We Used to Drink on the School Trips

Imagine this, twenty five kids on the bus going on the school trip, and once in the while some of them would take a bottle of Vodka from their knapsack and drink, including me. Yes, we used to drink, but it wasn't a Vodka, it was a tea or some kind of juice. Back then we didn't really have good drinking plastic bottles to bring our drink in, so we used whatever we had at home. Since the Vodka bottle was the only bottle with the screw top, that was the most popular bottle taken on the trip, some of them still with a label on it. So this is how we used to drink on the school trips in the elementary school. The scary part was that they actually let us drink on the bus while bus was in motion. Luckily we didn't damage our teeth. So one day here is me, drinking my Vodka from the bottle, suddenly I stand up on the bus and yelled out to my friend beside me - did you see this, wow? And suddenly my teacher gave me a look that I had to bury myself in the bus chair, turning red, and trying to drink my Vodka, and of course to pretend that nothing happened. Can you guess what I saw? I will give you some clues: it was in Europe, it was a big tree, parked bike on the side of the road.

Economic Crisis or Greed Crisis - AIG Bailout, Chrysler Bailout ... You Name It

I promise to write something nicer next time, but I just cannot take anymore all the crap about economic crisis. I think they are more greed crisis, than the economic crisis. The two examples on the news, 'Obama 'outraged' at AIG bonuses' - I am too, and so are the US taxpayers.

'CAW face clash over wage cuts' - Chrysler autoworkers in Canada are getting paid $76 per hour, which translates to $608 per day, $3,040 per week and $12,160 per month. Someone tell me what is wrong with this picture. There are people who make $76 per day who probably may have even more skill than the autoworkers. Never mind the spa benefit. And now I am really outraged. I think Stephen Harper, Prime Minster of Canada should speak out too. Or do I have to write him another letter?
Here are two examples, and I will call this government mistakes. So before government gives out more bailout money, please learn and more due diligence next time. I am just disappointed hearing stuff like that and I had to vent - after all some of my tax money are paying for someones massage.

A Tip, Parents Do Not Loose Your Children at the Zoo

About two years ago we took our 5 year old nephew and 3 year old niece to the zoo. It was hot sunny day so we really needed to have some mouth watering ice cream. We split, I took my niece and sat under the tree full of peacocks. Yes, the peacocks were hiding in the tree. We decided to be brave, and lucky no flying patties or rain from the sky. My husband took our nephew to get the ice cream. I think the ice cream man was making that ice cream from scratch since there were only few people in line and took them forever to deliver that mouth watering ice cream to us. The funny thing was that there were few young Amish girls same age or a bit older as my nephew and they couldn't take their eyes off him. I watched from far away as he would at times put his head up and pretend not to see them. It was kind of cute.

The ice cream was really being made from scratch. We gave up waiting, just sat under the tree and observed by passers and by standers. As the time lapsed, by standers would come and go. Then one cool looking guy, not good looking guy, but cool looking guy made a quick stop to have a cigarette. He played cool, blowing smoke to the sky. Good thing it was to the sky and wind was blowing away from us, because I am allergic to the second hand smoke and I can smell it miles away. This cool looking guy was not approachable, he just looked like one of those if you are lost somewhere, you rather be lost and not ask questions.

We continued to wait. Many people passed by us, especially lot of parents with children - walking, being pushed in strollers or pulled in wagons. As we watched all these people passing by, suddenly a child fell out the wagon. The parents continued to walk not seeing what happened. The victim of the situation was 1.5 or 2 years old girl. The second older child in the wagon, the brother, was reaching out with his hand saying something, but because it was loud no body could hear him. The little girl was stunned for a moment, so she just sat there for few seconds trying to recover. There were lot of people, so no body really noticed anything, just us and the cool guy.

I really underestimated the cool guy, he was actually first to notice and first to yelled out loud - 'excuse me, excuse me' - he at first said in deep cool voice. No response from parents. 'Excuse me, you lost your child' - he finally yelled really loud, and started to move towards the little girl. It all happened in matter of seconds, and since I knew that the cool guy was taking care of the business I just got myself ready just in case. The parents finally turned back, the girl started to cry. The parents picked up this little girl and just walked away - looking kind of embarrassed. Well may be this is why the cool guy is cool guy - he got no thank you, or even a nod of acknowledgment. And I was ready to give him a medal.

The moral to the story - don't underestimate others by their behaviour or look or cool look, they may be first to give you a helping hand after all, and probably the last to be thanked. And the main moral to the story is - strap your children to the wagon, especially when at the zoo, because it isn't just the zoo of animals, but zoo full of people and you can easily loose your child as these parents did.