Monday, July 17, 2006
Road Links 9.0
Of French School Children and Land Whale Pods - Some Final Travel Reflections
Some years ago when we visited Stratford-upon-Avon we were warned not to get caught up in groups of French school children. We were told they would sweep you up like some great tidal wave and never release you. My wife inadvertantly got so caught up and it was worse than the warning. The children were oblivous to her presence and unattentive to her requests to be excused. Eventually I threw her a rope and pulled her from the group like taking a fish out of a school.
Long ago in our travels my wife and I took to referring to Recreational Vehicles as "Land Whales" because of their immense size, slow movement, and tendency to simply take over the road. We soon noticed that they often travelled together in "pods".
This year we noted that when trying to pass a pod of land whales one could get captured like she had been captured in the scool of French children. Even later in this trip as we have traveled trough some of the most isolated roads in the United States, places too sparse in population and travel for a land whale pod ever to form, we still encountered lone land whales and still had to carefully negotiate our way around them, for even though not in pods they tended to form groups of all sorts of travel life and one was forced to become part of the pack or expend enormous energy to pass it.
I realize these fanciful bits of metaphor seem silly, but they make a point. My wife and I, living as you do in a huge metropolitan area, seek solitude on vacation - we seek to escape the push-and-pull of having to negotiate with the other at every turn. We seek the impossible. Even on highways rarely travelled one finds a group one must negotiate a way around.
As bloggers, we seem to pride ourselves on how we are not part of the crowd. And yet we are - we have formed our own crowd, that's all. More, it's a "safe" crowd. Like the land whale pod, I can encounter it and deal with it without ever actually meeting its members or forming anything so dangerous as a relationship.
Sounds a bit Pharisetical doesn't it? They after all encoutered and negotiated with the law without forming a relationship of any sort with the God behind the Law.
Well, anyway, here's what I am reading:
Even now, some environmentalist is planning to decry this move. Of course, they have no viable alternative because they simply don't like anything. See, here's the proof. Who would even ask such a question?
And speaking of aircraft - check this out!
What family characteristics do you show?
Who's the hater here? Critical speech is one thing, but denial of entry isn't?
Anything to build attendance, I guess.
Yes they do!
I hope so!
Kewl!
The line between a call and a vacation can be a fine one.
This has gone so wrong. The issues should be examined, but not int he individual's name.
Why even some?
It's not a small distinction, it's a huge one. And an important one.
What about chastity belts?
Related Tags: travel, alone, isolation, groups, aircraft, environment, Schiavo, families, hate, weather, call, joke, humor
Some years ago when we visited Stratford-upon-Avon we were warned not to get caught up in groups of French school children. We were told they would sweep you up like some great tidal wave and never release you. My wife inadvertantly got so caught up and it was worse than the warning. The children were oblivous to her presence and unattentive to her requests to be excused. Eventually I threw her a rope and pulled her from the group like taking a fish out of a school.
Long ago in our travels my wife and I took to referring to Recreational Vehicles as "Land Whales" because of their immense size, slow movement, and tendency to simply take over the road. We soon noticed that they often travelled together in "pods".
This year we noted that when trying to pass a pod of land whales one could get captured like she had been captured in the scool of French children. Even later in this trip as we have traveled trough some of the most isolated roads in the United States, places too sparse in population and travel for a land whale pod ever to form, we still encountered lone land whales and still had to carefully negotiate our way around them, for even though not in pods they tended to form groups of all sorts of travel life and one was forced to become part of the pack or expend enormous energy to pass it.
I realize these fanciful bits of metaphor seem silly, but they make a point. My wife and I, living as you do in a huge metropolitan area, seek solitude on vacation - we seek to escape the push-and-pull of having to negotiate with the other at every turn. We seek the impossible. Even on highways rarely travelled one finds a group one must negotiate a way around.
As bloggers, we seem to pride ourselves on how we are not part of the crowd. And yet we are - we have formed our own crowd, that's all. More, it's a "safe" crowd. Like the land whale pod, I can encounter it and deal with it without ever actually meeting its members or forming anything so dangerous as a relationship.
Sounds a bit Pharisetical doesn't it? They after all encoutered and negotiated with the law without forming a relationship of any sort with the God behind the Law.
Well, anyway, here's what I am reading:
Even now, some environmentalist is planning to decry this move. Of course, they have no viable alternative because they simply don't like anything. See, here's the proof. Who would even ask such a question?
And speaking of aircraft - check this out!
What family characteristics do you show?
Who's the hater here? Critical speech is one thing, but denial of entry isn't?
Anything to build attendance, I guess.
Yes they do!
I hope so!
Kewl!
The line between a call and a vacation can be a fine one.
This has gone so wrong. The issues should be examined, but not int he individual's name.
Why even some?
It's not a small distinction, it's a huge one. And an important one.
What about chastity belts?
Related Tags: travel, alone, isolation, groups, aircraft, environment, Schiavo, families, hate, weather, call, joke, humor
