Border control, sure, but we're talking about security. And GGP was talking about traveling around, and seemed to go on multiple trains, presumably several that were not crossing a controlled border.
But re: UK<->mainland I guess it shouldn't be surprising that there's more security for the Chunnel crossing. That feels like it would be a much more likely terrorist target than a random HSR route on land.
Paris <-> Brussels/Amsterdam/Cologne used to be branded as Thalys and Eurostar used to refer only to the London <-> Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam services.
A few years back Thalys merged with Eurostar and then last year they started rebranding the former Thalys services as Eurostar, too, which probably explains the confusion.
Only the former Eurostar services (nowadays "Eurostar Blue") have the security theatre on account of the Channel Tunnel plus UK being non-Schengen, whereas the former Thalys services ("Eurostar Red") are regular train services just like in the rest of Europe (except for Spain, which does some security theatre for its high speed trains, too, although AFAIK a bit less intense than Eurostar, which in turn is less intense than flying).
My first observation of this calm oasis was watching a Dell Compellent boot around 2010. I was somewhat happy to see a familiar boot process on the display!
UK analogue strowger exchanges did not permit the called party to clear down the line - that was the job of the calling party. A legacy function of being 'patched through'.
"Called Subscriber Held", a feature that was carried into early digital exchanges because people expected it to work in the manner you describe, even though afaik it was designed for the other purpose of keeping the line open whilst operators patched it through, trunk lines picked up the tone, etc.
My grandpa was a something like chief engineer for the West Coast of Scotland phone network. I have so many questions I wish I could ask him these days.
I know mechanics, they have been on EV training courses. The dealerships clearly have trained mechanics working on the EVs they've been selling for years.
I live in the countryside, I see plenty of EVs. Range anxiety is only for people doing long distance 200+ mile journeys every day, as those that commute in the suburbs day to day have the common (and financial) sense to charge at home and leave every morning with a 'full tank'
Judging from your prose, admittedly, I suspect you are North American and as such have a distinctly different worldview from mine.
Yes. That is true. But I meant a smaller part. In Excession this part about the avatar of GSV Sleeper Service as it is contemplating offloading all of its cargo: "There was an extra, perhaps deeper melancholy at the thought that it would no longer be able to play host to the living things aboard; the creatures of the sea and the air and the gas-giant atmosphere, and the woman."
Previously in the same book it is implied that these "creatures of the gas-giant atmosphere" are animal level intellects. But my headcanon is that perhaps there are Culture ships with Nasqueron Dwellers or similar intelligent gas-dwellers with complex societies on-board.
You are absolutely right that The Algebraist is full of gas-dwelling creatures. But as far as I can recall while they have a "Culture" feel to them there are no direct Culture references in that book. But maybe I have missed something.
"Multiple troubleshooting efforts to address the area of the leak by reseating a seal in the quick disconnect where liquid hydrogen is fed into the rocket did not fix the issue"
UK to Europe will have border control, passports, etc.