It was a Saturday around 1 pm and we had just rolled into Cologne from Frankfurt after a two-hour train journey. As it was a day trip, a two-hour return trip awaited us, I was ok with that, I actually enjoy train trips. Wandering out of the train station I was not expecting the sheer number of people hanging around the square on this fine Saturday afternoon. There was plenty to see and do, I never really saw Cologne as a tourist destination and I saw Cologne in a new light.

I had been to Cologne about 15 years earlier for a series of business meetings, I had viewed the city somewhat differently because of that primary reason why I was initially in this city. This trip, I saw Cologne from a totally different perspective and I’m glad I did, it was a beautiful day, that certainly helped. I had expected to wander around Cologne for the day, it would be pretty quiet with not too many people, well, I got this one wrong. I really liked Cologne as a day trip, there was plenty to se and do, I could see myself going back any time.

I have long complained about the public transport system in Perth; that is how the bus links to the train network. So when I received a fine for fare evasion, this was going to be challenged. Let me begin, I purchased the wrong ticket and I was in the wrong. My Smartrider, not all that much of a smart system was running low in funds. Why didn’t I just make a payment through my bank you ask?

Well, I normally would make a payment but it takes working 3 days for the payment to show on my account and I must log onto the system within 5 days and log onto the train/bus network for the balance to register. Now, I had planned to be away from the network and was unable to log-on in that period, even if the money was transferred, the funds would not be credited to my account. I have learnt this lesson previously and I was in stunned silence when it was explained to me.

Now, as my funds were running low I decided to purchase a manual ticket and I purchased a 1 zone ticket for $3.30, when I was pulled up at the guard informed me I needed 2 zones for my ride. On the trip home, I jumped on the ticket machine and priced a 2 zone ticket for $4.90. So, we are dealing with a $1.60 shortfall in funds based on my mistake. I purchased a manual ticket but clearly didn’t understand the fee structure and made a mistake. A $100 fine is fair for a person who routinely evades fares, but not for a person who makes a mistake purchasing a ticket so I will challenge this fine.

But even better, I will use this moment to change the way the Public Transport Authority runs services. See, the bus I normally catch is frequently late to arrive at the stop, this means that the bus arrives late at the train station and as the bus is scheduled to link to the train – I miss the train. Now, as the train runs every 30 minutes at this time of night, this means I miss the train by normally 1 minute to 4 minutes. So, now another 30 minutes to wait plus the half hour trip home, this night is going downhill quickly so now is the time to do something about it – maybe this ticket is a positive.

Rooibos is a red herbal tea sourced from the fermented leaves of the Aspalathus linearis shrub, a native South African plant. So the South Africans introduced us to this tea, thanks for that – much appreciated. I can’t believe it took me half my life to find out about this tea.

Rooibos is a herbal tea but is not related to the black or green tea varieties; Rooibos tea is usually consumed the same as black tea, although I was introduced to this variety as a cold tea. Naturally sweet in flavour, nutty overtones combined with low tannin ensures a bitter taste is not experienced. I generally drink as a flavoured tea these days, I like the TWG Tea varieties, they have some great blends.

Whilst rooibos tea isn’t for everyone, I am happy to keep some pure origin at home as well some blended versions from TWG Tea and T2. I don’t much like black tea or breakfast tea and I really can’t drink green tea so rooibos is really my only choice. The waiter in TWG Tea in Shangri-La Plaza in Mandaluyong in the Philippines introduced Mecky and myself to this tea and we are both eternally thankful.

Mastercard® like the other credit card issuers is offering a premium product for high-end clients, out of interest’s sake I couldn’t help but look into it. The Black card is an exclusive product with a higher perceived value over competing credit cards. Needless to say, Mastercard® claims the card displays a certain degree of prestige through high credit limits, combined no doubt through the high fees and would be best suited to the business traveller paying bills on the company card.

Manufactured from stainless steel with a carbon back for greater durability and distinction, I would tend to like this card as I always tend to damage my plastic credit cards in my wallet. With 46 worldwide patents, this card has a reasonable annual fees supported by a host of luxury benefits such as concierge, VIP lounge access and Priceless® invitation only entertainment.

The card offers a list of exclusive services including travel assistance, travel medical insurance, luggage protection, travel insurance, trip inconvenience insurance, airport lounge access irrespective of frequent flier programs and concierge services. I have a standard Mastercard® and whilst always searching for improved products, I have to look at what Mastercard®, Visa® and American Express® offer. I don’t think I will be upgrading anytime soon – not for that price anyway.

