Anti-smoking crusader passes away

Heather Crowe was laid to rest following a private ceremony at an Ottawa church. You may remember her from tv and movie commercials. The Nova Scotia native was the public face for a movement to ban smoking in workplaces. She was diagnosed with inoperable lung cancer after 40 years spent working in smoky restaurants, and died from the disease on May 22. She was 61.

Our vacation on the Danube

As mentioned in my previous post, the girl and I just got back from three amazing cities in Europe. Since it's almost impossible to put the views into words, have a look at these snaps.

Prague


Vienna


Budapest

Just flew in from Europe and boy are my arms tired

One of the many reasons I haven't posted much this month is because the girl and I, along with four friends, just returned from an 11-day tour of Europe with Trafalgar Tours. We spent three days in each of these three cities: Prague, Vienna and Budapest. What amazing places! I could go on about the beauty of each city for paragraphs but the one thing that will stand out in my mind about this trip was the English dude who crossed our path in Budapest on the second last night of the tour.

A few of us were having a drink on the patio of the bar across from the hotel when a guy with an English accent stops at our table and asks if we speak English. We say yes and he proceeds with this story:

"I've lost my mates and I have no idea where I am. We're here from England for a stag party and somehow I've lost my mates. I have no idea what bar we're going to and I have no idea what the name of my hotel is or where it is. I'm sorry but can you help. I'm so sorry!"

Okay ... not only is this guy lost in a strange country he's also HAMMERED! He's barely able to speak but at least he's friendly and apologetic for bothering us with his troubles. All he wants is to borrow a phone to try to get in touch with someone. One of the girls gives him her mobile phone and he proceeds to call one of his buddies. No luck ... no one picks up. He then calls his mother in England to find out the name of the hotel he's staying at. No luck ... she doesn't pick up.

He hands the phone back to the girl, apologizes many times, wonders aloud for a few minutes how this happened, thanks us again for our help, gets up from the table and proceeds to jog away in hopes of finding his mates. WOW! He's going to feel even worse once his buzz wares off.

A few minutes later, our gang loads on the bus which is taking us to dinner and we see the dude at the corner down the street talking to a local. He looks exasperated.

Lad! You looked so helpless and we all felt badly for you. I hope you found you're way!

Four Rabbits

As a left my front door this morning to get into my car, I noticed four rabbits hopping around my neighbours' yards. I know we have many in our neighbourhood but I don't think I've ever seen four at once. They were big! This was a little unsettling. Not because they were the man-eating type as seen in Monty Python's The Holy Grail, but because we just planted our vegetable garden yesterday. I hope everything is still there when I get back from work tonight.

The Kids in the Hall

Just finished watching a sketch of this funny show in which a businessman calls a courier service to try to get his package delivered quicker. Before he gets on the phone, his assistant comes in his office and asks what he wants for lunch. He says, "Smelts and a coke!"

Anyone else find that line hilarious?