Foreign Perspectives

The humble barcode scanner was always the poor relation of computer input devices historically.

It was there simply to read numbers and any processing was done behind the scenes by proper computers. Mostly it was used in industrial contexts though most people came across it in the supermarket where, of course, it is indispensible.

However, the usefulness of a simple printed code that can be read by an equally simple device has led to the widening of its use through the barcodes “printed” on computer screens that allow you to load software directly onto your Android phone.

These new barcode readers are mainly software that interprets the photograph taken by the camera in the phone so they’re considerably more sophisticated than the humble scanners that were formerly used in supermarkets.

There’s an awful lot of information out there which should be online but isn’t yet so my family history research is often dictated by the timing of information appearing online.

For instance, whilst contemplating an extended trip to the General Records Office some years ago, I found out that there were plans afoot to make their information available over the internet. That time has now arrived and their online search has speeded up considerably what was proving to be a very time consuming and unfruitful search involving trips to various local registry offices.

Why it was unfruitful is because I’d taken the information written in an 1850s era family bible to be correct. Certainly one thing that I knew to be correct was the place of marriage of the guy whose family bible it was. After all, he’d written that and obviously he would have known where he was married. Turns out that he was wrong and whilst the family bible says (in his handwriting) that he was married in Ballymoney, he was actually married in the Ballymena registry office.

Getting back to him was a breeze with the new service. I had the rough date of marriage of my grandparents and a matter of minutes later I was looking at a copy of their marriage certificate. Going back to his parents’ marriage certificates was another few minutes as was the next generation (the guy who owned the family bible). I can’t go back any further as registration only stated in 1845 but I have a definite location to check with the church records now.

My grandmother’s side is a little more complicated as her dad came from Scotland. It’s still a bit confusing as the family is in Belfast on the 1911 census, but not on the 1901 census yet she was born in Belfast in 1897. Tracking down her parents marriage took 20 minutes or so as I only had the rough date of birth of her dad and you can only search the records in five year slots but I’ve got that now. That in itself changes things somewhat as he was in Belfast much earlier than I’d thought. It gets more difficult from this point as his birth was somewhere in Scotland and his name isn’t overly rare so I will need to think about how to identify him now without knowing the names of any of his family.

The way that some marketing terms arise is quite peculiar, isn’t it.

For instance, Cyber Monday, the Monday following the Thanksgiving holiday, came from a marketing campaign that shop.org ran five years ago which was picked up by many of the other online retailers. Nowadays, it’s become a day (or, in some countries, a week) of major discounting for online retailers. Crazy as it may seem to do a week of major discounting, I’m sure that consumers don’t complain about it as an early Christmas shopping day.

I do not believe the cynics who claim that there is no romance around anymore. Don’t agree? Just take a trip to the cities of Paris, Venice or Rome and you will see that romance is well and truly still alive. Maybe it is the times we live in and the non-stop rush of everyday living that drags us down and makes us forget not just what, but WHO, is the most important thing in our life. I hold the opinion that the Europeans hold the key to this, and if you don’t believe me then pay a visit to Paris, or one of those other cities mentioned above. Everywhere you go you will see couples together; holding hands, kissing or just being together and talking between themselves. Oblivious to everything and everyone else around them…what more proof do you need?.

We all have our romantic ‘ideal’ and whether or not we ever get to experience it in reality it is still nice to have it in our hearts…just in case the opportunity ever arises. But when you think about it, romance can happen anywhere or anytime as long as you are with the right person, just like in the romance novels. You don’t always need the Eiffel Tower, or the Trevi Fountain or to be gliding along on a Venecian gondola being serenaded by some sweet voice. True romance is found where ever you are at your happiest together. You can be just walking on a beach, sitting in a park or enjoying a nice meal and you will know when that ‘moment’ strikes. Because you will both feel it at the same time.

The thing that is so nice about ‘romance’ is that it is the ‘glue’ in a relationship; use plenty of it and it keeps you stuck together. Just like in a Mills & Boon novel, where the happy ending you have always dreamed about is yours for the taking, and can never be taken from you.

We’re toying with the idea of a trip to Dublin for St Patrick’s Day next year and therefore on the lookout for cheap accommodation of which the obvious choice is arguably hostels.

The name hostel probably puts most people off right away but it’s something of a misnomer for the sites that fall under the banner of “hostel listings sites” in that they have become such good sources of reservations for the accommodation listed on them that you get everything from true hostels through to five star hotels these days. For example, there’s Glen Guesthouse and Jackson Court Hotel both available from EUR 25 per person.

There’s a couple of things to watch if this is your venture into the hostel booking sites which can easily catch you out if you’re not careful.

First, private room means essentially a normal hotel room whereas shared room usually means dorm style accommodation.

Second, the prices are per person whereas the hotels listing on the site usually set their prices per room which can lead to confusion over prices. For example, you will normally see a range of room types listed for each property so you could have EUR 15 for a 4 bed room, EUR 25 for a 2 bed room. This actually means that the 4 bed room is for four people and costs EUR 60 whilst the 2 bed room is for two people and costs EUR 50; you can’t book 2 people into the 4 bed room and just pay EUR 30 as you might think.

Finally, although it might say, for example, double bed room it doesn’t mean that. What it means is that it’s a room for two people and you need to read the room description to see if it has one bed or two.

Still, if you’re careful about the differences in terminology, you can find some great bargains on the hostels sites.