Tag Archives: Travel

Such pretty little teeth you have…..

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Ffolkes,
The sun rose slowly, majestic, climbing up to sit on the horizon over the deep expanse of the Atlantic Ocean, halfway to Ireland from the coast of France. As I watched its regular progress toward the zenith, I reflected on the time just spent…..

It seems my muse has deserted me, just when I needed her the most….. Now I’m going to have to re-load Smart Bee, so I can find her again, hiding in one of the quotes I’ll see eventually. We are speeding toward Cork (Cobh), the town on the Irish coast nearest to where the Titanic went down in the early 20th century. It will be my first time off the ship, as I didn’t want to visit Paris for just one day (and, as I discovered, the one day of the week when the Louvre is closed, meaning my only reason to go wasn’t happening….), and I had no interest in the isle of Guernsey, where we’ve been anchored all day…. So, I’m going to go load SB; I’ll be right back to start today’s Pearl…..

“I’m a fucshia bowling ball somewhere in Brittany” — Zippy the Pinhead

Trust Zippy to come up with an appropriate statement to fit any occasion… In this case, he describes my feelings for much of the day yesterday. Since coming aboard this ship, I’ve had several instances of having the staff tell me something, and not having it happen. In and of themselves, each of the incidents might not have been a big deal, but coming one after another, I rapidly lost patience, thanks to the emotional morass that exists in me at all times…. I just don’t deal well with stress anymore…. After the last incident, in the spa, it took me hours to regain my equilibrium, and I still didn’t get my massage! I know that we all have to learn to live with disappointment, but it isn’t supposed to be like this when I’m paying these prices….

Rather than spend another day in the dumps, however, I resolve to put it behind me, at least long enough to put out this Pearl, now being written at 0430 in the morning, because that is when I awoke, fully charged, having gone to bed at 9 PM last night, and spent all night dreaming about…. something. Any who, this meandering batch of BS will serve well enough as an intro, at least until I can find something better….. Shall we Pearl?…..
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Sometimes, Smart Bee is smarter than usual. These five little aphorisms point in a direction that will enable me to bring back some balance, and hopefully, allow me to find my center sometime before the cruise is over…. These are all excellent advice, for any day, not just the difficult ones…..

Be happy while y’er leevin,
For y’er a lang time deid.

— Scottish motto for a house

“If you can spend a perfectly useless afternoon in a perfectly useless manner, you have learned how to live.” — Lin Yutang

“There are always options.” — Worf, “The Emissary”, stardate 42901.3

“To a man of strong character misfortune may do him more good than harm.” — Roger Bacon

“On the other hand, life can be an endless parade of TRANSSEXUAL QUILTING BEES aboard a cruise ship to DISNEYWORLD if only we let it!!” –Zippy the Pinhead
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I haven’t thought about poetry in over a week now, having been somewhat preoccupied with this trip. I find myself in need of some Emily D….

Me! Come! My dazzled face
In such a shining place!

Me! Hear! My foreign ear
The sounds of welcome near!

The saints shall meet
Our bashful feet.

My holiday shall be
That they remember me;

My paradise, the fame
That they pronounce my name.

~~ Emily Dickinson ~~
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In the interests of keeping it simple, here is a picture from my stay in London…. I got several good shots while riding around on the double-decker tour bus, but, since I can’t upload many pix on this network connection on board ship, I’m limiting it to one good shot per Pearl…. This is a picture of the Houses of Parliament with the tower of Big Ben…..
Day 3 and 4 013__________________________________

Not too bad for an off-the-cuff effort….. and, regardless, it’s going to go out, as is…. My plan for today is to brave the rainy weather in Cork, Ireland, long enough to find a sweater or two….. I will try to post again tomorrow, but, given the unreliability of the connections I have, it may or may not be possible…. I’ll do all I can, though, to put out something…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

After all, it’s only text….

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Ffolkes,

You will have noted that I have not posted for a few days. This is due to unforeseen network issues that coming to Europe has presented. Many of the Wifi networks I’ve been able to connect to are not fast enough to allow programs like Skype, or YouTube to function, and uploading pictures to my blog will take a long time….

Tomorrow I will be posting a real Pearl (I hope), but will have to confine myself to a single picture, or maybe two, if it doesn’t take too long…. Since last posting, from London, I’ve boarded ship, in Harwich, and sailed to Le Havre… and today, we are a St. Peter’s Port in Guernsey, also in France… Tomorrow we will be in Cork (Cobh), and I hope to have some pix of Ireland for you…

Take care ffolkes, I’ll be back soon….

