Easyjet employees lack the brusque ferocity of their RyanAir counterparts — which may explain why they are not quite as efficient at getting passengers on and off aircraft. But they certainly have a odd way with the English language which requires them to use the verb “do” in redundant ways. Samples from today’s flight:

We do hope you have a pleasant journey.

I do apologise: we don’t have any five-Euro notes.

We do thank you for flying with Easyjet.

We do hope to see you again soon.

It’s too systematic for it not to be company policy.

I love Holland — have done ever since I lived and worked here in the 1970s. And every time I come back I’m always taken aback by the sheer density of bicycles. The photo shows the scene that greeted me on coming out of the Centraal Station in the Hague this afternoon. Our host at dinner tonight was a very senior corporate executive: he’d come to the restaurant by bike. Can’t imagine any of his British counterparts doing that.

Here’s a really good idea — double-decker trains. I caught one from Schiphol to the Hague. Just over 25 minutes. The Swiss are not the only people who know how to run a railway.

Er, toothpaste. Going through security at Stansted today on my way to a symposium in the Hague, I was asked if I had any liquids in my hand luggage. I answered cheerfully “no” because I hadn’t. But then my carry-on bag was diverted for the full treatment and opened for examination. After a while, the nice lady doing this pounced on my tube of toothpaste and said “Ah! This is what triggered it”. “But”, I said politely, “that’s a paste, not a liquid”. “I know”, she replied, “but the rule is, if you can spread it with a knife it’s a liquid”.

Afterwards, I wondered why this hadn’t happened before — and realised that generally toothpaste goes in the checked-in luggage. You learn something new every day.

Curious, too, the symbolism in learning this on the anniversary of 9/11!

Hmmm… I fed the following text (from Die Zeit ) to Windows Live Translator Beta:

Der Oberkommandierende der US-Armee im Irak, David Petraeus, hat einen Teilabzug der US-Soldaten in Aussicht gestellt. Der Einsatz der US-Streitkräfte im Irak habe die Sicherheitslage insoweit stabilisiert, dass die Zahl der Soldaten bis Mitte Juli 2008 von derzeit 168.000 auf dann etwa 130.000 zurückgeführt werden könne, sagte der General in seinem mit Spannung erwarteten Lagebericht vor dem US-Kongress. Bereits im Dezember könne eine erste Kampfbrigade von etwa 4000 Soldaten die Heimreise antreten. Einen Termin für einen vollständigen Rückzug aus dem Irak wollte Petraeus nicht nennen. Ein “voreiliger Abzug” könne “katastrophale” Folgen haben, warnte er.

And this is what came out:

The Commander-in-Chief of the US army in Iraq, David Petraeus, promised a partial withdrawal of the US soldiers. The employment of US armed forces in Iraq has the security situation stabilized that the number of the soldiers to in the middle of July 2008 from at present 168,000 can be attributed to then about 130,000, said the general in its with tension to expected report on the situation before the U.S. Congress to that extent. Already in December a first combat brigade of approximately 4000 soldiers can begin the home journey. Petraeus did not want to call a date for a complete retreat from Iraq. A “hasty departure” can have “catastrophic” consequences, warned it.

I then fed it to BabelFish, which produced this:

The Commander-in-Chief of the US army in the Iraq, David Petraeus, promised a partial departure of the US soldiers. The employment of US armed forces in the Iraq has the security situation stabilized that the number of the soldiers to in the middle of July 2008 from at present 168,000 can be attributed to then about 130,000, said the general in its with tension to expected report on the situation before congress of US to that extent. Already in December a first combat brigade of approximately 4000 soldiers can begin the home journey. Petraeus did not want to call a date for a complete retreat from the Iraq. A “hasty departure” can have “catastrophic” consequences, warned it.

Very similar, I think you’ll agree. What a coincidence.

Hmmm… Do I want one of these? Needs cushions, I think. A bit too Wittgensteinian in its raw form. Get it from here.

Thanks to BoingBoing for the link.

BBC News reports that

The UK government has responded to an electronic petition that called on it to ensure the BBC’s iPlayer works on non-Windows PCs. More than 16,000 people have signed the petition since it was created. In its response, the government said the BBC Trust had made it a condition of launching the iPlayer that it worked with other operating systems….

The BBC has said that a Mac version of the iPlayer will be released in the autumn followed by versions for Windows Vista and mobile gadgets. Big deal. And no mention of Linux.