The week that went.

To those of you who check in from time to time to see if I have anything to say. I'm sorry. (you'll note I didn't say anything "interesting" to say...)
The motivation has just been somewhat lacking this week to say much.
I don't really think it was the long drive back from Slovenia or anything, although I do feel like I've been recovering.
I guess maybe it's just the notion of rehashing the whole trip for everyone.
It was just another country with some old buildings and a bunch of mountains.

Really.

Well, plus a language I barely understand.

Meanwhile I've been trying to spend at least an hour a day out in the "garden" trying to make it look like someone actually lives here. Again, the motivation was not there today, but the day isn't over just yet.
Right along with that fun activity, at least half of yesterday was spent trying to figure out my Dutch homework.

It was Thursday, after all.

Gabe says she'll be clocking out with the Dutch today.

We'll see.

They are strict nine to fivers over here yet for example, the plant controller actually makes more money than the divisional controller. Go figure. Guess the company that cannot be named doesn't mind putting in a cheap Canadian.

But I digress.

There will be a few more photos that I'll upload, along with perhaps a little video, but the thing that is getting me down just ever so slightly is that my camera crapped out on Friday and cannot be revived without being sent off to Nikon in Canada.

There, I said it.

I vascillate between being gutted (as the Brits would say) and utterly pissed off.
I mean, I have the original receipt from a Nikkormat that I bought in something like 1975, but cannot for the life of me find the receipt for this camera, that I bought just last October. The other irony is, that Nikkormat still works fine to this day, even though it's over 30 years old.
That's it.

Took one little tiny battery. Was totally mechanical (that lever next to the lense is the timer) and was completely reliable.

There's no place where I can load film into this computer however.
Don't get me wrong. The D40 is a pretty darned sweet camera, and is capable of some stunning photography. But it needs to work.
I'm trying really hard not to cuss here.

Meanwhile, here's a little snippet from the entrance to the caves in Postojna.

I realise it seems like either something out of a horror movie, or a scary ride at some carnival, and it was just a tad of both. Standing up is not a good idea, since there's really no head room to speak of. The little train takes you roughly two kilometers into the cave, then you start your tour, which takes about an hour.







Yes I know...it's really dark. It's a friggin' cave, so bite me.

In case you've never stumbled on this bit of information, Slovenia has a number of caves

Now.....I have to say this about that:

There have been two "things" that I keep seeing over and over again here in Yurp. One of them is that place with the golden arches, which I don't really mind seeing too much, since their washrooms are clean and can sometimes be a real convenient "find", if you know what I mean.
The other thing is, well....
I'm trying to figure out how to put this without being really inflamatory. Let me just say this: with the population of China being what it is, it comes as no surprise that there's going to be some "spillage" so yes, that would be the other "thing" that I keep seeing.
Kind of like when the pot under the bed is too full....but let's not quite go there.

So here's the thing. In spite of being asked repeatedly NOT to use flash photography, there were these two individuals that continued to do so. Pretty sure that from a population of what? Two billion? A couple of them wouldn't have been missed. They weren't that big, and since we were at the tail end of the tour, I'm pretty sure I could have flipped each one of them over the railing with each hand....and nobody would have been the wiser.
I didn't though, since I didn't want to end up in a Slovenian prison.
Of course, the way the Slovenians feel about their "jame" (caves) I probably could have got off with time served.

"Really your Honour, I only did what any sensible person would do".

Ok...gotta go cook something...