[tex-live] minor problems with install-tl

[Reinhard Kotucha]

Philip TAYLOR (Ret'd) writes:
 
 > Norbert Preining wrote:
 > 
 > > Any more stories needed, train rides in Russia, Vietnam, ...
 > 
 > Done Vietnam :-)  Ha Noi to Sa Pa, about nine hours
 > in a sleeper.  Seemed fine at the time, but not sure
 > I would do it without a native speaker in the party !
 > But for those of a sensitive disposition (such as myself),
 > get clear of Sa Pa station as soon as you can.  Pigs
 > are sold nearby, by weight, weighed alive by having their
 > legs trussed and then hung upside down from a wooden pole.
 > Their squealing made me feel very sick, and I had to get
 > out of there as quickly as possible.

Well, what you describe is not untypical at markets in this region.
If you want to have a fresh chicken, why not to buy one which is still
alive?  It's always unpleasent to see how animals are tortured.  But
if you buy a piece of meat in a European super market you don't know
how this piece of meat had been produced.  And you ***definitely***
don't want to know it.  Sadly, it is by far more cruel than what
you've seen in Vietnam.  No camera team is allowed to enter one of
these slaughterhouses behind barbed wire fences for a very good
reason.

I had been in Sa Pa in summer 2004.  I took the night train from Ha
Noi to Lao Cai and expected an adventure, especially because I had no
idea how to get from Lao Cai to Sa Pa.  But I had been quite
astonished: A quite modern, comfortable, silent, very clean train with
air condition, excellent service (everybody got a blanket and a bottle
of water), the train was in schedule, and so on.

In Lao Cai people sold bus tickets to Sa Pa straight on the platform.
The bus drivers had been waiting in front of the station in order to
direct people to the right bus and in Sa Pa the bus stopped in front
of each hotel and the driver announced prizes for accommodation for
each hotel.

I never encountered a public transportation system which is so
brilliantly organized anywhere else in the world.

In contrast, I'll never forget the EuroTeX 2005 horror trip.  The
train from Pont-a-Mousson to Metz had been a few minutes late, hence I
missed the train to Frankfurt.  The next train arrived in Frankfurt
after midnight.  In Frankfurt the waiting room was closed overnight,
it had been extremely cold and windy, and I had to wait abt. 5 hours
in the cold for the next train to Hannover.  I had been pissed off.
I'll never forget this torture.

And there is one thing which describes German mentality completely:
The train from Metz to Frankfurt stopped in Saarbrücken for 45
minutes.  The reason: One of the passengers had no ticket and the
police had to "solve" this "problem".  If there are 1000 people in a
train and one of them has no ticket, it's perfectly ok that 999 of
them have to accept the 45 minute delay because it's absolutely
unthinkable that someone who didn't pay for the trip is allowed to
reach his destination.

 > Norbert Preining wrote:

 >> Any more stories needed, train rides in Russia, Vietnam, ...

Norbert, you don't have to go so far away.  If you like adventures,
come to Germany and enjoy the German railway system.  Unfortunately
it's extremely expensive.

Regards,
  Reinhard

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Reinhard Kotucha			              Phone: +49-511-3373112
Marschnerstr. 25
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