Posting over the next ten days or so may be a little light, as Longtime Friend and Reader Mark C. and I will be trekking across the U.S. to attend Boomershoot this coming weekend. (From Texas, three days up, three days down plus three days shooting. I must be insane.)
That’s the Son&Heir circa 2005.
And to the attendees: can’t wait to see y’all again, but please forgive me if I’ve forgotten your names — I’m old, my memory for names was always crap, and it’s been 17 years.
Arriving in Ye Olde Inne Boxxe:
Amsterdam would be Choice Nommer Een, and Madrid Numero Dos. Nothing against the Spaniardists, but both New Wife and I love Amsterdam.
In a heartbeat, baby.
…and if you live in upscale areas in Los Angeles, that might be “literally“:
Crime has risen dramatically in Los Angeles, as well as in many other major cities, since the start of the pandemic and last summer’s protests against police violence resulted in the slashing of many law enforcement budgets. News stories document rising fear across LA and crime has become the major issue in both the upcoming mayor’s election and a possible recall of the district attorney. It may not be surprising that issues of race and class are driving this concern, though they have a new twist.
Wealthy and predominantly white neighborhoods have experienced the sharpest upticks in a wide array of crimes.
It shows that the richer and whiter the area, the greater the increase in both raw crime totals and percentages of total city crime. This includes a wide range of felonies, from robbery, burglary, shoplifting and car theft to aggravated assault and rape.
California voters have moved the needle on crime in recent years. Proposition 47 decriminalized a number of theft and drug charges, making them misdemeanors, as it did several “non-violent” felonies. Voters also approved Proposition 57, which allows for early release of non-violent offenders.
Imagine that: you vote to decriminalize all sorts of crime, and those types of crime increase and the goblins goes to where da money izz (/Willie Sutton). Read the article for the breakdowns.
Who could have seen that coming?
Well, nobody except the 70-odd million people who voted for Trump last time around.
And stop giggling like little girls, you lot; it’s unbecoming.
I normally look at these travel articles with a jaundiced eye, as most are just crap. But here’s one I’ll get behind, in spades:
One lake, four countries: Lake Constance is the perfect way to sample the delights of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Liechtenstein
…and indeed it is. We stayed in Konstanz (at the Hoel Petershof), caught the ferry over to Meersburg, and later drove along the Bodensee’s southern shore to get to Bregenz. We loved it so much that we went back to Meersburg on a later trip, and stayed here:
Here was the view:
…which you may remember as the header for someone else’s blog.
As for the streets:
Yes, that’s the family grunting its way up the steep street from the lake shore.
Come to think of it, I’d love to do a week-long tour of the Lake Constance shoreline, staying in Meersburg, Konstanz and Bregenz along the way. In one of these:
Just do it in spring or summer, because it gets pretty damn cold around the Bodensee* when the sun doesn’t shine.
*by the way, the Germans don’t call it a “sea” (as the idiot writer of the article claims). The German word “see” (pronounced zay ) means “lake”.
I have listed several reasons why people are crazy to visit and / or live in Australia (horrible things with teeth, and mouse plagues, as well as raging bush fires).
So why should it come as a surprise to learn that now it’s the Slater bugs’ turn to plague the hapless country?
I’d never even heard of the damn insects before…
I see that beautiful New Zealand is opening its borders to tourists next month, and my only thought is:
No. Fucking. Way.
Sure; I’ll endure a 17-hour flight in an economy seat, arrive in Kiwiland only to discover that someone has caught the sniffles so Reichsfuehrer Jacinda Wossname can lock the place up again, inflicting an endless stream of horrible TV, bad food and ugly, badly-dressed and ultra-feministical wimmyns* on my sensitive soul?
Listen: the only reason I’d go Further Down Under would be to watch NZ play rugby or cricket against South Africa or England, and even that’s a dubious proposition.
Now I need to ameliorate my apparent harshness with this observation: while I’ve never met an Australian (male or female) that I didn’t want to punch in the mouth ten minutes after meeting them, I have always enjoyed the company of (male and female) New Zealanders: Australians without the rudeness and attitude, to make it brief. But that’s not enough.
Not gonna happen, and as for the beautiful scenery: you can stick it up your Peter Jackson. Middle Earth, my aching African-American ass.
*hence the old joke: Hear about the Miss New Zealand competition? Nobody won.