Sometimes I sits and thinks,

and sometimes

I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Some pods have more peas than others….

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Ffolkes,
And then I woke up….  in London, again. Today has been a series of revelations regarding aging and jet lag, as each time I left the B&B to go do something, I would get fatigued after a short while, and have to go back to lie down. I’ve had two naps today, one of 2 hours, and another hour plus later in the day.

I’ve just returned from the nearby pub, the Old Swan, where I had the most excellent bangers and mashed for dinner. However, I became very tired about half-way through the meal, and am now home, sitting again, but this time in front of the comp, to start today’s Pearl….

The wonders of technology are truly wondrous, as I spent some time this afternoon speaking, face to face, with milady Patricia, who is back in California, using Skype, computer to computer, to keep in touch. It’s truly amazing to be able to talk to someone, and see them, from half-way around the world, with almost no delay at all, just the buffering pauses by the computer’s processing chips. This is something that no other culture in history has achieved, to our knowledge, and it is a boon, indeed….

When I was able to get out and about, I went to the Saturday market on Portobello Road, which turns out to be right around the block from where I’m staying. It was a grand experience, with a huge crowd of people and a million little shops selling just about anything imaginable, mostly used or antique… all of the new stuff seemed to be crafts (leather, scarves, etc…) or tourist bric-a-bracs like magnets and posters, or cups and key chains.

I spent a moment talking with a fellow playing Charlie Chaplin, as a mime, and had my picture taken with him (see below), and got a few little things for folks back home, like a British Bobby’s helmet for my grandson, and some other little items. It was a great time, and I only stopped because my fatigue caught up to me again, so I went to take my second nap….

I have discovered that jet lag is more powerful than it seems; I don’t think I’ll feel normal until tomorrow. I’m really glad I took the extra time here in London to recover from that before I go on my cruise, as I think it would have been disastrous to try to get right on the ship after the flight over the pond. At least this way, I’ll only be tired from the hour or two train ride from London to Harwich, where the ship is waiting for me., and will be better able to enjoy the cruise….

Here are a few pictures from todays rambles…. I hope you are enjoying my little travelogue….

Here is the conservatory, where the breakfast buffet is served….
day2 London 001The patio, just outside the conservatory at The Abbey Court
day2 London 002The front of The Old Swan, my new favorite pub in London….
day2 London 003The sign at Portobello Road…

day2 London 004

Inside the Good Fairy Market on Portobello Road…
day2 London 012A moment with Charlie….
day2 London 010A look down Portobello Road during the market…. with two unhappy campers….
day2 London 006A sign on the former residence of George Orwell, the author and essayist, also on Portobello Road….
day2 London 014    That’s all for today, ffolkes…. For those Pearl Drops who missed the email version yesterday, please be advised it did not get sent, as Gmail apparently has a problem with me being in England, and won’t let me access the account. I’ll be NOT sending them for the rest of my trip, because the pictures would take too long to load… So, I’ll just send you the address of the blog post when I get it up on line, from my email account at Yahoo….. Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

Which is Why….

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Look out, Doc, it’s a Time Warrior….

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Ffolkes,
My butt is firmly planted on a chair in London, England, and I am writing this in my room at The Abbey Court Notting Hill, Kensington. I am at once excited, and exhausted. The plane ride over the pond from SF took over 11 hours, counting the time sitting on the ground, not moving, and I got stuck in a middle seat on a 747 with about 490 other people. By the time I wound my way through the airport at Heathrow, caught the train into town, and grabbed a cab to my room, I’d been on the road for over 18 hours, and all I wanted was a shower and a bed, in that order.

I took both, and then went out to see what was in the neighborhood…. It’s really cool, walking around the streets…. the crowds are very cosmopolitan, and you’ll hear a dozen languages and five different English accents in the space of a block. My steps didn’t go far away from my B&B before stumbling upon my first English Pub, The Old Swan….

It’s right out of a movie from my youth, with all wood furnishings, lovingly polished to a high gleam, and a menu full of typical and atypical Pub Grub. I tried the Steak and Ale Pie, and it was quite good, putting the lie to the old French tale of how tasteless the English food is to the refined palate…. I couldn’t do the meal justice, so I’m going back to try the bangers and mashed for supper.

I also figured out how to run Skype on my comp, so I could talk to Patty at home…. This also means that anyone else who wishes to call me via Skype, either video or audio, by searching for gigoid2 in their contacts…. It works well, and makes me feel like I’m Back In The Future!….. Now, if I can find where I left the DeLorean…..

