And now the fuse is lit...

Karmacat

Butti, that sounds absolutely wonderful! And very good value, for such a long way and such a good experience.

beanielou

Glad you had a good time Butti

Butti

Maybe I was lucky....I don't know but the incident that really highlighted it for me was when I got it badly wrong. So I'd come out of a nightclub, negotiated with the taxi driver and got in a car. I then realised.......there was no seat belt.......there was no meter....it wasn't a taxi. I imagined death and death with horrible things before it, panicked a bit. I was then told to "Calm down".

So what happened was the driver took me home for the agreed price after telling me to calm down. What I remembered....and is very important.....is that tourism is a huge part of the Cuban economy and Cuba is a police state. So if a Cuban kills a tourist or frighten tourists away the probability is they won't even make it to prison. It's not great for the Cubans but makes it very safe for tourists.

Although President Trump says it's not safe!

Karmacat

Oh my word! That's ... memorable. Thanks for sharing, Butti.

beanielou

Butti~~ That must have been scary.

Butti

Karmacat wrote: »

Oh my word! That's ... memorable. Thanks for sharing, Butti.

Yes indeed. Always check your taxi driver is in fact a taxi driver!

ZTD

Butti wrote: »

Maybe I was lucky....I don't know but the incident that really highlighted it for me was when I got it badly wrong. So I'd come out of a nightclub, negotiated with the taxi driver and got in a car. I then realised.......there was no seat belt.......there was no meter....it wasn't a taxi. I imagined death and death with horrible things before it, panicked a bit. I was then told to "Calm down".

Did that work? Did telling you to calm down make you calm down?

Butti wrote: »

So what happened was the driver took me home for the agreed price after telling me to calm down. What I remembered....and is very important.....is that tourism is a huge part of the Cuban economy and Cuba is a police state. So if a Cuban kills a tourist or frighten tourists away the probability is they won't even make it to prison. It's not great for the Cubans but makes it very safe for tourists.

Unfortunately, there are other places which are in that area which are poor, in desperate need of foreign currency, and police states, and you sure as hell don't want to be doing daft things there - such as Venezuela and Argentina.

The "needs" of the individual are often perceived by the individual to outweigh the needs of the country.

There may be other factors involved, Cuba has poor social mobility - so where you are is where you are. So, as the saying goes, don't shit in your own nest. Also, it is pretty religious, which often helps. And of course, everyone likes a Butti.

But be careful...

Butti wrote: »

Although President Trump says it's not safe!

That reminds me of Blazing Saddles when the Sheriff and the Waco Kid crash the recruitment meeting of Hedley Lamarr. Gene Wilder was perfectly safe. Cleavon Little - not so much.

If you shoot your mouth off in public, it's not going to end well. Cuba has many thousands of political prisoners in dire conditions, and thousands of normal ones who are as poorly treated. Keeping your head down, spend your money, and have good clean fun - and you'll be fine.

Butti wrote: »

Yes indeed. Always check your taxi driver is in fact a taxi driver!

I believe that's one of the major complaints about Uber.

ZTD

And today, in the annals of "Cheap things are cheap for a reason" we have a letter from npower stating "Your last DD payment is 2nd of Jan, we may have already requested this from your bank".

This is a letter dated the 13th of Feb... :eek:

beanielou

ZTD wrote: »

And today, in the annals of "Cheap things are cheap for a reason" we have a letter from npower stating "Your last DD payment is 2nd of Jan, we may have already requested this from your bank".

This is a letter dated the 13th of Feb... :eek:

You could not make it up:eek:

Karmacat

Oh that letter's quite impressive, Z!