Wednesday 11 October 2006

View from the Gator

The Gator is a vehicle like a small jeep that is used for getting around the park when you need to do bigger jobs like chop down trees. We needed to chop down a tree, so we used the Gator. It was smelly, but fun, and we saw this amazing Barn Owl while we were driving so we stopped to photograph it.

Earlier in the day, I was the guide/instructor for two sessions of the 'All Creatures Great but Small' programme today, ie bugs and insects, or what I think the British primary science curriculum refers to as 'mini-beasts' and I had two very enjoyable groups. This afternoon, the weather had warmed up enough for a last dragonfly to entertain us and there was a huge bullfrog was poking its head out of the pond.

A friend had recommended a new TV series to us, 'Dexter' and damn it's good. The main character is the gay brother from 'Six Feet Under' and you would think that he flies so far within the gaydar's range that he must set 'em all off. Well Holy Smoke, all that was needed was to brush his hair differently and voilà! Like Grecian 2000. Oh wait, that dealt with the grey, not the gay, but you get my point.
The idea of the programme is that Dexter is a police forensics expert who specialises in blood spatter, but he is also a serial killer, a serial killer who targets just....serial killers. And I'm loving the style of it, because you can hear what goes on in his cold, dark mind. Creepy and fabulous.

It must have been very scary for people in Manhattan today when a small aircraft crashed into a block of flats. I can't get my head round how it comes to be that people can be just flying aircraft around above a city. I always think when I fly that the pilot and co-pilot are some kind of gods, so it's scary that a sportsperson, or person of restricted intelligence as we often call them, can have a pilot's licence and be out there doing what? The only way to get across the Atlantic if you can't give up a few weeks and several thousand pounds, it to fly. There are many ways to get around and across New York. Flying, in my not so humble opinion, should be a much more restricted activity.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OK I'll just get on my soapbox...I agree that flying should be a more restricted practice but not just for safety reasons. Aeroplanes in flight use enormous amounts of fuel, are highly polluting and extremely anti-social in terms of noise and disturbance. We are made to worry about the motor car's contribution to global warming and environmental damage and quite rightly too, but flight really should be up there on the same agenda.

Schneewittchen said...

And I agree with you on that one too Nigel. I have mentioned it a couple of times in posts, but it's good to know it isn't just me banging on about environmental issues all the time.
I know that short haul trips are the biggest problem because ppl make so many more of them and they could be replaced with other methods of public transport, however, I think a lot more research needs to be put into finding out whether for example, getting a plane full of ppl from Heathrow to Spain may actually be less costly to the environment than them all driving there, especially in the light of new aircraft efficiencies.
Shorter still journeys, for example from London to Edinburgh could most probably certainly be more efficiently replaced by train, and a new faster and more environmentally safe train system for such journeys is already on the drawing board.

Anonymous said...

I'm announcing my non-candidacy for President. Spread the word before MSNBC catches on to this non-story.

Grecian 2000? I've never actually heard of it... here we have Just For Men, which could also be the thing it's not, if you catch my drift.

Schneewittchen said...

I believe your non-candidacy may succeed !