So, whilst it was never high on my wish list, I have finally made it to my first Oktoberfest. Ironic really as I went there in late September and not October. But since the festival was underway, it was worth the effort to make our way across and I am glad we did.

It wasn’t as I expected, but I don’t want to base my portrayal on the Chevy Chase National Lampoon’s ‘European Vacation’ and I’m glad I didn’t. I try not to over-research as that leads to disappointment. Instead, I wanted to just arrive and be part of the atmosphere and that’s exactly what happened. What I found is Oktoberfest is held at a large showground, we started off with a beer at one of the outside bars, it was very nice. We found a Paulander bar fabricated from pine and that was nice for a couple of casual drinks.

I wasn’t interested in any of the rides, certainly not recommended after drinking beer by any means. There was food, boy was that expensive but we ended up getting a bite after all. We hadn’t especially headed to Munich for Oktoberfest, we happened to be passing through the area so decided to stop off since we were there anyway. We arrived at the showground late in the afternoon, we weren’t staying in Munich per se, that was way too expensive at this time of year. So we took a train in from an outlying area after catching the train in from Augsburg.

So we wandered into a couple of beer halls, by this time of the day getting a seat was near impossible. The beer halls were full and festivities were well under way, there was music playing, people singing along with plenty of pushing and shoving. All of the major breweries had their own pop-up beer hall, so you could choose the beer of your choice. I decided to take a couple of drinks outside at Lowenbrou, can’t say it is my favourite beer but as it turned from day to night, better to be somewhere.

So around midnight it was time to head back to the Munich hauptbahnhoff and squeeze into a carriage for the 60 minute ride back to our accommodation. The train ride was fun to a degree, no seats but pressed into the aisles with a bunch of very merry people was a laugh. To be honest, I didn’t drink all that much over the course of the afternoon. Since I was down in southern Germany at the right time of year warranted popping in for a look. I was happy to soak up some of the atmosphere for an afternoon before heading onto the next place.

I love a Riesling in the summer, to me this dry and acidic white wine can’t be beaten on a warm summer afternoon drinking outside – for me, preferably in the garden. I especially like drinking a dry Riesling with my father, a sauvignon blanc is a little too sweet for me, the dry fruit driven drink is to my tastes, I can’t say I enjoy this wine in winter though.

According to Vickery winery the Watervale Riesling has volumes of lime fruit flavour and floral notes with bright, fresh citrus acidity. The Watervale Estate in South Australia’s Claire Valley produces brilliant white wines according to my views, the reds in my opinion tend to be a little lacking. Looking at the reviews on their website, the wine is rated from 91 to 95 points with most reviewers accentuating the lemon/lime flavours.

So we have just been through a period of quantitative easing but what does it all mean? Quantitative easing is considered an unconventional monetary policy, or at least new, to lower interest rates and increase money supply.

So the central bank creates electronic money to purchase government bonds from the secondary market, as this creates buying demand the price of the bond should rise in accordance with the principles of supply and demand. Naturally, this distorts the natural equilibrium of the free market creating an oversupply of capital.

So far we haven’t seen the effects of inflation and we need to ask why? Have the central banks managed the process to such a fine degree that they avoided the old issue of inflation? The core issue during the global financial crisis was liquidity and business lending, as the banks held onto cash with business activity curtailed.

QE provided the required liquidity and flooded the bond market with cash. The growth of money didn’t appear to affect the  markets, well not yet anyway and may just push the problem out. This is what we are finding out now, I was told they will be no world growth for the foreseeable future, just the growth of money and that is what we are seeing.

I love old Heuer timepieces, whilst I don’t own any vintage Heuer, this is before TAG bought in and rescued the company in 1984, I will keep looking. I don’t buy these goods online but keep my options open with dealers.

Heuer has a heritage dating back to 1860; for me, the golden period is the 1960s and 1970s when Jack Heuer was in charge of the company. Heuer stood for motorsport and their chronographs were spectacular, TAG Heuer has maintained their motorsport linkages. They had the Carrera, to my way of thinking, this was the classic chronograph design. Whilst the Carrera has been re-released in multiple formats, even as a three hand watch, the chronograph is the ultimate expression of watchmaking style.

The Autavia has been recently re-released by TAG Heuer and people have been raving about the timepiece. Initially released in 1962, the Autavia was a dashboard instrument later becoming a wristwatch.

The Camaro was released in 1968 and powered by the hand-wound Valjoux 7733 movement and was never fitted with an automatic movement before being discontinued in 1972. The Valjoux 7733 movement was a no-date model, although some Valjoux 7734 date versions were sold with a Valjoux 7736 movement that included the 12-hour sub-dial. The two sub-dial format of the Valjoux 7733 movement offers a really clean and uncluttered dial.

