Day 365 (bis) : End!

Well this is it.  After 365 days my blog is finally coming to an end.  I know there have been ups and downs, good and bad, controversial and bland, funny and depressing so I appreciate those of you who have managed to stay with me all this time.  My blog has been a great outlet but also a burden sometimes.  On average it has taken me 1 hour a day which, if you subtract 7hrs of sleep and 9hrs of work, represents 12.5% of my personal and family time (25% of my evening time).  My darling wife has been very understanding (even appreciative sometimes) but I think I need to increase my level of home interaction.  I have the feeling that I haven't managed  to convince a large following to take up cold showering or close their facebook accounts but I hope I have occasionally informed and provoked.

I would like to thank all of you who commented, sent me messages of encouragement, referred to me in their own blogs or just occasionally read it.

This blog has been made with 100% organic thoughts and is completely recyclable.  No animals were harmed in the process.  No slave or child labour was used in the production of this blog which is certified as 100% free of nationalism.

Just in case you were wondering the blog competition was won by my sister (hiding under the pseudonym of Aunt_C).  She therefore wins the right to takeover my blog for a year (you're welcome!  Ruben came in second thanks to a concerted effort in the last quarter and Julian Farod (10 retroactive points to the first one to tell me who that is) came in third after being in the lead for the whole of the 3rd quarter.

Day 365 : End ?

Not quite.  Its late and I have a 6:40 AM flight tomorrow so my final blog post will be tomorrow!

Day 364 : Justice

This is my penultimate blog and I realise I haven't talked about justice.  I have had occasion to go to (civil) court a few times in my life and while you wait for your turn you listen to other people's cases.  The most interesting part of the proceeding is the realization that most of the time both sides have equally plausible stories.  I remember wondering how judges could ever decide cases when both sides have seemingly cast iron cases.  When my children were younger if they had done something wrong and they started to blame it on each other I would tell them I'm not interested in the stories as it was impossible for me to tell whose version was the "real" one (if there is such a thing).   I'm not a fan of the criminal justice system, but I can see why sometimes society needs to protect itself against individuals with violent behaviour.  On civil cases however I think we need to rethink our approach.  Instead of having a judge we could have a mediator.  The parties involved in the dispute would be required to negotiate until they had reached a common agreement.  In the absence of an agreement both parties could be fined (according to their means) or the object of the dispute could be sequestered.  The best outcome is always a negotiated rather then an imposed outcome.  Justice is based on the idea that there is a "fair" or "real" version of a human interaction.  We need to move away for this absolutist (quasi religious) view of the world and accept the relativity of all our point of view. There are 15 million civil lawsuits every year in the United States: that's 15 million occasions to engage with someone and try to come to an agreement.

Day 363: Offset

Its Tuesday night and I left Paris on Sunday afternoon taking a train to Amsterdam then I drove 3 hours to Essen near Bremen in Germany the next day Monday I drove 2 hours to Hamburg. Finally today I flew to Paris this morning and flew back to Hamburg this evening and then I will fly back to Paris on Friday morning.  In one week I will have generated at least 250Kg of CO2 when the individual target to  combat climate change is 40Kg per week. As I can't change jobs in the short term I need to offset my excess carbon generation.  Luckily there are  all sorts of projects to which you can give money to plant trees or otherwise offset your CO2 emission.  I'm not a fan of just sending a check, so I worked out what I need to do:

1. Assuming I will live to a 100
2. My full life of CO2 emissions will probably represent around 800 Tons
3. I need 2 trees to absorb 1 ton of CO2

That means that if I want my presence on this earth to have been carbon neutral I need to plant 1,600 trees, lets call it 2,000 to be safe.  So my next project will be to work out where I can buy enough land (preferably for a low price) to be able to plant 2000 trees!

Suggestions and offers welcome

2 more posts

Day 362: Water

I had 5 hours sleep last night and I will have less than 5 tonight, so I will keep this post brief.  Yesterday I slept in Cloppenberg which is a small village close to Bremen in North Germany.  I can confirm that cold showers there are particularly cold probably 12° rather than 14° or  even 15° in Malta.  After over a year of cold showers I have no desire to go back.  Even though its still hard sometimes to get under the water my overall level of satisfaction is extremely high.   I'm also sure that they contributed to my overall health this year..  I wonder if I will ever take a warm shower again?  