Tomorrow I plan to spend much of the day sightseeing… I’ll be taking a double-decker bus tour, and a river tour, to find out where Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London, the Bridges, Westminster Abbey, etc…. On Sunday, I plan to try to get to Stonehenge and back to London, to get ready to embark Monday on the cruise…. Good times ahead, for sure….

Below are some travel pictures, beginning on the freeway to the airport, and ending at The Old Swan pub… more to come tomorrow….

On the freeway….
Second shots 007The San Francisco skyline from the Bay Bridge….
Second shots 011The Abbey Court Notting Hill, in London on Pembridge Gardens Road…..
Second shots 012And lastly, the bar at The Old Swan….
Second shots 013    That’s all for now…. Tomorrow, I hope to have more to share of my stay here in London…… Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you…..

When I works, I works hard.
When I sits, I sits loose.
When I thinks, I falls asleep.

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Astride a pale horse, I ride….

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Ffolkes,
It is probably appropriate for the Beatle’s “Back in the USSR” to be playing in my head, alternating with “Helter Skelter”, as I sit here, trying to maintain an equable demeanor, while inside I am dancing and jumping up and down in ecstatic delight….. In just under two hours, I’m off to the airport, next stop, London….. I can barely contain my glee, but, I will do so long enough to finish this short note….

This is likely the only post for today… I’ll be busy flying and finding my way around in a strange place the rest of today, and most likely will collapse tomorrow, after a 3-4 hour airport ordeal, and a 10+ hour flight. As it is the only post for today, I’ll try to make it short, and sweet….

“Things don’t change. You change your way of looking, that’s all.” — Carlos Castaneda

“Watch your thoughts; they become your words. Watch your words; they become your actions. Watch your actions; they become your habits. Watch your habits; they become your character. Watch your character for it will become your destiny. If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?” — Rabbi Hillel, Avot 1:13, 12th Century

“It is one of the commonest of mistakes to consider that the limit of our power of perception is also the limit of all there is to perceive.” — C. W. Leadbeater

“It is never too late to give up your prejudices.” — Henry David Thoreau, Walden

“Yow!  I want to mail a bronzed artichoke to Nicaragua!” — Zippy the Pinhead

Well, that’s both short, and sweet, so it will have to do to get us all through the day…. Rather than mailing my artichoke to Nicaragua, though, I’m going to fly my butt to England…..  Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you….. I leave you with a haiku….

I’m off to Ireland,
as I’ve always wished to do.
Fulfilling a dream…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

dozer3

Social engineering won’t float the boat….

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Ffolkes,
I’ve never tried to hide my tendency toward procrastination; in fact, I’ve always enjoyed it, and use it shamelessly. I discovered a long time ago that I do my best work when I’m pushed for time…. the sense of mild panic that goes along with it has never been welcome, but it does keep one focused when needed….

In this particular case, I’ve been procrastinating dealing with two awards, both of which were bestowed upon my unsuspecting, and unworthy, head by Maarit, whose wonderful blog, History of the Ancient World, is one of my favorites, except on those days when she posts in Finnish (a language I’ve yet to learn….)….. even then, the photos and pictures she includes make it worthwhile to view…. One of these days, I’ll figure out how to translate it; there’s probably a way to do that….probably right on her site, but I’m not quite enough of a geek to figure it out…. yet…   🙂



So, I’m dutifully, humbly, and sincerely thanking Maarit, for nominating me for my second Very Inspiring Blog Award, and for nominating me for the Reader Appreciation Award, as so cheerfully and elegantly demonstrated by their logos, just above….

You can find Maarit’s blog here:  http://historyoftheancientworld.wordpress.com/author/historyoftheancientworld/

One of the rules for these awards is for the recipient (me) to reveal seven to fifteen things about themselves; seven for one award, fifteen for the other…. Since I’m not going to reveal 22 things, we’ll compromise the two, and go with 11…. Plus, I can’t find the originals, so I’m answering my own questions……So, here are 11 things you may or may not have known about gigoid….

1)  I consider Shakespeare the most over-rated author in history….. let’s talk….

2)  I believe the greatest threat to Mankind’s future is the very scary reality of global warming, and its cause, to wit: our own species’ deliberate ignorance and the overt societal tendency to allow avarice and greed to exist without consequence.

3)  True freedom is the release from pain…. to this I can testify….

4)  My personal goal is to write just one line that will be remembered forever…. more than one would be nice, but, let’s get real…. I’ll settle for one….

5)  Honor, loyalty to friends, compassion for the vulnerable, and truth are the values I choose to give meaning to my life. Everything else we do is just spending time….

