August 26, 2013

I’m back, scroll down for pictures

I’ve been away, but now I am back. We spent a few days in Cornwall, which was fun. We had free passes for the Eden Project, which was really good. We went last year and had a good time, so decided to go there again. We camped nearby, which was also convenient for the beach, which was almost deserted.

The Eden Project hasn’t changed much since we visited last year. They have opened a pizza and pasta restaurant, which was really nice, but a little expensive. They have an awesome looking sky-wire thing that goes right across the site from one side to the other. The boy wanted to do it, but you have to be eight-years-old, and at least 60 kg. How many eight-year-olds are 60 kg? In any case, he wasn’t big enough or old enough. One apparently reaches a speed of around 60 mph if one elects to go down head first, and 40 mph in a sitting position.

We spent one morning walking along the beach, which was great, and in the afternoon we decided to head for a lighthouse that the Dragon had seen from the shore. We found it on the map and drove towards it in the car. It turns out however that it’s quite a walk along the coast path from the nearest road. In fact I checked on the map and I think it was probably about three and a half miles from where we parked. It wasn’t an easy walk up the cliffs either. I was impressed that the boy managed seven miles without complaining. It turns out not to be a lighthouse incidentally. It’s a lookout tower, and it was at Gribben Head.

I’m going to stop there (about holiday adventures) and add some photos. I’ll share my remaining stories another day, or this entry is going to turn into an epic piece that no one will get to the end of.

I am going to add a couple of news stories about topless protests however.

Firstly, the Mayor of Kelowna British Columbia was somewhat taken aback when, while being interviewed by a radio presenter, was asked to hold the microphone while she took off her top. Presenter Lori Welbourne was making a point about men being allowed to expose nipples while women generally cannot. In particular she brought up the case of a New York woman who was told she was unable to expose her breasts in a restaurant recently. In New York there appears to be specific legislation that allows women to go topless anywhere men can. There is an irony here however, since the video accompanying the news report has been censored. I can’t find an uncensored version. Would it have been censored if it had been a topless man? I don’t think so.

Arizona State University has also been getting in on the act. Some 20 protectors marched shirtless around the perimeter of the university to demand changes in state law which prohibit women from displaying their nipples. The surprising thing about this protest to me was the fact that it was organized by “Go Topless”, an organization I have never heard of, but which is apparently backed by the Raelians. The Raelians are a bunch of utter lunatics who believe in UFOs and periodically claim to be cloning humans.

For your reference, here is a link to the Go Topless website. Apparently it was Go Topless Day on Sunday. I had no idea.

Here are the pictures…

Our tent, by night