The Montreal, released in 1972 had a 42 mm brushed case with right hand fluted pushers and a left hand crown. The earlier series were white dials with an array of colours on the hands and sub-dials. The earlier models hand in-house movements with the later versions fitted with updated Valjoux 7750 movements.

Looking back now, it is hard to believe the Monaco was not a success when it was first released. The Silverstone, released in 1974 was the replacement for the Monaco. The square case with rounded corners came with three dial colours with sub-dials at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions.

Not only does Rolex have a Daytona chronograph, Heuer released their version in 1976. Rather short lived, the Daytona used Heuer’s in-house chronograph with the pushers on the right side of the case and the crown on the left. The 39 mm brushed case held an integrated three link bracelet that came with no leather strap options.

The Kentucky, with horseshoe shaped case is a chronograph but does not have the motorsport heritage of most Heuer chronographs. The Kentucky launched in 1977 targets the equestrian crowd with screws at the lower section of the case and the Heuer name plate attached.

The Cortina was released in 1977 and was fitted with the same dial, albeit with the name change and the sub-dial hands differed. The case was octagonal and an integrated single link bracelet was fitted. The Cortina had a choice of index markers or roman numerals on the dial with a left crown and right pusher format.

The Jarama appeared in 1977 and only lasted a couple of years, named after a racetrack near Madrid that hosted a number of Formula 1 events. This isn’t a great looking timepiece by any stretch of the imagination with the fluted bezel and isn’t hard to see why it was released in limited numbers.

The Verona was released in 1978 and returned to clean lines and style of 1960s design. The sub-dials were positioned at the 3 o’clock and 9 o’clock positions with the date at 6 o’clock. I find the internal angled tachymeter scale an interesting inclusion. The crown is positioned on the left-side of the case and chronograph pushers on the right-side case to wind, adjust and operate the Calibre 12 movement.

The Pasadena was released in 1979 and fitted with the Valjoux 7750 chronograph movement. The black 41 mm lugless case design appears to be an anodised steel or there were also stainless steel options available. The Pasadena transitioned back to the crown and pushers located on the right side of the case.

TAG Heuer has re-released a number of their vintage timepieces with the Carrera, Monaco and Autavia all listed in the current collection. I would argue that some of the vintage Heuer are not to my tastes although the Verona, Silverstone and possibly the Camaro might work for me.

I had become a very difficult employee to deal with, I am more than aware of this fact. The question that needs to be asked is though, why did I go from being the easiest employee to deal with to the most difficult? I now pride myself on the problems I cause the management; as I have studied management and practiced management, I am well aware of both the theory and implementation of organisational leadership.

What I find most galling is that I have been proven time and time again to be correct in my analysis yet their arrogant pride prevents them from making competent decisions. What they do know is that I can’t be fired or even retrenched as I now fall under the scope of the Whistleblower protection policy. They came up with this little plan, but I caught on and I made my defensive moves, so they have a quandary here, it looks like they have to change their angle and relent.

Whilst the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 sets the standards for reporting corruption, they know they can’t do what they want to do. They think they are making my life miserable, but the question is, are they making their life miserable? The problem is that I refused to engage in unethical and corrupt behaviour; so you could imagine my delight when I my research uncovered their corrupt workplace practices. If you are going to engage in institutional workplace bullying, you had better make sure you don’t have any other issues hanging over you.

Engaging in bullying of other people and then hiding behind your position has the potential to set a trend and hoping they don’t report you is just poor planning and execution. So far, their policy of trying to run roughshod over me hasn’t really worked, they have stalled, balked, acted tricky and deceitful. Yet this hasn’t yielded the results they had hoped for and they think if they keep applying the pressure, I will wilt under their pressure. So maybe a change in strategy is required as their tactics are proving unsuccessful.

I get these unusual looks when I go diving; new divers watch in amazement when I strap on my old but reliable VR3 dive computer. The technology may be equivalent to Microsoft’s Windows 95 software; however, the algorithm is better than many modern computers and in terms of functionality, the VR3 was ahead of its time and stands up well.

The computer is bulky, it is the equivalent of an old style mobile phone housing with an operating system just as good as the latest release. In terms of trusting the algorithm. I will always dive any new computer side-by-side with my VR3 to verify the program. This is why I played around with the pressure gradients to get my OSTC diving right. I have had plenty of decompression-stop dives with my VR3 and trust the program. Whilst I now have more modern dive computers, the VR3 will always be used for extended range dives as my reserve computer.