Oops, it must be Paris

 

We managed to get caught up in that London Heathrow outage, so we couldn't get back from Germany. Undeterred, we decided to turn it into a road trip adventure and to come back across Europe instead. It's how we ended up in Paris. 

We booked a local train to Stuttgart, then an IC to Karlsruhe, where we could pick up the ICE 9590 fast train from Berlin to Paris. It only stopped in Strasbourg and then Paris l'Est. It took us out of the system and away from all the hanging around waiting to be gamed by the airlines, which said that our flight was still running until around mid-afternoon of the day we should return. 

By that time, we were already on the 320km/hr express through Germany and France and arrived in Paris around when the (now cancelled) flight was supposed to take off. 

And so to our hotel in Paris. It's the first rain we've experienced on the whole trip, but this Hotel OKKO is right next to the arrival platform in Paris. Gare l'Est is right next to Gare du Nord, for our next-day getaway to Londres.

'Travellin' light.

 

Grifter's Trumpi-cession ?

The books are probably being cooked right now. It's a grifter's way to make some money. Crash everything and short the markets. Throw enough uncertainty into the mix and it'll be a truss-load of damage. Meanwhile marvel at the red car. 

It'll be on stamps next.

Full disclosure, my one is white and I'm very happy with the vehicle. Shares? a different matter,

Barbie's dream home ain't America any more

Barbie factory in Mexico 

In every dream home, a heartache... 

“Tariffs are something we’ve managed for many years, and we’ll just continue to manage that,” Walmart's CEO McMillon said on a recent earnings call. “We can’t predict what will happen in the future, but we can manage it really well."

“Let’s be real honest: Long term, a 25% tariff across the Mexico and Canada borders would blow a hole in the U.S. industry that we’ve never seen,” Ford Motor Co. (F) CEO Jim Farley said at a recent investor conference. Just shy of 15% of Ford’s sales are sourced from Mexico, according to S&P Global Mobility data. 

“Frankly, it gives free rein to South Korean, Japanese and European companies that are bringing 1.5 million to 2 million vehicles into the U.S. that wouldn’t be subject to those Mexican and Canadian tariffs,” he added.

Best Buy has been warning customers that the president’s tariffs may result in potential price hikes for months. The duties effect on its operations is set to increase on Tuesday.

CEO Corie Barry told MPR News in early February that about 60% of the company’s cost of sales flows through China “in some way, shape or form.” Trump has said his duties on Chinese imports will grow to 20% from 10% on Tuesday. 

“We’ll work with vendor partners, but at the end of the day, these really do become costs that get passed on to the American consumer,” she said. “They flow through that entire supply chain, and they become part of the baseline cost.”

Acer CEO and chairman Jason Chen has said his laptops will likely cost an additional 10% in the U.S., directly pointing to Trump’s tariffs. 

“We will have to adjust the end user price to reflect the tariff,” Chen told The Telegraph in mid-February. “We think 10pc probably will be the default price increase because of the import tax. It’s very straightforward.”

The CEO added that some companies will likely use the tariffs as an excuse to raise prices by more than necessary. Most of Taiwan-based Acer’s laptops are assembled in China.

Both Mattel and Hasbro have said they may need to raise prices in the face of Trump’s tariffs on Mexico and China.

Mattel, the company behind toy lines like Barbie and Hot Wheels, produces about 40% of its toys in China, compared to the industry average of 80%, Mattel’s head of finance, Anthony DiSilvestro, said on an earnings call. Less than 10% of its toys are made in Mexico, with no exposure to Canada.

Back, once again

Sometimes, the effect of travel impinges, and it is almost impossible to keep up a blog. Hence the occasional backfill.

draining the new swamp?

Metaphor

californian

 

Once more from the Californian Grill at the Contemporary, looking over toward the Cinderella Castle and fireworks. Wondering how magic and plight can co-exist and aware of the feeling of joy despite everything.

My friend once challenged me to explain how I could say 2024 was a good year while understanding the sentiment of things losing their hubcaps.

Meanwhile, I'm still a thinkin' 

A1A north, with rockets

I knew the time of the launch (10:19) and we were travelling along the Space Coast towards Cape Canaveral. Maybe we were still 20-30 miles away, when we saw the plume of smoke/water vapour curling into the sky. 

'Is that it?' we asked one another. Yes, it was. Another 23 Starlinks being put into orbit. The video goes through all the stages. Theres around 7000 starlinks that have been put into orbit so far.

Road trip

It's time to move on from the villa to a new location on the Treasure Coast in a 100-year-old dwelling facing the Atlantic Ocean. We added supplies from Publix on the US27, so we are well set. There are sailfish, including this replica over our door.

And just when I thought the cars couldn't get any bigger, next door showed up with a 4-ton electric Hummer Hev.

time slipping into the future

Mark VI Magnetic levitation monorail, arriving in the hotel. Introduced in 1971 as Mark IV and 'momentarily' updated in 1989.

Souvenirization : Parking Lot Tram

 

For someone who has everything else. A souvenir parking lot tram? Dory 409, if you catch my drift.

floating

I'm enjoying floating in the pool staring the sky. Every so often I see an eagle ofsometimes two, floating around, idly looking for tidbits.  It's not the only wildlife. We have small lizards too 'lizards on the lanai' and I'm not sure what the white fencing prevents from getting in, but my instincts tell me it could even be alligators. 

I remember they even bask in the roadside ditches in some areas.

February in the Sunshine State.