Signs of Edinburgh

Some humorous signs seen on an afternoon's outing in Edinburgh, with a few others thrown in at the end to take advantage of the gullible viewer.

Edinburgh Pubs

Family and two co-eds of the American contingent on a Pub crawl
(click to expand)

Well, you've been through the great Edinburgh castle and the City's many exhibitions and museums, to include the Scottish national memorial to its war dead, the Stone of Scone (now retrieved from London) the Scottish royal crown, jewels, sword, and scepter.  You’ve been through the tartan weaving mill and the whiskey tour - complete with riding in a whiskey barrel car, a veritable Scott’s Disney World in which you are immersed in the subtleties of the various forms of uisge beatha (the water of life).

Lunch with a Siren

A handsome young lady invited an older gentleman to lunch in order to pursue a legitimate business hunch but also knowing she would be enjoying basking in the glowing as he boiled in frustrated lust.


Like everything else, the more elusive some pleasure is the greater the attraction and when the prospects are nil, indeed verboten, the attraction can approach infinity - most discomforting.

Earlier in life any single such instance can easily be allowed to slide off with the subconscious thought that there is always tomorrow and the prospect of another, the denial then is momentary only, not permanent. But when the tomorrows begin to be more countable, that stratagem fails and each passing comely lass produces a painful regret that cannot be avoided; part of the hell of getting older. Some men seem to be lucky enough to lose their libido to golf or something, others though are doomed to make subtle (or not so) fools of themselves, becoming ever more pathetic in their evident frustrations. There are few things less attractive than a man who has failed to bury his libido in a timely manner and women, well they have thier own weakness; to a point they like being suffered over.

P.S. Ernest Borgnine has the best answer I suppose.

The Misunderstanding

Not the actual culprit, just a bigger look alike.

I swear that this happened exactly as reported below without one whit of exaggeration. In retrospect the occurrence recounted arose from a personality trait of mine which may reflect on my Celtic heritage. Wherever it comes from, I am disposed to extract humor from the daily affairs of life whenever possible. This often involves employing a playful approach to communication which, on occasion, especially in dealing with the dryer mind can cause miscommunication or even evoke disapproval. It did both in this situation.  Oh, by the way, there is adult content so if you are under say sixteen don’t read it without parental consent. (By conventional wisdom parental consent provides some kind of prophylactic protection against things “adult” or is it society is willing to apporve of anything that parents do?  Such faith.)

The Blues

The magic of the blues is that it makes a plus of life's inevitable minuses, celebrates our inherent weaknesses, forgives us our failings and reminds us that we are all in the end very much the same. Accepting our own flaws allows us to enjoy them in those around us; the closest friendships are built on accepted flaws.

On The Virg

You can't find post by author On the Virg, http://rockhopers.blogspot.com/. Here are links to a few of James T. Bruce's posts:

http://rockhopers.blogspot.com/2009/03/spanking-away-depression.html http://rockhopers.blogspot.com/2008/11/obama-election-represents-many-firsts.html http://rockhopers.blogspot.com/2008/08/case-of-cold-feet-who-to-fear.html http://rockhopers.blogspot.com/2008/07/times-are-getting-hard.html http://rockhopers.blogspot.com/2008/06/some-women-may-be-disappointed-but.html

Mindless Right Wing Emails

I got an email this morning, a piece forwarded by a friend to friends. If you are white and living in red state country you have doubtless received similar ones. This one was about what a billion is and asserting that Louisiana Senator Landrieu is responsible for spending two hundred fifty billion dollars on New Orleans after Katrina.

That I have friends that send these things around is worrisome to me. We need to teach children in school to spot rank propaganda and to be skeptical of things that appear to be absurd as they probably are misleading or worse. 

Such emails never prove to be right, just right wing and yet they go round and round endlessly, this one obviously over three years old now! What is it about people and these emails that make them work as they do?

The first lie in this one is that the legislation was about New Orleans. It was about the State of Louisiana and the entire impacted Gulf Coast; a misrepresentation that invalidates the various mathematical calculations it asserts: dollars per person, dollars per house etc. The end theme of the email, its agenda, is we have too much government and our taxes are too high.

The difference between a third world economy and a first is not the color of the national flag, the bible being read or the genetic code of the residents; it is the presence or absence of public infrastructure, education and effective stable government, all fundamental to a functional private sector and prosperity. 

We have been through a period of denying the necessity for government and are paying a heavy price for it.  When we are spending too much on education, when the financial system is as stable and well run as the post office, when regulatory agencies are ahead of problems like Madoff, not behind, we can talk about taxes being too high. Until then, to all my friends, please don’t send me anymore stupid rightwing emails. Since the Vietnam War, this nation has invested itself in studied ignorance. I don’t need an inbox full of mindlessness to remind me of the detour we have been on or the backwardness of where I live. 

Thanks

Voting

A good day dressed up in a beautiful crisp Fall morning!  Standing in the voting line, I had lovely butterflies in my stomach as I contemplated just how wonderful a process this all is; how central such a seemingly simple thing is to the progress of humanity. The occurrence of free election can release the progressive mind to a sense of faith in humankind and the future.  As I stood there, my heart was full of the wisdom it all represented.

Then I remembered that all these other people in line were going to get to vote as well and that caused me to contemplate the results of elections past and the state of government in the present…it ruined the whole thing. Once inside, low and behold someone is trying to amend the Arkansas constitution to let idiots and the insane vote!? Jesus! I thought to myself, you mean they are not already?!

In Eygpt, Be Careful Who You Smile At

You have to be careful whom you smile at in Egypt. Before elaborating, let me tell you that we are having a fabulous time in Cairo. I think it is in large part due to having personal guides - our sons, who seem to have lived here all their lives. Everything is so alien, without them we would likely feel isolated as spectators rather than participants. Such estrangement detracts from absorption/connection with the culture. With the boys, we are instantly at home and the result is wonderful. It helps I am sure that the people are so very friendly, not in the least aloof or distant, as you will learn more fully when I get back to the smile.

A RUNAWAY CAT – ONE SAILOR’S OFFSHORE PASSAGE OPPORTUNITY (OPO) EXPERIENCE

In the day, we sailed under light blue skies over a dark blue Gulf Stream. At night, we sailed under a star-studded Milky Way over cradle rocking waves. Sea birds, turtles and flying fish were our companions as we lazily made our way north on temperate southerly breezes—any thoughts of a jinxed trip were forgotten. 


Where fairytales often begin with “Once upon a time”, sailing adventures are more likely to begin with “So, there we were.” This one is no exception, but I start with the singular.

A Sunny Day

The other night all the kids were over. When it came time for the Phillip unit to go home, Lizy asked James if he would like to stay with us overnight, to which he promptly said yes - a departure from recent trends. Shortly thereafter the question arose as to where he would like to sleep; with Becky in her bed, in Sid's bed, or ,Becky suggested, with granddaddy Bruce in Becky's bed. To my surprise he immediately responded affirmatively to the last suggestion.