3 Posts left. 

Day 361: Carbon

Today Theo suggested that we should stop buying any beef and cow milk as the raising of cows worldwide is becoming a major environmental issue.  In addition I recently read an article on the problem linked to disposing of cow pooh which is full of methane and is harmful to rivers and lakes.  The idea that as it is "natural" it can be used as fertilizer is a fantasy.  It seems there are now lakes of the stuff in certain areas of the US as farmers don't know what to do with it.  The problem is that its not just milk and beef that we should stop eating, it would also include butter, cheese and cream.  I decided to look at my individual carbon footprint to see what it would take for me to stay within acceptable levels.  It seems that if everyone lived like me we would need 2 Earths to be sustainable.  Its depressing because I don't feel I'm a big meat eater, I don't use a car, Our apartment isn't huge and is well insulated and I don't buy that much "stuff".  If I need to divide my overall consumption by two that seems challenging to say the least. The worst part is that most of my excess carbon footprint is mainly linked to flying (for work and holidays).

I guess I need to become unemployed to save the planet!

4 more posts!

Day 360 : Writing

Fianna and I went to see a nice French movie tonight Le mystère Henri Pic.  Its a very French film centered around a mystery, literature and romance.  Don't worry I'm not going to start doing movie criticism in my blog but as I come to the end of my year it reminded me of  my ambition? desire? fantasy? to one day write (and publish) a book.  Over the past 360 days I have written on average 150 words a night which represents just under half a novel.  If I can do that in my spare time surely it should be possible for me to write a book in a year if that's all I did.  I'm not sure why I have always had this feeling that writing a book is something I need to do.  What kind of book you may ask ?  Well here are 10 books that have made me want to write:

1. Les racines du ciel
2. 100 years of solitude
3. Belle du seigneur
4. The world according to Garp
5. Revolutionnary road
6. L'éducation sentimentale
7. Pride and prejudice
8. Gone with the wind
9. Dead souls
10. Catch 22

Now all I need to do is find a story, decide on the language and set aside the time.  

Day 359 : Elite

Tonight I was discussing his university options with Theo. Most countries have elite educational institutions which can be deplored or applauded depending on you point of view.  Although I'm sure the French grandes écoles offer (in their own way) an extremely rigorous education, I do feel they lack diversity.  French elite institutions are either engineering, business or political schools. There is no real possibility for studying German or religion or anthropology at an elite establishment in France. In the US or the UK on the other hand excellent universities pride themselves on their diversity.  If you go to Stanford or Oxford you can study practically anything from the sciences or humanities:  art history, mathematics,  psychology, linguistics, etc.  The French system produces highly intelligent elites... But they tend to think in similar ways. Some times its good to just have a different point of view.

6 posts left!

Day 358: Censorship

Following the massacre of 30 muslims in New Zealand last week there have been many debates about internet social media sites and in particular twitter, you tube or facebook which allowed people to upload images of the massacre.  Why does the internet have different rules to other publishers of content (newspapers, tv channels) ? Is the internet a publisher or is it a infrastructure provider.  My first reaction was to think that the internet should be considered a publisher and should have responsibility for the content, however I have since changed my mind.  Internet providers are more like billboard companies.  If a poster advertised on a billlboard is deemed offensive its not the billboard company that is liable its the advertising company.  Social media providers are like paper companies or tv sets they do not create  or even choose any of their content so why should they be held responsible?  I find censorship always difficult to justify.  Where and who draws the line ?   Do we trust people or not ?  Censorship implies that certain people know better than others  what is good or bad for everyone ?  Its on that principle that authoritarian governments get built! 

Day 357: Optimism

Most people who know me would probably classify me as an optimist. I tend to see solutions rather then problems (I have a T-shirt to prove it) and I have faith in my fellow man (or woman).  I believe that most people would rather help me than hinder me.   What I find strange is that there are people who don't think like this.  I've never understood the concept of expecting the worst or preparing yourself for a bad outcome.  If things go wrong its not your preferred outcome whether you're an optimist or a pessimist.  I feel like pessimists have a double whammy of feeling bad because they expect things to go bad and then still feeling when they do, at least if your an optimist you have a an initial positive feeling and I don't think you feel worse if things do go wrong.  Actually, as an optimist when things go wrong you just think it will be better next time.  The rational attitude is to be an optimist.

Countdown: 8 more posts to go. ( For the optimists out there: Don't think I will be extending my deadline!)

