Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Two More Bits of Horseradish


If this irritating Icelandic volcano cooperates, the Book Bench family will be heading to Europe soon. There were flight restrictions in Ireland yesterday and in Spain and southern France today. Aaargh! If nothing else, my kids are learning their European geography and some volcanology out of all this worry. I am trying very hard to ignore all of my anxiety and pretend that the trip will go off without a hitch. I've been told that emphasizing the "if" as in "if we make it to Paris," is a bit of a downer. I am trying to cut back on that and am proceeding as if we will be following our itinerary. That involves buying granola bars and gum, dragging suitcases down from the attic, and searching for the passports. The passports put me in mind of another funny bit of Horseradish from Lemony Snicket:

A passport, as I'm sure you know, is a document that one shows to government officials whenever one reaches a border between countries, so the officials can learn who you are, where you were born, and how you look when photographed unflatteringly.

Another Horseradishism my daughter feels applies to overseas travel and all of life for that matter is:

Never trust anyone who has not brought a book with them.


2 comments:

Lawyer Mom said...

Well I sure hope you get to go.

Here's a little silver lining: the Euro is trading WAY down against the dollar! You guys will make out like bandits on the currency exchange!

Christine said...

That is good news. My boys have been checking the weather and the currency exchanges pretty frequently in anticipation of this trip. They have some euros and some pounds and they are aching to spend them.