling Lithuanian drivers as dangerous, we are deeply saddened by the seemingly ceaseless carnage on Lithuania’s roads. We also offer sincere condolences to the families of all those who are killed, and continued support for the Transport Minister in his ‘war on the roads’ campaign.

Europe's Top Motorbike Rides

The Guardian places Romania's Transfagarasan at No. 3:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/mar/24/europe.top10motorbikerides.

There's more on this great road here.

Romania Caught Short in Loo Row

As if there were need of any more evidence that Third World-esque Bucharest is utterly unfit to host next month's Nato Summit, then this story from the BBC is it...

Preparations for next month's Nato summit in Romania are being overshadowed by a row - over toilets. Parliamentary official Mihai Unghianu says Nato has complained that there are not enough lavatories at the venue.

Nato is said to have asked the government to install 1,000 temporary toilets - one for every five delegates, each costing $9,500 (£4,700) a week. Nato has not publicly commented on the issue. Key talks on its Afghanistan mission are expected at the summit.

It will take place at the vast parliamentary palace in Bucharest, built for the late dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, but now the site for both houses of parliament. The palace is among the largest buildings in the world, and although it has more than 1,000 halls and rooms, and 4,500 chandeliers, it appears to be short on some of the bare essentials.

The dispute emerged after minutes from a parliamentary committee meeting were leaked. According to these, in the meeting Mr Unghianu reported that after Nato officials had asked him for the plans of the building, they said they were displeased with both the number and quality of the toilet facilities.

Nato suggested the installation of temporary toilets, but Bucharest objected that they did not have the money to fit them, and that they might upset the aesthetic appeal of what some consider to be an architectural jewel of a building.

The palace's architect, Anca Petrescu, has called the request for extra temporary facilities humiliating. She told Romania's Adevarul newspaper that all the toilets would be working during the summit, and suggested that someone with portable toilets for hire was trying to make money at the taxpayers' expense.

In Your Pocket is Hiring

In Your Pocket Area Sales Manager
Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro

In Your Pocket city guides is looking for a full-time Area Sales Manager to handle a number of sales and management duties. Based in Tirana, but required to liaise with, and occasionally travel to, other offices in Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro, applicants should be enthusiastic, independent-minded, outgoing, resourceful and have some experience in advertising sales in the region. A

A good knowledge of spoken and written English is also required. The successful candidate will also be involved in other related publishing projects in the future. Candidates should email CV, covering letter and two references to Jeroen van Marle, jeroen@inyourpocket.com

Travel Writer
Central & Eastern Europe

One of the largest publishers of In Your Pocket guides is currently looking for a new writer. If you think you have what it takes to write witty, informative and fresh content under great pressure, send an email with your CV to editor@inyourpocket.com.

While experience is good, it is not always necessary. Indeed, some of our best writers had little experience before joining us.

What you will need is: a commitment to relocate to, and a knowledge of, Central and Eastern Europe; a love of cigarette smoke and railway stations smelling of stale onions; a disdain for anyone who carbon offsets their flights and generally worries about climate change; a desire to spend long nights trying out every grotty student bar in town.

You also need to be a native English speaker.

Speed sheep outruns pigs

Faster than a speeding police dog. Able to leap police cars in a single bound. It’s super sheep! A truant ruminant in the German village of Guester, wearing nothing but a thick woolly coat, has defied round-up attempts by the local law.

The sheep ran at over 30mph through town streets, outrunning pursuing police cars. It also waylaid police dogs, giving them a well-placed head butt. Eventually the wild woolly maggot was apprehended in a field when it stopped to eat some grass.

Police are now looking for the sheep’s owner.

Lithuanian PM lights up, coughs up fine

Lithuania's Prime Minister, Gediminas Kirkilas, forgot to not smoke in a bar in the port town of Klaipėda, and earned the bar a 1,000LT (€290) fine. He claims that he "simply forgot" that smoking was banned in bars, restaurants, cafes, etc Lithuania. He has offered to pay the fine on behalf of the bar. (In Lithuania, venue owners, not patrons, are fined for breaches of the smoking ban.)

We hope he doesn't wake up one day and forgot to run the country.

A Victory For Us All!

From The Times
March 11, 2008

Newspaper that slated ‘joyless’ restaurant wins appeal over libel

David Sharrock Ireland Correspondent

Restaurant critics, and newspaper proprietors, were celebrating yesterday after a judge upheld their rights to publish unflattering reviews of bad food and lousy service.

Sir Brian Kerr, the Northern Ireland Lord Chief Justice, overturned the award of £25,000 to Goodfellas pizza restaurant in West Belfast against The Irish News.

