Well said Mike. Thank you. Joel
On 6/7/2022 7:16 PM, Michael StJohns wrote:
When I was presenting the Newcomer's briefing, one of the last slides
I'd put up was entitled "Local Cautions". It included items
particular to the area in which we were meeting. E.g. Berlin had
"Avoid photographing strangers; Moderate risk of pick pockets in
tourist areas and on U-Bahn; As always, watch your belongings". For
one of the Prague meetings, demonstrators were occasionally marching
through the main square and that was mentioned along with I believe a
mention of world class pick-pockets (that last was taken directly from
a quote from one of the meeting hosts lest someone think I'm
denigrating Prague).
Conditions change, and might change rapidly before and during a
meeting. Keeping aware of them - and actually looking up from your
laptop or phone once or twice during the meeting - is helpful to
personal safety and tends to retard personal inconvenience (e.g.
having your laptop stolen). Every (make that EVERY) city we've been
in (with maybe the sole exception of Singapore?) has sketchy areas,
areas in which demonstrations occur, or areas in which not knowing the
customs (i.e., being an oblivious tourist) might be problematic.
Keeping aware, and ideally having a friendly native guide, or personal
knowledge of your locations is key to personal safety and comfort when
wandering about outside the conference venue.
Later, Mike
