38. Hard Brexit

One of the busiest land crossing into the EU is between Turkey and Bulgaria. Turkish operators want to push around 60,000 trucks into the EU each year. But taking products by truck in and out of the EU is not easy, even though Turkey is part of a Customs Union which means there are no duties owed on the materials being carried.

Well we saw one of those crossing points when we went from Iambol, Bulgaria to Edirne, Turkey. On the way to Turkey the line up was 7 km long, the line up in the other direction was relatively short at 4 km. They say the record into the EU is 17 km with a 30 hour wait. Estimates are 3 billion Euros lost in trade a year because of the beurocratic hassle.

Apparently the Turkish drivers have to get a permit for each country they cross. To cross Austria only 18,000 permits are given and they were all taken 18 days into January. So all the others have to put their trucks sealed on a train to get to Germany. Or so goes the articles that you read. So far, at least as far as I know, the UK is not part of the Customs Union.

So Boris. Have you really thought long and hard about a Hard Brexit? Or just about becoming Prime Minister.

The Dark Ages of American Currency

We are all familiar with how archaic the American approach is to their currency. They still have pennies. They are worthless. A study found that 100% of the time in multiple different circumstances nobody will bend over to pick up a penny. But they still have them.

They don’t have chips in their credit cards. The reason is they thought it would slow the consumer down too much when buying stuff. And in the US the consumer is king. So ‘tap’ has come to their rescue which will allow them to now have the security of chips.

They have tried several attempts to get rid of their one dollar bills, like every other country in the world with their low value bills. The reason is coins last way longer. Their efforts have always failed.

Their bills are still made out of cotton and linen and this is my beef. I have a US account that accumulates money from my time working in the US. So I took a bunch of cash out of it and brought it along to convert into whatever. I had it in a plastic zip lock bag along with some Canadian cash. The bag got some moisture in it. I’m on a bike and sometimes it rains and the bloody bag had a hole in it. The US cash got mildew on it. The Canadian cash which is from the 21st century and made from a polymer did not. No body will take the US cash because it is ‘ruined’. At the moment it is like their pennies, worthless.

Half and Half

In Romania what was noticable was the juxtaposition of the old and new. People riding down the road with a horse pulled wagon getting out of the way of a Scania semi truck.

In Turkey it is the juxtaposition of the conservatives and the liberals, which is noticable in the groups of young girls walking around. One group will be in jeans and t-shirts and the next in a hijab, both the headscarf and a overcoat type garment. I’d say the split is about half and half but it really depends on where you are at. Occasionally a group can be mixed but the norm is not. Quite interesting but not sure what to make of it.

The men, of course, all look the same in t-shirts and jeans.

Allah is Merciful

When coming from Iambul to Edirne it was 114 km with a headwind, 30 degrees and 755 meter climb. It was hard, not Ron Jewula hard, but hard. We knew the next day going from Edirne to Corlu would also be a challenge with 130 km, 1200 meters of climbing and another warm day.

But then the wind turned around and it came from behind. Allah is merciful.