Ciarnan Convery, the pizzeria owner, sued the newspaper for libel over a highly critical review of his restaurant in August 2000.

Sir Brian’s appeal court decision had been keenly awaited, with implications around the world for publishers of restaurant reviews. Sitting with two appeal court judges, he ruled that the jury that decided that the restaurant had been defamed had been misdirected by the trial judge. He ordered a retrial, adding that while he thought a properly directed jury would have found in favour of The Irish News he could not be certain. It will now be up to Mr Convery to decide whether he wishes to pursue the case farther.

The newspaper’s restaurant critic, Caroline Workman, criticised the quality of the food, the staff and the joyless, smoky atmosphere of Mr Convery’s premises. The jury, hearing the case more than a year ago, agreed with Mr Convery that her review was defamatory, damaging and hurtful and he was awarded £25,000 in damages. The newspaper appealed, claiming that Workman’s report had been fair comment.

Lord Lester, QC, an architect of the Human Rights Act, fought the appeal on behalf of the newspaper, saying that it would be “perfectly ludicrous” if libel proceedings could be issued every time a critic wrote a bad review.

Overturning the jury’s decision after a two-day hearing in January, the Lord Chief Justice said: “I have decided that there was misdirection in the present case. I would allow the appeal and quash the order made in favour of the respondent.”

He added: “Although I consider it likely that a properly directed jury would conclude that sufficient factual substratum existed for the comment which constituted the preponderance of the article, I cannot be certain that this is so and I would therefore order a retrial.

“In any event, the question of malice has not been decided by the jury and this therefore remains an issue that requires to be determined, if it is concluded that the defence of fair comment is otherwise available.” The judges said that they would rule on the issue of costs after Easter.

Mr Convery declined to comment. Noel Doran, the Editor of The Irish News, said: “We are delighted. It is a great victory for The Irish News. We came here to prove a point of principle and we have been vindicated.” He said that the original verdict was perverse and added that if Mr Convery wanted to take the case back to court, he would fight it. “We will go as far as we have to to get the matter fully resolved,” he said.

He said that the judgment sent out a strong message that newspapers were entitled to publish fair and accurate reviews. The case covered not only restaurant reviews but the work of film, theatre and music critics, he added.

Workman, who is based in Cork, said: “I am very relieved. I think it is a good day for the restaurant trade of Northern Ireland.”

Irish News review of Goodfellas

After one ring of squid . . . it became clear the dishes were made with the cheapest ingredients on the market”

“Our main courses arrived in as much time as it took the chef in view to rip open three blue industrial-size bags of processed cheese”

“The staff have no more time to be involved with their customers than those in a motorway cafe”

No title or comment needed. Just enjoy

Lost in translation?

The Travel Channel last week aired an enjoyable romp around Romania with Anthony Bourdain, whose No Reservations show is one of the most popular on the network. Alas, his tongue in cheek humour, brutal honesty and disdain for kitsch did not go down well in Romania itself: he has been the subject of a media attack for days.

You can watch the show in six parts on You Tube. Don't forget to read the comments posted by rabid Romanians underneath each video.

And in other news . . .

Here's a quick round-up of some of the more quirky items that have hit the headlines recently in countries covered by In Your Pocket.

In Poland, the taxman is demanding blood. Well, okay, not so much demanding as strongly encouraging that tax payers make a blood donation in order to receive a tax rebate worth roughly €40. More here.

We were also amused by the story of a Polish man and his spontaneous trouser combustion.

In Romania, (and fresh from the couldn't-have-made-it-up-no-matter-what-you've-been-smoking department,) police have been learning to pirouette so that they can direct traffic more gracefully. See for yourself.

While we're on the subject of police doing unexpected things, Hungarian police woman Livia Kovacs has been nicked for dropping her knickers and doing something with her handcuffs and baton in a naughty film. One of her colleagues saw it, and now she's been decommissioned. No pictures in this story, unfortunately.

And, finally, in Serbia, one company boss has banned his employees from turning up in dirty duds. He has insisted that employees take showers, brush their teeth and wear deodorant. Fair enough, too, we reckon.

All stories found during a quick browse on Ananova.

Ghosts vandalize Romanian village

Romanian police have closed the book on the case of a spate of vandalism in the Romanian town of Lilieci, concluding that ghosts are to blame. Apparently the pesky apparitions have been hurling bicycles through the air and smashing windows. Or, possibly, riding bikes through windows. They could be stunt ghosts. They also mischievously extinguish candles in the absence of wind and move objects about on tables. (Oh! The cheek of it!) It is not clear if the spectres will be required to appear before a court.

Original report from Ananova.