Day 356: Left

Yes as I mentioned yesterday I am part of the oppressed minority of left handed people.  In these times of  political correctness, gender acceptance, colour blindness and general acceptance of differences I am disappointed at the lack of attention which has been given to the plight of the lefties.  For those of you who don't realise how hard the world is for us here are a few pointers:

1. We are forced to shake people's right hand instead of using our left
2. Dessert spoons and fish knives have the knife edge on the wrong side
3. Potato peelers are often made for righties (although now there some ambidextrous ones)
4. Why is there no national holiday for lefties ?  
5. Spoons are put on the wrong side of my plate
6. Why are there no statistics on lefties in parliament or in board rooms ? (Its a plot to keep us out)
7. Why do I have to write from left to right when the other way would be much easier?
8. Why are scissors and can openers made for right handed use?
9. Is it fair that right also means correct, implying that us lefties are always wrong?
10. Breast pockets on shirts and jackets are always on the left side (making it impossible to use with your left hand)
11. I would like to call for the creation of the position of "left-hand man or woman"

Day 355: Watch

I've always liked watches even as a teenager. My current watch was given to me by Fianna, I like the Milanese mesh bracelet and the minimalist design.  But I'm wondering what's the point of having a timepiece on your wrist in the 21st century. I'm often at my computer which displays the time permanently and I always have my smartphone with me which gives me the exact time instantly.  So in reality my watch is just an accessory like a hat or a tie.  Maybe I need a watch detox so that I can wear it occasionally rather then everyday?  In over 40 years I don't think there has ever been a time where I didn't wear a watch.  As this has been the year of breaking habits (even if only temporarily) I'm going to try going watch-less for a month.  Maybe after my detox I can then learn to have my watch on my right hand which is where I should wear it since I'm left handed.

PS: As an early warning I am now 10 blogposts away from the end of my Year of Blogging

Day 354: 7

The reason Fianna and I spent the weekend in Malta is that its our 7th wedding anniversary.  This year is the wool anniversary (maybe that's where the itch comes from) although I did pick cashmere for Fianna's gift. The weekend was a perfect encapsulation of our marriage.  I picked a destination I knew she would like, Fianna was enthusiastic, we had a smallish fight, we made up (with all the trimmings!), we had some good meals and some simple meals, we went swimming in cold water (some of us took longer to get in!), we stayed in a nice hotel but went around on a scooter and most important we fully enjoyed each other's company...

The only itch I'm feeling is the one to spend 7 x 7 more anniversaries with Fianna

Day 353: Hearing

1 million people marched against Brexit in London today.  4.5 Million people (and counting) signed an official government petition demanding the withdrawal of the Article 50 notification.  These are significant numbers demonstrating that there is clear dissatisfaction with the current Brexit process and that "the will of the people" is far from clear.  Why is it so difficult for politicians to hear disagreement ?  I don't expect Theresa May to reverse her positions but at least she could engage in dialogue ?  At this point time is running out but what stopped her from organizing citizens assemblies and debates in order to get people involved, weigh the different options and understand the trade-offs.  A year of national dialogue  after the Brexit vote would have helped to determine a common realistic position which would then have probably been much easier to negotiate with the EU.  It would still have been a compromise (which means nobody is satisfied) but it would have been everybody's compromise rather than just the Prime Minister's.  Successful politicians near to understand that listening does not have to mean agreeing it just means engaging! 

Day 352: Malta

I have arrived in Malta  for a 3 day weekend with Fianna.  Malta is situated between Sicily and Tunisia and was the home of the Knights Hospitallers of St John for 500 years.   We are staying in Valletta the "capital city" which is quite striking.  Its on an outcrop of rock surrounded by water and the architecture is a mixture of Italian renaissance Palaces and Medieval fortifications.  As the country was a British colony for 150 years English is one of the official languages and they drive on the left.  Walking around Malta I thought about how it is an example of why I find the European Union such a great organisation.  The country joined the EU in 2004 and is the smallest country in the EU with 460 thousand people.  It is also the smallest economy (though not the poorest). And yet it has (more or less) the same rights in the EU Council as France or Germany.  When Theresa May asks the 27 EU leaders for an extension or a renegotiation of Brexit everybody has to agree including Malta.  I can't think of any other international organisation where the smaller members have as much influence and respect (within reason of course).  The EU may well have many faults and problems (tell me which state doesn't) but its founding principles are based on compromise, tolerance and mutual respect.  Can we ask for anything more?

