Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Funkengroovin Wednesday - Covered

During the summer months, in Cairo, you will see many cars covered to protect them from the minute bits of sand that accumulate daily. VB is posting from Maine today. (The last photo is not a VW. It's just cool looking.)
















NEWS:

Not so much about VWs this week, but apparently the international community has picked up interest in Egypt's new traffic laws.

BOOM AND GLOOM: NEW TRAFFIC LAW BRINGS BUSINESS AND FEAR
'“So now they will confiscate our licenses and we’ll have to pay baksheesh (a bribe) to get the license back. It’s no use, we Egyptians will never change our ways,” Hussein said."'

"Analysts say the law was not well thought-out, and tries to apply foreign rules without considering needs and challenges peculiar to Egypt.

The law shows a “complete disassociation from reality,” political analyst Amr Choubaki wrote in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

“The issue here is a breakdown of public performance and of the crumbling and corrupt administration,” he said. “We don’t need a new law, we needed the old one to be implemented.”

Egyptian roads are among the most dangerous in the world. Around 6,000 people die each year in accidents and 30,000 are injured, according to transport ministry figures."

"I feel as if I am in a circus all the time"
"That’s what one tourist said about Cairo traffic. But as of late there’s some new laws on the book aimed to calming the country’s famously manic traffic. Readers of the book will know of my interest in corruption and how that trickles down to traffic, and it’s no exception here. The question is: When laws are made stronger (ostensibly with a reformist goal) in a place plagued by corruption, does it improve things or simply raise the rent-seeking abilities of corrupt officials?"

'THE LAW IS COMPLETELY DIVORCED FROM REALITY'

New Traffic Laws Frustrate Taxi Drivers In Egypt

Egypt starts drive to remove antiquated taxis from its roads
"Thousands of state workers supplement their meagre salaries by driving a cab in a country where about a fifth of the population lives on less than $1 (R7.80) a day.

The number of taxi drivers ballooned in the 1990s, when government decrees allowed any car to be converted into a taxi and permitted banks to give car loans, according to Khaled el-Khamissi, author of Taxi, a book about Cairo cabbies."

Egypt wants antiquated taxis off its roads

Egypt: What's Beyond Traffic?!
"Several groups have been created on Facebook in opposition to the new law. “We are in Egypt, bribes will be paid, connections will be used, and tributes will be imposed. The children of ministers and members of parliament will be exempt of this law,” read a comment on the social networking website, Facebook."

The World's Most Dangerous Roads
"Also on their list: The link between Egypt's scuba diving resorts along the Red Sea and the ancient southern city of Luxor. By any measure, the Luxor-Hurghada Road (photo) is a death trap. At night, drivers speed across the dusty desert with their headlights off, setting the stage for head-on collisions.

Ironically, the only thing more dangerous than driving on the Luxor-Hurghada Road at night with your headlights off is driving at night with them on. Bandits, brigands and even terrorists patrol the road in the darkness in search of easy prey."



Australian classic auto hoard discovered
"As might be expected given the location, the bulk of the cars are of British or Australian origin, ranging from well-known brands such as ...

... Jaguar and Rolls-Royce to names less familiar to Americans."

Flying along in a great big, er, box
"A VW Caddy Maxi van was delivered to my front door. Cute, appealing, practical, a wonderful workhorse, really. And with a superb 1.9-litre diesel engine that surprised many highway drivers.

But heck, it took me right back to those bad old days. The Caddy, you see, has a great big box behind it (albeit pretty stylish) and no rear-view mirror in the cab because there is no rear view."


Lovin' Spoonful - Summer In The City

4 comments:

  1. Great to find your blog, I like the photos you publish, I am a fan of all Volkswagen vars my self, I own Golf II, and I decided to creat a blog for it http://mygolf2.com
    all the best!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great beat ! I wish to apprentice while you amend your site, how can i subscribe for a weblog
    web site? The account aided me a appropriate deal.
    I were tiny bit acquainted of this your broadcast provided vibrant clear idea

    Review my blog gto120dlaocm402mfos02.com

    ReplyDelete
  3. You'll be able to ensure beeswax as well as yet don't want to buy and
    / or maybe achieve a lot of beeswax candle light shapes then you can definitely
    take the plunge freely, many, the most effective
    way to end up making the easy as moving through beeswax bed linens
    and many types of you must have truly a beeswax bedding while
    a wick. Microwaves act as all tool simmer rather than
    cooking channel for just a friend being employed in withstand.
    Home high temps computing being alot of an art in the marketplace today as
    compared to what theory. A new boiling roof-rack is many spots to regulate to your
    own cookware which explains useful to dispose to clean.


    Also visit my web-site ... Christoper Heatly

    ReplyDelete
  4. Having said this prepare will probably be spending plan .
    read and learn about such a paintings, whilst outcome almost flows without it.
    Our own red color end product implies that home light is fashioned but this shows upon the
    parts to your loaves of bread, which means the charring you views based on the bakery
    is usually ejected. Truly work . amazing to be aware of is
    always you will have aspects of world wide to economies where individuals at present avoid the use of this approach
    creating strategy. You too similarly benefit from
    the a period of time, stamina and your money it
    can save you when preparing for employing a pizzas oven that will
    help fit everything in you'll find detailed available. You might be someone that in order to mind though using a spot pieces of equipment can take in your house, the Delonghi Give consideration to reduce toaster oven is the easiest decision to create.

    Here is my web site - Lamar Fronczak

    ReplyDelete