Talks between the Communication Workers Union and Royal Mail to try and resolve the pay dispute responsible for the recent strikes concluded on Sunday 9th of September. As yet no agreement has been reached. The Union has informed Royal Mail that they will extend the period of calm and are prepared to enter into further talks. There is currently no threat of further industrial action.

This weeks travel blog of the week is Rambling Traveler, I've been visiting this blog quite regularly and have finally got around to giving it the worthy mention it deserves. Stacy the blogs author, has a lovely bogging style featuring the various places she has visited and always with such stunning pictures.

The article I enjoyed the most was God's Child Project, the article explains how Stacy and 5 friends joined a task group to help and learn about the poor in Guatemala. The goal of the organisation is to help families out of poverty by helping the children to stay in school instead of them working to help support their families. They use incentives such as school supplies, food, medical care etc. 

George Best Belfast City Airport has announced plans to extend its runway. The plans would allow Ryanair to fly to more European destinations from the airport. Ryanair hopes to offer flights to three European destinations as well as four daily flights to Stansted airport in London. On the subject of Stansted airport you might want to read this article by Ubertramp who has a few things to say about the airports location.

The first Eurostar train to use the new St Pancras terminal has broken the Paris to London record after a trip of two hours, three minutes and 39 seconds. The train travels at around 192mph. The quicker time should help to drive up passenger number and allow Eurostar to compete with budget airlines.

Nepal’s state run airline has an interesting approach to fixing problems. Faced with a technical problem with one of its two Boeing 757 aircraft they decided to sacrifice two goats to help solve the problem. Personally I feel better if they had called an engineer, but what do I know? The goat sacrifice did appear to work and the problem with the plane has been resolved.

There has been a 69% rise in the number of typhoid cases reported in the UK. This rise is put down to the fact that many tourists do not get the proper vaccinations before going to exotic locations. A rise in low cost flights and the fact that more people are holidaying in locations such as south-east Asia and Africa means that more people are bringing infectious diseases with them. There were 248 cases of typhoid reported in the UK in 2006, 122 of which were picked up overseas.

This weeks travel blog is My Several Worlds A global mind in Asia. The blog is about the experiences of Carrie Marshall and her fiancé and their experiences in Asia. The couple are currently living and teaching in Taipei in Taiwan. One interesting article is a photo journal of Cambodia. The article shows the inhabitants of a small village and shows a number of pictures of the local children and of fishermen bringing home their catch.

 A slightly more humorous article entitled Vehicles of Burden shows some of the overloaded vehicles they have come across crossing from Cambodia into Thailand. Among the photographs are a man driving a motorcycle overloaded with grass and a picture of a dozen people crammed into the back of a truck. They are currently planning a trip to Tokyo, which should make an interesting read judging by all the things on their itinerary.

HSBC has been criticised over a TV advert that suggests they do not charge customers for withdrawing cash abroad. The bank does charge a 2.75% exchange rate adjustment which covers the cost of processing and handling. The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that this fee amounted to a transaction charge and that the company was in breach of advertising rules. They are not allowed to repeat the TV advert until changes have been made to it.