6)  I am my own greatest source of humor….

7)  Dogs, cats, and all of their wild, undomesticated cousins are the best teachers of morality on this planet. We humans could do no better than to follow their example of how to live in harmony with themselves, and with the planet at large. <— Note the period….

8)  I find the men, and even some perverted women, who engage in the traffic in human beings, of all varieties, to be the scum of the earth; any man or woman found to be willingly involved in any part of this plague of evil deserves nothing more than an instant death. I would prefer that they suffer for a long, terrifying time before dying, to let them know a small portion of the terror they give to their victims, but I would settle for them just dying. None of us can consider ourselves to be truly free, until we have freed our sisters and brothers from this scourge….

9)  I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer. Fear is the little-death that brings total obliteration. I will face my fear. I will permit it to pass over me and through me. And when it has gone past I will turn the inner eye to see its path. Where the fear has gone there will be nothing. Only I will remain.  (I believe this implicitly….)

10)  My greatest joy in life consists of knowing my son and daughter are living lives of honor and purpose, self-chosen….. What man could ask for more than that?….

11)  My not-so-secret inner desire is to be able to travel to all those places in the world I’ve always wanted to see, sometime before I check out of this hotel for the last time…. or at least for this time. Reincarnation has some attractive points to it, doesn’t it?…..

Okay, now you know more about me.. now you can learn about some pretty fine others, all of whom have a blog here on WordPress….

The awards also call for nominating other bloggers for the award… going with the same compromise breakdown, here are 11 of my favorite blogs, all of whom richly deserve the honor.  I hope they will accept, without the usual request to make sure to post the awards….. doing so can take up a lot of time, and in my case, has to take the place of a daily Pearl, as I am limited in how long I can sit…. but any who… here are 11 blogs that you should definitely check out… they’re all worth it….

1)  http://carolwelsh.wordpress.com/

2)  http://hastywords.wordpress.com/

3)  http://eyesofodysseus.wordpress.com/

4)  http://onetimepad.wordpress.com/

5)  http://niltsi.com/

6)  http://secretdiaryofadublincallgirl.wordpress.com/

7)  http://jenniferworrell.wordpress.com/

8)  http://rmott62.wordpress.com/

9)  http://ladybluerose.wordpress.com/

10)  http://secretlifeofamanhattancallgirl.wordpress.com/

11)  http://theobamacrat.com/

I could fairly easily fill in the rest of the originally called-for 22 blogs, but I’m a curmudgeon, and I have to keep up my standards…. all of the other blogs I could add are all worth reading as well (otherwise, I wouldn’t be following them…. ); however, enough is enough…. I’ve already pulled enough covers in my confessional above….   🙂

There you have it ffolkes… I have fulfilled my duty, as best I could, so now it is someone else’s turn at bat…. A regular Pearl will be forthcoming tomorrow morning, per usual…. in the meantime, Y’all take care out there, and May the Metaphorse be with you……

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!

We believe the correct term is “Zounds!”….

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Ffolkes,
It’s bloody cold out here today! Out in the main room, not outside, though if inside is any indicator, it’s cold out there, too. And I didn’t mean to get into a whole weather report, so let’s just start over….

Buon giorno, ohayo gozaimas, buenos dias, and howdy….. I’m feeling somewhat international today. It’s probably a side effect of wanting to travel….. anywhere. I’ve been stuck too long in one place, and my itchy feet are dunning me to hit the road, to go somewhere on the planet where I’ve never been, to meet people I’ve never known, to see things I’ve never seen. Way too long, indeed…. the last real travel I undertook was over a year ago, and that was a nightmare; the last day and a half of it would make a pretty funny movie. Funny for others at least; it wasn’t funny at all from my perspective. Any who, I can definitely hear those wild geese calling me, urging me to pack my bag and be on my way…… soon enough, compadre, soon enough…..
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crust, sauce, toppings, cheese. — The Four Food Groups

I find it odd, to say the least, but this is true; crust is a carbohydrate, sauce is made of vegetables, toppings are generally protein and/or vegetable, cheese is a dairy product. So, if one really stops to thinks about it (such as at those times when I sits and thinks…) pizza, and pasta, too, for that matter, can be considered a balanced meal all by itself. This may be why it appeals to so many people in America; we, as a group, are all about one-stop-shopping. If we can tell ourselves that a pizza is healthy food (and it is!) then we can eat without guilt. Since guilt is one of our other preeminent characteristics, an unwelcome one, eating pizza, for us, is a win-win, and is useful at any time to maintain a happy, guilt-free lifestyle….. 🙂  Abondanza!….. I’m a chef, it’s all true, I swear! Trust me!…….

