Europe travels 2012 – 2

Posted on June 13, 2012 by David

More photos:

Postojna caves:

The Bridge of Khazad-dûm:

Farmers fighting over a cow while a lawyer milks it:

The Church in Ljubljana:

I’ll be joining them when I retire:

Plitvice Lakes:

To Croatia:

Split:

Off to Vienna

Posted on June 7, 2012 by David

and a few other places.

Keeping the skies safe from 4 year old girls

Posted on April 24, 2012 by David

To make everyone feel better about this, I would like to emphasise that no profiling whatsoever – racial, religious, or otherwise – was performed by the airport Stasi in their efforts to purge dangerous Grandmas, 4 year olds and teddy bears from our fragile skies.

As an aside, when I flew to Athens last year, while I was being probed by prurient gloved hands as I struggled to hold my beltless pants up, a 350lb Muslim lass, swathed from head to foot, waddled past me untouched to plant herself resolutely in two seats in the centre of the plane. I’m convinced there was at least one stowaway under her burka.

My two young children, aged four and six, were particularly excited their Grandmother was catching the same flight out of Wichita. Since she lives in California, and we live in Montana, they’ve never had a chance to fly with her. Tired and eager to return home, we began passing through security. My children and I went through without an incident. My Mother, however, had triggered the alarm. She was asked to go through the scanners again, and when the source of the alarm could not be identified she was told to sit aside and await a pat-down. All of this was perfectly routine.

When my Four-year-old daughter noticed her Grandmother, she excitedly ran over to give her a hug, as children often do. They made very brief contact, no longer than a few seconds. The Transportation Security Officers (TSO) who were present responded to this very simple action in the worst way imaginable.

First, a TSO began yelling at my child, and demanded she too must sit down and await a full body pat-down. I was prevented from coming any closer, explaining the situation to her, or consoling her in any way. My daughter, who was dressed in tight leggings, a short sleeve shirt and mary jane shoes, had no pockets, no jacket and nothing in her hands. The TSO refused to let my daughter pass through the scanners once more, to see if she too would set off the alarm. It was implied, several times, that my Mother, in their brief two-second embrace, had passed a handgun to my daughter.

My child, who was obviously terrified, had no idea what was going on, and the TSOs involved still made no attempt to explain it to her. When they spoke to her, it was devoid of any sort of compassion, kindness or respect. They told her she had to come to them, alone, and spread her arms and legs. She screamed, “No! I don’t want to!” then did what any frightened young child might, she ran the opposite direction.

That is when a TSO told me they would shut down the entire airport, cancel all flights, if my daughter was not restrained. It was then they declared my daughter a “high-security-threat”.

Ireland – West Coast

Posted on October 2, 2011 by David

Sligo watch house:

Glencar waterfall:

Dolphin in the sea at Moher cliffs:

Moher cliffs:

Sharon freezing on a boat – again:

Pulsating Ennis nightlife:

Outside Ennis Cathedral at night:

Across Ireland

Posted on September 30, 2011 by David

Ashford Castle. We liked it so much, we thought we might sell everything and rent a permanent suite here:

Cong Abbey:

The Doolough Valley:

Kilronan Castle, where we are staying tonight:

Dublin Day 2

Posted on September 28, 2011 by David

Dublin Castle:

This Georgian era statue of Lady Justice is unusual in that it is not blindfolded – signifying impartiality – but looks at Dublin Castle. This, in addition to the fact that justice favoured the elite, gave rise to the following:

Lady Justice, notice her station:
Face to the castle and arse to the nation.

Those who have followed the ANiC v.s. ACoC court litigation, will note that this sums up those proceedings, too.

At the Guinness brewery. This was just her first pint; things went rapidly downhill from there.

As the advertisement says, Guinness is Good for You: it must be, Arthur Guinness and his wife had 21 children. Of course, today she would have had two children and 19 abortions.

Molly Malone who, we were told, was celibate by day, but used to sell a bit by night:

A street artist:

St. Patrick’s Cathedral:

We had dinner in a restaurant that had once been a church. John Wesley preached his first Irish sermon there in 1747, Jonathan Swift used to attend it, Handel used the organ for practice and, as you can see from this plaque, the Rev. John Magill’s remains were deposited in the Vault Beneath. I doubt if even this Divine of Polite Learning and Sound Judgement foresaw that, within a few hundred years, aided and abetted by mainline denominations, Western Christianity would decline to the point that his church would become a restaurant and his final resting place in the vault – toilets.

I have little doubt that St. John’s Shaughnessy will, after the elapse of a decent interval, suffer a similar fate. Perhaps the new owners will offer Michael Ingham the position of head waiter.