Day 351: Teleworking

In developed economies more than 80% of jobs are office based.  Considering the technology we have today I wonder why these people need to go to an office to carry out their duties.  E-mail, skype, mobile, shared drives, cloud services our main "work tools" allow us to be anywhere.  Office space costs between 100€ and 1,000€ per month per person depending on where you are.  If we seriously encouraged organisations to do teleworking we could :

1. Save an average of 1 hour a day of commute time per office worker
2. Reduce the amount of CO2 released in the atmosphere
3. Reduce the amount of office space needed  which would lower housing prices and possibly homelessness
4. Reduce the number of Bullshit Jobs as defined by David Graeber (not that I necessarily agree with him).  If you work from home you need less managers checking what you do.  Everybody becomes self motivated
5. Enhance social interactions with family and friends which can only bring positive mental health benefits (Ok Fine it depends on  your family!)
6. Increase employees pay since organisations no longer have to pay for all that unused office space

It's easy to implement:  Significantly increase taxes on office buildings and companies will immediately react!

Day 350 : Principle

Finally the PPE (centre right party in the European Parliament) has decided to expel Viktor Orban's Fidesz party from its group.  I am not a believer in the idea that by accepting fascists and nationalists we will somehow win them over.  People with authoritarian tendencies are inherently cynical and Manichean they do not think in terms of win-win.  The European Union project is based on democracy, freedom and tolerance.  Countries that do not recognize themselves in those values should be put on temporary suspension.  

Day 349: Swimming

As I mentioned yesterday in the absence of my bicycle I have decided to take up swimming for a while.  I have been doing 14 lengths at the local swimming pool.  What I like about swimming is that it is an all around sport.  You use you leg, your arms, your body and you need to control your breathing.  I would actually prefer to do swimming everyday rather than cycling, if there weren't a few issues:

1. Swimming pools in Paris do not open at 6:AM
2. You have to spend a lot of time going to the pool, undressing, showering, dressing again ... which means to do 40 mins exercise takes at least an hour and half
3. I haven't found earphones that work for swimming which means I can't listen to music or the radio while I'm in the pool...(it does get boring)
4. The water in swimming pools isn't cold enough (yes you read that right)
5. I lost and cannot find the book called "Yoga Swimming" which a friend lent me 20 years ago and which explained how to transform swimming into yoga (my gratitude and a gift of 10 bandes dessinées to anyone who finds the book and sends it to me). 

Day 348: Hamburg

Here I am in Hamburg for the week.  Its quite far North so still gets dark early and quite cold. But there is always something appealing about cities on water.  As I could not take my bike with me to do my morning ride I decided to do evening swimming instead.  I identified a pool a few kms away from my hotel that is open until 10:30 PM but I didn't realise Hamburg is still stuck in the 20th century.  First there is no Uber in Hamburg (only normal taxis that you can't find),  no Lime or Bird scooters, no Cityscoots, no Velib and no shared electric cars.  In the end I had to rent a bike from the hotel which was quite expensive and required filling in forms at the desk.  It made me realise how lucky we are in Paris with the wide range of options which we now have to get around.  On the positive side the swimming pool was really great.  A spacious modern building with an olympic pool which was nearly square it was so wide.  The swim lanes had plenty of space which meant you never felt crowded.  Finally the shower (cold of course) and dressing room were pleasant, clean and in great condition.  

Day 347: Streets

Today I played squash with Louis.  The squash court in on the other side of Paris, so I borrowed Fianna's (electric) car to go there.  On the way there an back we noticed the amount road work which was being undertaken to reduce the space for cars and make space for pedestrians, bicycles and buses.  Although I am in favour of banning petrol cars from cities I find this approach even better.  Instead of banning cars the mayor of Paris is just making it very slow to drive around Paris.  As less and less road space is given to cars, people will realise that it is be coming the slowest rather than the fastest way to get around.  The mayoral elections are due next year I will be voting for whoever promises to reduce automotive traffic the most! 

