Category: Travels

Assault Weapons

Behind Enemy Lines, Crime

Wow… even I’m impressed by the weapons being used by the criminals in London as the crime (tidal) wave continues:

      

Clearly, banning the things won’t do any good, just as banning guns hasn’t worked too well. 

And the violence is no longer confined to the scuzzy areas of London and the other cities;  I saw from a pic in another article that one of the attacks took place where I took a stroll in London just a few months ago.

I’ve been racking my brain for some kind of solution to this — seriously, I have — and the more I look at it, there are only a few solutions:

  • Flood the streets with cops —  but the Brits don’t have enough cops.
  • Allow the citizens to arm themselves — like that’s going to happen.
  • Reinstate the death penalty (especially for scum who do things like this) and get serious about executing dangerous / murderous criminals — that ain’t gonna happen either.
  • When (if) they catch the criminals, deport them to a penal colony (like France’s old Devil’s Island of Papillon fame) — wait a minute, that has promise, because if any country in the world owns a bunch of uninhabited, remote islands, it would be the Brits.  Granted, it would take a few years to build the accommodations, but we’re talking concrete cellblocks, not the Ritz.  And it’s not like they haven’t done it before (hello, Australia!) so there is precedent. (Escape from New York is starting to look less like a dystopian fantasy and more like a blueprint, isn’t it?)

Sadly, though, the Brits don’t seem to have the balls to do any of the above.  Utter chaos is coming, if it isn’t there already.  What a mess.  (Although the Britcops seem to have no difficulty in dealing with hardened criminals like this bad boy…)

If anyone has any bright ideas different to mine, feel free to share them — and I’m not talking fantasies (I can assemble a few of those all by myself);  I need workable solutions, because the Brits seem to be at a loss.

Wet

Travels

My wallpaper for the past few days (right-click & open in new tab to embiggen):

I know, it would be nice to show a beautiful street scene without graffiti.  Good luck finding one anywhere in Europe these days.

Regardless:  I need to get back to Paris, and soon.

Anarchy In Britishland

Behind Enemy Lines, Gummint

Why do I giggle like a little girl when I read stories like this one?

Villagers are praising a fire that destroyed an ‘archaic’ toll booth that charged drivers 12p in cash only to cross the Manchester Ship Canal and caused frustratingly long traffic queues. Warburton bridge toll booth is suspected to have been reduced to ash by an arsonist who became fed up of waiting waiting to cross the bridge.

But wait!  The powers-that-be are not taking this lying down:

The booth’s owners, Peel Ports, are planning to replace the destroyed structure with a more modern toll.

…and I hope this one gets torched as well, especially if it’s an expensive modern one.  For a 12p (50c) toll?  FFS.

Anyone remember the spate of vandalism directed at speed cameras in Britishland a couple years back?  I do:

When Gummint has to put up cameras to catch the people who are vandalizing cameras, that’s when we’ll know we’re winning.

In the meantime back here in Murka, we can just fall back on the old (hypothetical, that is) question of whether one should use a rifle or shotgun instead of playing with matches;  and if a rifle, what caliber?  Myself, I tend to favor the .45-70 Government, but I’m prepared to listen to other suggestions.

Not The Best Idea

Travels

So London’s Arsenal F.C. have finally announced a replacement for longtime manager Arsène Wenger.  But I’m not interested in the doings of the North London Scum (as we Chelsea fans call them).  Here’s the interesting thing.  As is customary, the new guy (some Spanish dude, who cares) held up an Arsenal jersey at a photo-op to mark his new allegiance.  Anyone see anything wrong with the pic?

Of all the silly advertising… Visit Rwanda?  Rwanda?

Let’s just say it’s not on my  Travel Bucket List.

Okay, okay… before any pro-Rwandan maniacs get all bent out of shape, let me acknowledge that Kigali was recently voted “Most Beautiful City In Africa”:

…no doubt by the same people who also think that Yemen is a dandy vacation idea.  As with all things African, though, you need to step about a hundred yards outside the publicity photos to find the reality:

But hey… go ahead and fly Emirates to Rwanda, be my guest.

Me, I’m thinking about Prague…

Chaos In Amsterdam

Travels

Apparently, there was a little problem in Amsterdam’s airport:

Travelers going through Amsterdam’s Schiphol airport today are being warned to expect serious delays after a total power outage overnight forced officials to close the airport.

However, that’s not the “chaos” I’m referring to in the title. This is:

The city had just celebrated King’s Day, a major public holiday, on Friday and the airport had previously warned Sunday was a “peak day” and would be exceptionally busy as a result of school holidays.

Here’s “King’s Day” (or “Queen’s Day”, as appropriate):

Schiphol must have been a picnic by comparison.

…And Louder Still

Behind Enemy Lines, Two-Minute Hate

Here’s another little snippet which caused me to go cross-eyed momentarily:

The number of coffee shops in Britain is set to overtake pubs by the year 2030, according to industry research.
Some three coffee shops are opening every day adding an extra 21 a week serving up lattes and cappuccinos.
By contrast between 21 and 25 pubs are closing every week, with many turned into homes and convenience stores.
Fhe switch from lager to latte means that the number of UK coffee shops has increased from 10,000 in 2007 to 24,000 today.
At the same time, the traditional pub is suffering with the total down from around 75,000 in the 1970s to around 47,000 today.

Oy. It’s enough to make me want to crawl into a corner and whimper like a little girl. Then again, there may still be a little of the bulldog spirit left:

I mean, I love coffee. But it’s a morning drink — or at least, an after-dinner choice. But nothing beats a good pub. Here’s one that I visited with The Englishman, because the King’s Arms was just too far away for our thirst, and it was a case of “Stand aside, Coffee; this is a job for BEER.”

No doubt it will be gone by the time I get back Over There.

Somebody hide the pills.