“There is a difference between eating a varied diet and chowing down on a cup of lard and sugar once a day. Programmers know this instinctively: they balance their daily menu among the four major food groups: caffeine, sugar, grease, and salt.” — From John Walker’s The Hacker’s Diet
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I’m sorry, but I’m giving up on this Pearl. I’ve spent the last hour and a quarter searching desperately for a quote, an idea, or even just a joke to place here for discussion. What I’ve found is nada. Nothing. Zip. Zero. Not even a hint, or a random finger pointing in a direction where the last idea was seen. It’s bloody frustrating, I’ll tell ya…. and I’ve got stuff to do today. So, I’m giving up. This will have to remain blank. Just think of it as a user documentation manual from the old days at IBM, where it was common practice to put “This page intentionally left blank” on a large number of pages. At least this is my first time….. even now, I’m breathlessly awaiting serendipity, hoping after hope that rescue is rushing down upon us, to leave us with something, anything at all, to put here….. well, I’m waiting…. and waiting…. and waiting….. ah, I knew Murphy wouldn’t let me down…. here is the perfect piece to drag this odd little paragraph right into the realm of respectability, because the message intended in this poetic classic is the perfect counterpoint…..

Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe
All mimsy were the borogoves
And the mome raths outgrabe
— _Jabberwocky_, by Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson)

See?…. I rest my case….
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“Syzygy, inexorable, pancreatic, phantasmagoria–anyone who can use those four words in one sentence will never have to do manual labor.” — W. P. Kinsella

Easy money…..

“Even a terminal pancreatic cancer patient can observe the inexorable march of the planets culminating in syzygy, as in an eclipse, if no other way, as a phantasmagoria, a hallucination stemming from their radiation therapy.” — gigoid, 2/25/2012.

See, no problem. Anybody else have a challenge for me? Feel free to leave them in the comments, and I’ll give them a shot. As long as I can find out what each word means, I think I can string them together, and the ensuing results promise to be as strangely interesting as this one……does this mean, since I don’t have to do manual labor anymore, that I’m getting paid now?….
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“Do you believe in and afterlife?  I think this is it.” — Brown

This is an interesting notion… if true, it would explain a lot about this life that we have attributed heretofore to supernatural, or to as yet unknown, laws governing the universe. For example, it would explain why what we call our lives are incredibly brief, in comparison to almost any other part of the physical universe. Stars, matter, worlds, rocks, moons, all last for billions of years, unless acted upon by great forces, whereupon they merely change form, but do not vanish.

But our consciousness, no matter how deeply we think we understand reality, must bow to the simple fact that we only exist, consciously, for a mere few seconds of the eternal clock. When considered in this light, the above statement becomes absolute truth, and bears contemplation. The answers found may just reveal how immortal we actually may be, though the evidence may not indicate such……
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“We must learn not to disassociate the airy flower from the earthy root, for the flower that is cut off from its root fades, and its seeds are barren, whereas the root, secure in mother earth, can produce flower after flower and bring their fruit to maturity.” — Kabbalah (BC 1200?-700? AD)

Mind and body are one? Yes….. it fits. Over a thousand years ago, and folks were developing subtle, yet complex, answers to ages-old questions. This one indicates to me that the author, or the philosophy about which he discoursed, was aware of the duality present in the fabric of reality. It acknowledges the two separate qualities that coexist within each of us, that state of mind/body that both tests and verifies its own nature. We perceive two things, mind and body, whereas the universe only sees one thing, a human.

It is thus a mistake to act out of the belief that we are not connected to the rest of the universe, that our perceptions, based on the duality inherent in the nature of reality, reflect what actually is real. Reality does not acknowledge any such separation of spirit from matter; what happens to one affects the other just as strongly. It is much more prudent, or rather, more effective as a strategy, to include the knowledge of this duality in our contemplations, and base decisions on reality, rather than fantasy….. life is much more congenial…..
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Well, that was interesting…. I think. It will fly, though, I’m pretty sure. And if not, well, tomorrow is another day. Since I started of with weather-talk, I’ll finish the same way. Today promises to be pretty nice here is Northern California, though the forecast is calling for some drizzle later in the afternoon. A little bit of everything, eh what? Not much to do about it, whatever happens, so I just try to enjoy it….. y’all take care out there…..

—
Sometimes I sits and thinks,
and sometimes
I just sits.

gigoid

Dozer

Kowabunga!