Day 346: Entitlement

If anybody doubts the fact that having too much money not good for you they can just look at college bribery scandal in the US. Rich people who's children already have a huge built in advantage payed hundreds of thousand of dollars to get their offspring into elite academic institutions.  This kind of entitlement is exactly why there are revolutions.  I understand the parents and the bribe takers will be facing legal consequences, but I haven't heard any measures being taken against the universities themselves who are pleading ignorance. The truth is that most of these institutions have a tendency to take a disproportionate amount of "legacy student" (sons and daughters of alumni) even without bribes.  Since universities are keen to be well regarded in the rankings the best way to change those behaviours would be to change the ranking systems. Instead of the present "objective" peer review based on publications, academic views and employment prospects lets use different criteria:

1. Absence of legacy students
2. Representatives of the student body compared to society
3. Gender balance
4. Variety of school results of the students before coming to the university
5. Originality of the recruitment process 

Day 345: Travel

Sunday I'm off to Hamburg to do a diagnostic of a Cement Company. I'm leading a team of 6 people for the next 3-4 weeks in Germany this will entail me flying back and forth from Paris a few times much to the detriment of our planet.  It seems strange that despite Hamburg having a population of 1.8 million my client still needs to ask a non-German speaking Frenchman to come and their diagnostic.  Throughout the world the number of (supposedly intelligent) graduates has been going up every year. The world is now producing 200 million graduates each year and we have the technology (at no cost) to undertake video conferences with participants from all over the world.  Of course its helpful to have met somebody at least once physically before interacting with them through a screen but I believe that a big share of the business travel we do is unnecessary and wasteful.  If we really wanted to develop local sourcing there is a simple way: massively increasing the cost of airline fuel.  

Taking a plane (even in economy) is a luxury which destroys our environment we should make sure that the price of a ticket includes a high enough carbon tax to completely offset the environmental damage. So for a transatlantic flight you would have to pay into a fund that would buy 40m2 of amazonian rain forest to be preserved. 

Day 344: Foreign

Yesterday Louis pointed out to me that he doesn't really understand the concept of Foreign.  What he meant was that he doesn't see himself as a foreigner when he is living in a country.  When he is in Paris he is Parisian, in London a Londoner and in Montreal a Montrealer (?).  I'm sure that he would feels the same anywhere he happens to live and I would be surprised if Sasha doesn't feel the same way.   I think the whole concept of Foreign should be removed from our collective consciousness.  We could remove the word from the dictionary as a start.  People don't see themselves as foreign when they move from one area to another inside a town or from one town to another inside a country.  Why do we need to label people as foreign ?  Its not a language thing since there are countries with multiple languages and there are multiple countries with the same language.  Its not a race thing since people of all races can share the same nationality.  Its not a distance thing look at Russia or Luxembourg.  A person is no more (or less) a foreigner to me if the live in Tokyo or in the flat underneath.

PS:

Well done to Aunt_C who pointed out my first reference to Brexit was in my very first Blog.

2 Points to the one who guesses whats my favourite film that takes place in Tokyo.

Day 343: Brexit

Today my Californian friend T.  sent me an e-mail asking me to explain why the British don't just take a new vote since they can't seem to agree a way forward and must have realised by now that the original vote was based on lies and deceit by the Brexiters.  So here are some reasons why rerunning the vote is still a long shot:

1. The Prime Minister (Theresa May) converted to Brexit after the vote and like all new converts she is now "more royalist than the king" as we say in France.  Se feels her duty is to execute "the will of the people" even if no one is quite sure what that is anymore.
2. The Leader of the Opposition (Jeremy Corbyn) is actually a life long opponent of the EU and would prefer to just ignore the whole subject.  Although most of his party is now against Brexit he is still avoiding making any decisions on the subject if at all possible. 
3. Although their would be large theoretical majority across parties in Parliament for stopping Brexit or having the softest possible version.   The Right/Left divide is still stronger then the Pro/Con Brexit divide.
4. Many politicians are afraid to be seen as reversing "the will of the people".  For some reason a new vote would be seen as anti democratic.  Of course that makes no sense since if you accept that referendums are democratic then surely you can have as many as you want. (The whole problem is that referendums are not a good way to resolve complex problems).
5. If there were a new referendum nobody knows what the question would be.  Would it be Stop Brexit or Mrs May's deal?  Or No deal Brexit vs Staying in the EU? Or a 3 way choice?
6. At this point in time after close to 3 years of Brexit drama from morning to night the British public's main attitude is one of utter boredom with the whole subject.  Many people just want the whole thing over and done with, irrespective of the outcome.

My friend gets a point for giving me  a Blog subject.  And I will mention that with 23 days to go before the end of the competition 4 readers are still in the running to come out top.  Everything is still possible even for those who are seemingly far behind. 

