Wednesday 13 June 2012

Gay Rain in Genoa


You know the situation - you're driving along on the motorway, it starts to rain and you suddenly remember you forgot to fill the window washer reservoir, resulting in a nastily smeared windscreen. The worst part is once the rain stops and you have to negotiate lorry spray.

It struck me yesterday that the very stuff you need to fill your reservoir is sheeting off the car itself, so why don't car manufacturers develop some device to recycle the rainwater by filtering it and diverting it to the washer reservoir - or at least a secondary one specifically for this purpose. Neat idea, or what?

All this kerfuffle about gay marriages has raised its ugly head again. Has anyone thought of asking the head of the CofE what she thinks? I guess not. It strikes me that any organisation that falls back on tradition and never updates itself is destined to become irrelevant and anachronistic, which is a pity, as I do believe the church has a role to play in social cohesion. There's nothing else currently to fill that gap, except football, reality TV and Paris Hilton.

Do you think the church's traditional purpose is to bully gay people and those outside the tribe?

Had to fly to Genoa yesterday (why is the luggage on sale in airports to damned expensive - in fact, why is everything so expensive in airports? Time was when you could buy bargains in duty free; these days they are an excuse to rip you off). Had I been on time in Paris CDG, I would have had only 40 minutes to pass through passport control, catch a bus to another terminal and go through security again (imagine T4 to T5 at LHR).

Given the gates close 20 minutes before departure, there was never any chance I was going to make the flight to Genoa - but leaving LHR 40 minutes late made it beyond impossible. Regardless of leaving LHR late, Air France should not be selling connections that are impossible to connect with. Bastard French! I felt like shouting 1-1 at the top of my voice.

As it was, I left home at 08:00 and didn't arrive in my hotel in Lavagna (50km outside Genoa) till midnight.

Heading for Rome for 2 days this evening.


7 comments:

Liz said...

Water butts for cars? Excellent idea!

Alan Burnett said...

Don't know why you go by air all the time, you'd be better on a boat - or perhaps you suffer from sea sickness. I will give you a wave as we sail past Rome.

LA said...

Sorry to be a silly American here, but what theological training beyond an accident of birh does the queen have? I may not always agree with Rev. Kathryn Jefferts-Schori all the time but I at least recognize that she's had a bit more experience in her line of work than the queen.

Roger said...

I reckon that I could have driven it in that time.

Chairman Bill said...

LA - there's nothing remotely theological about it, and the Queen is the head of the CofE. She has a sensible head and has even changed the monarchy's rules of succession so as to not disadvantage women.

LA said...

Then how can she make edicts about theology, unless you claim that the CofE is not a theological institution? It's tantamount to a veterinarian telling Microsoft how to program Windows. Unless the vet has some secret C++ training or Windows is actually a dog in disguise, I don't see how being a civil monarch makes you qualified to make theological decisions. But alas, I am an American after all and I just must be missing something.

Chairman Bill said...

The fact remains she, as Queen, is the head of the Church of England and its de facto boss, which I guess makes it more of a club than a theological institution.