What's going to happen?

A few years after London made its Oyster smart card unnecessary by integrating contactless bank cards for Tube and bus journeys, Scotrail has finally enabled Flexipasses on their own proprietary smart cards. My home station is a ticketless station. I feel there are a couple of aspects of the scheme for smartcards that have not been user-tested from the point of view of users of small rural commuter stations. Of which there are many on the Glasgow-Edinburgh lines and many more throughout Scotland. I'd like to always arrive with plenty of time for my train in the morning, but sometimes the train is even early. At Kirknewton, Scotrail have placed the Edinburgh-bound smartcard reader by the main car-park entrance, halfway along the platform, about 50m from the entrance nearest the road where late arriving passengers - some detained by the level crossing - scramble for the train. Maybe Scotrail's business analysts imagine that everyone always arrives for a train with 90 second...

Took our daughter's EHIC card along to the hotel doctor after she hurt her chest diving off a boat. 120 Euros, EHIC no use. A simple five minute checkup on a child. Made me appreciate living in a country where healthcare is free at the point of use.  However, the doctor, the same guy I had seen earlier in the week, agreed to take a credit card, automatically charging me in pounds, not Euros. That cost me another £7. So, the reason I saw the doctor earlier in the week was another little scam, introduced about 2010 by the Spanish Government. To dive in Spain, you must have a current, annual medical certificate. Earlier in the week the doctor had only been able to take cash for this service, 35 Euros. He must have spent 90 seconds sticking a pulse-oximeter on my finger, listening to three heartbeats - not lung function - and a quick glance in my ears.  It's my understanding having learned to dive in the 1990's that the BS-AC national medical committee assessed available ...