2 Bonus points to the first person who can tell me in which Blog post I first mentioned Brexit.    

Day 342: Spam

Its the internet's 30th birthday and although overall its been an amazing invention I find one aspect particularly irritating: SPAM. Unsolicited e-mail (and increasingly phone calls) are an unacceptable imposition on our time.  It should be illegal to phone or write to people without their prior consent.  I'm pretty sure that internet and telephone companies have the technical capacity to make too hard for the spam industry to survive.  The problem with these e-mails and calls is that they now cost practically nothing so it doesn't matter if only 1 person in 10 or 100 thousand actually answers.  You can reach 100s of millions of people at practically no cost.  If we had to give written consent by physical mail for any company to be able write to us it would kill a useless industry and save our postal system.  In the mean time I urge you all to never answer unsolicited e-mails or unknown phone calls nothing good ever comes from them.

Day 341: Conversion

My cold shower this morning felt practically warm after a week of icy water in the mountains.  The cold showers in the ski resort last week were particularly icy, and although I can't say I enjoyed them at the time I (sort of) miss them now.  I have a feeling that I may not have persuaded as many people as I would like to the benefits of cold showers.  And yet I'm convinced that it is healthy for the mind and the body as well as for the planet.  I have not been ill this year, whereas I use to always have a sore throat for a week or two in the winter.  

Day 340: Private planes

Today I was reading in the economist that Private Jets (for the very rich) represent close to 1% of all US CO2 emissions and could represent 4% by 2050.   How can it be right or ethical that less than 0.01% of the population in America is allowed to disproportionately pollute the planet for the rest of us.  Private Jets (as they have no legitimate use) should either be completely prohibited or at least taxed prohibitively with the money going to a carbon offset fund.  Another possibility would be to increase the transparency around the carbon footprint of companies and possibly individuals.  People are always more reluctant to engage in antisocial behaviour if they know it may be publicised.

Day 339: Pleasure

We left Les Menuires, in the French Alps, this morning at 8 o'clock and after a three hour drive a short lunch in Lyon and a 2 hour TGV ride we were home by 3:30PM.  If we had driven (as we used to) we would probably have arrived at 6 or 7 pm after navigating the end of vacation traffic jams around Paris.  Not only is the TGV environmentally friendly compared to either the car or the plane it is an actual pleasure to take it.  The seats are quite comfortable and within 15 mins I was sleeping my way to Paris at high speed.  There are 50,000km of high speed train lines in the World mainly in China and Europe.  If all the countries in the world aimed for a similar level of fast trains as China (or western Europe) we would need to build a further 250,000 km of lines which would cost around 750 billion $ per year for the next 10 years.  That might seem a lot but as a an element of comparison that is half what the world spends on its military per year.  Instead of aiming for all NATO countries to spend at least 2% of their GDP on Defence we should be agreeing an international limit of 1% maximum on military budgets worldwide.

Day 338: Music

Popular music in all its form is a massive industry.  Hundreds of millions of people listen to it, collect it and worship the artists.  You would think that all these people listening to music, humming the songs and remembering the lyrics would be classified as music lovers but that is far from the truth. There are 2 phenomenons that I cannot comprehend:

1. When on the piste there are people who ski with a boombox in their backpack.  Aside from the fact that the sound is rarely very good, as soon as you are in a skilift queue you have competing sounds which transform any potentially good music into a cacophony of sounds (also it is socially obnoxious to impose your music on others).
2. The second (and possibly worse) phenomenon is people who listen to music straight from their computer or telephone speakers.  How can anyone pretend they are a music lover and then listen to tinny electronic sound from an under-powered speaker.  It would be like going to a three star Michelin restaurant and being served in plastic cutlery and paper plates.  Or going to a beautiful sandy beach and not caring about the litter.  

If something is worth doing it should be done well.  

Day 337: Agent

I think I may have mentioned in a preceding blog that we are staying in a small ski flat this week.  In addition to the lack of space I have already written about, I find that the slats on my bed are mostly broken which means that 3 or 4 of them fall out every time I sit on the bed. Of course we will complain to the agent but I don't really expect anything to happen.  If we had rented this flat through an online platform we would have lot more recourse to express our dissatisfaction.  The transparency that peer to peer platforms like AirBnB, BlaBlaCar, Uber or  Tripadvisor bring to their respective sectors is a great improvement.  If you know that your service will be publically reviewed you are much more careful about how you describe and price things.  I would say that we are only at the beginning of the transparency revolution.