Coming to you from Peter and Trish's house in London
Come back every Monday for the news according to Good Bastards
Monday the 17th of December No. 11
Thought for the week
Throw your lumber over
let your ship on life's journey be light
a friend or two worthy of the name
a place to stay, a pipe to smoke
enough to eat and more than enough to drink
for thirst is a terrible thing.
As relayed to me by an Irish leprechaun in the foyer of the Flamingo Hilton in Las Vegas.
New York
Lots of stuff to cover this week, last Monday I didn't get all the info to Capt'n Jack until Tuesday, so if you read the news on Monday there was more added. By clicking on archives you can go back to that posting and also other previous Good Bastards News.
Had a few beers last Sunday at McSourleys Pub in New York with Good Bastards Joe Ellingham and his good lady Melissa.
What a great establishment, they only sell two beers, McSourleys Dark Ale and McSourleys Light and they sell them to you two at a time. So it is very easy to have quite a session, which we did.
Went up the Empire State building that is now New York's highest with over 100 floors. Spectacular views although the shagging around buying the tickets in the basement then having to go up two floors to catch the first of two lifts is very time consuming.
FRANCE
The home of the original scrub bull. Geez can they charge. Worse that a scrub bull with three days of dry dessert behind him and a hundred yards straight down hill run to the waterhole.
Met p with our daughter, boy is she an asset. She can speak the lingo and read signs and menus.
Was a bit of a stuff up at first, Pam and I arrived a bit late due to a pea-souper in London airport on the way through. In the meantime Tan had had a big night in Zurich with her friends giving her a decent sort of a send off.
She woke up late only to find she had lost her bag with her tickets and passport. She eventually found them and arrived several hours later.
We weren't game to leave the airport until she arrived. Not being able to speak the lingo and the Frenchy's not being able to speak ours is like being on another planet.
Went to the Louve and checked out Leonado De Vinci's painting the Mona Lisa. Probably the most famous painting in the world.
Did you know that the reason she has the slight smile is because she was reminiscing better times she had had with her sick and dying daughter. Thought you should know that. More on the old Leo shortly.
THE BIG DRAMA
We then went up to the Arc De Triomphe, a big archway thing about ten stories high that also has the grave of the unknown soldier. I reckon I know who he is. It is in the middle of the world's biggest roundabout.
It has twelve streets converging and would a great place for Hutchinson Paint and Panel to set up shops. There are dings there all day long. In fact some insurance companies do not cover you if you have an accident there.
Anyway, while we were there 500 doctors in white coats turned up to have a strike over long hours. They just trotted out into the middle of this bloody great roundabout and sat in the middle of the road.
Now the old Frenchy's are great tooters at the best of times, so you could imagine all the sacra bleurs and honking going on with all these impatient bastards carrying on like a tree full of half pissed parrots.
Then a few cops turned up, then a few more, then a few more. Then three busloads of the bastards arrived. They had the helmets, shields and all the riot gear. One bloke who I figured was the boss copper got out and read the doctors the riot act and told them all to stuff off home. At least that's what I think he said.
No bastard moved so the cops all started gathering over on a different corner. Then three more buses of them arrived. Bloody cops by the hundred, 500 young doctors, cars all jammed up, horns tooting people yelling all sorts of shit and me in the middle with the camera loving every minute even though I didn't have a clue what they were all shouting and screaming about.
Pam and Tanya are away across the other side watching it all. They had given me the big message to keep away, as I would also get locked up or caught up in the tear gas. I'm not a bloody doctor, every bastard knows that. Besides, I didn't have a white coat.
Next thing these cops tart charging towards the doctors, now the doctors were having none of this, they weren't hanging around to see what the coppers wanted, so they bolted. Ran like a herd of cut goats.
Cops were grabbing doctors and barging into them with their shields and giving a few a whack around the arse with big sticks. I took some great photos.
Meanwhile Pam and Tanya are certain I would get knobbled. Nah, no way, not when you know the west coast wiggle.
Anyway they herded all the docs into a big ring in the middle of the road where they all promptly sat down. Cops ringed them and with the batons in their hands rocking back and forward from there heals to toe itching to belt some bastard as soon as they moved.
The TV was there along with heaps of reporters, if I could've spoke the lingo I would given them a couple of good bastards stories.
I couldn't help thinking that if one of the bloody cops got hurt they would have to go cap in hand to the docs to get fixed up.
They sat there for about 20 minutes or so and the boss cocky's of both sides then had a bit of a pow wow in their lingo, threw their arms around a bit, then bugger me they all packed up and went home like it was knock off time.
There being no more goings on there we buggered off and climbed up the Eiffel Tower. Did you know they built that in about 1890 for the World Fair or some bloody thing and they decided to keep it up there.
Its like a bloody great oil rig, I reckon there could be oil under it.
Something that was built over a hundred years ago for just a few months could be getting a bit dodgy in the foundations, what do you think?
Teeno is giving me the wind up here, gotta go and check out Liz and Phils house and go and see some big bloke called Ben.
Heaps more to tell you, like going out to Leo's House, the Mona Lisa joker, geez is a clever bastard, plus meeting up with Tanya's mate Bronny and her man Simon who runs this gigantic club down town. More Tits and Bums there than you can imagine. Plus there is other stuff as well. So I will post a bit more tomorrow.
So you come back now yo all hear!
Last word from Paddy
Having not finished for the week there can be no last word.
Cheers
Paddy and Pam
See you next week
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Capt'n Jack
Last Update 17 December 2001