Are you sick of politics this weekend?
Oh man, join the club. … No I mean, join the club, man. We meet every Sunday. (*)
But first, a word from our sponsor:
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(*) Borrowed and just slightly adapted from That 70’s Show, and Tommy Chong’s character Leo.
tonight’s feature presentation: i wouldn’t give HIS troubles to a monkey on a rock
Side note: I shared some of the photos here a few years ago in a travelogue diary, but the dKos search facility won’t even let me find them that far back. If you’re an old-timer, a few of these, but not all, may look familiar.
While I’m in the mood for borrowing, tonight’s title expression comes from David Letterman. It’s a phrase he used many times, usually with Paul and the band joining in on the chorus.
I thought about this earlier today in the context of a vacation trip that my partner and I took to the Mediterranean in September 2009. One of our stops along the way was at Gibraltar, famed site of the Rock of Gibraltar. The Rock is actually owned by the United Kingdom, though it is attached to Spain on the Iberian Peninsula, near the narrow point entering the Mediterranean.
Without further ado, here is our title character, a monkey on a rock:
To be a little more precise, the monkeys on these rocks are Barbary macaques. They number at about 300 on the high area of Gibraltar.
Let’s back up a little. We arrived earlier in the day via cruise ship (Independence of the Seas), and spent most of the day at Gibraltar before sailing further into the Mediterranean Sea. It started out as a cloudy day:
By the time we pulled away later in the afternoon, the skies had cleared up:
From in town, and a little closer to The Rock, the views are spectacular.
Many of the streets, especially in older neighborhoods, are narrow.
And they are always ready for the tourists.
Local restaurants follow the fine British naming traditions.
Tourists are required to ride the cable car up to the high rocks. Probably a law or something.
As you wait for the cable car to pick you up at the base station, there are plenty of warning signs. You just know some idi … people are going to disregard the warnings (not necessarily the random woman looking back at me).
The higher you go, the smaller the objects at sea level appear to be.
The ship we came in on is the big white one on the right.
The cable car capacity is about 20 or so per cabin. Being a popular tourist spot, the lines to get on can be lengthy. Fortunately we were there early enough in the day to mostly avoid that problem.
I guess this was my first sighting of a monkey on a rock, so to speak.
He takes the advice to hold the handrail seriously.
From the top station of the cable car, you can walk across some rugged terrain to the peak. I for one, do not have the knees for it. Nor did we have the time anyway. That’s a long hike.
Also from up here you can see the famed airport runway that actually crosses highway traffic (that part unfortunately cannot be seen from this position). Gibraltar is narrow. Really, really, narrow.
The narrow road up here is shared by pedestrians, monkeys, and vehicles.
It’s not an easy drive. Or ride. Or walk.
Here are some more random monkeys on a rock shots. That’s what you came here for, right?
Several photos back, we saw signs warning not to do this
Or this.
Or this.
Or this. I always wondered if if that woman left The Rock with the same pair of sunglasses.
That’s all for our quick tour of Gibraltar tonight.
Just one parting word about James Comey: As Dave would say, I wouldn’t give his troubles to [all together now] a monkey on a rock.
Top comments for sunday october 30, 2016
From Yasuragi:
From Denise Oliver Velez’ piece today “Feasting the spirits: Samhain, Halloween, and Day of the Dead”, jhop7 has this exquisite meditation on the season.
From peregrine kate:
Two Top Comments in one excellent post! durhammichael wrote about “Canvassing in North Carolina — my experience”, which is exactly the kind of post that matters most right now, because it's based on real-life organizing!
And two great comments (at least) followed. One by Raj47905, providing some excellent reminders and encouragement about canvassing; another by histopresto, who is apparently keeping the staff and volunteers at the local campaign office very well nourished indeed.
Love these reports on local activism!
From Tara the Antisocial Social Worker:
In Hunter's diary, "Trump's campaign chair tricked him into meeting Mike Pence by pretending Trump's jet was broken," SimoneW makes a point about Chris Christie.
Highlighted by a2nite:
gchaucer2 tells us not to forget the past in “Florida Homeowner Lynches Black Effigies Next to Trump Sign” by SemDem.
Highlighted by luvnserv:
lambros talks about strength in “During Florida rally, Hillary bats away Comey & Trump like the flies that they are” by Leslie Salzillo.
top mojo for saturday october 29, 2016
top photos for saturday october 29, 2016