When I was in Lithuania .. or "Through the Baltic States by Trolleybus." I've often rambled on about " when I was in Lithuania" Mainly because it's about the only bit of "one-upmanship" I've got. Even Stodgy has been known to express a dinky bit of enviousness. And I've got a longer Lithuanian list than most Flint-based birders ! Oh yes. So ..here's the first part of "the thing I wrote for the local bird club magazine." In 2004 I went to Lithuania for a week. It wasn't even a birdwatching trip, in fact I wasn't able to get very much birding done at all. Despite this, everyone must be fed up with my gripping accounts of this trip, because just about any sighting since has been greeted with the phrase "I've seen them in Lithuania." I suppose the real reasons for my overwhelming need to ramble on about this excursion are.... [a] It was my first trip abroad ( OK, I had been to Boulogne for 2 hours). [b] I didn't really expect to go at all. [c] I flew in an aeroplane for the first time ( four of them in fact.) [d] I had no idea what to expect ( very little on the web about Lithuania) [e] I ramble on about everything anyway. So how did it all start ? Sometime in September 2003 someone came into the office and said " Who wants to go to a conference in Lithuania ?" Whereupon my colleague said " put his name down" ..referring to me. I'm not sure what his motive was .... but anyhow, I put my name down and forgot all about it ... these sorts of thing don't happen to me, do they ? Months and months later a form arrived on my desk for me to explain why I wanted to go to a conference in Lithuania. Of course, I couldn't tell the truth, i.e. that I wanted to see some interesting birds, so I put down a lot of waffle, my keenness to visit Europe, and to eat lots of salty food, be terrified by beefy blokes with beefy dogs etc. In short, it was enough to get me on the (free) plane. So it was on the morning of June 21st 2004 Mike Duke ( known throughout the week as Mike Duck due to a misprinted name-badge) and me whooshed into the sky in a HGJ ( Honking Great Jet) from Manchester Airport. I got a tick straight away as a superb decompression cloud formed over the wing for, oooh, about 0.8 seconds giving a convincing and impressive demonstration of the gas equations and Bernouilli's Theorem. Too ephemeral for the disposable camera though, so it's an unsubstantiated single-observer sighting. If you are worried about flying, become a physicist and you'll love every minute..... Wooooooooooo !! Vertiginous or what ! That's part one.... hey, there might be some birds on part 2. I learned 2 Lithuanian words while I was there ...and the first, and most important one was " shooooaah" = dog. Music time... Ben Gibbard of DCFC/The Postal Service + Jenny Lewis ... " Nothing Better" .. ultra-live ! I am thinking it's a sign
That the freckles in our eyes Are mirror images and When we kiss they're perfectly aligned And I have to speculate That God himself did make us into Corresponding shapes like puzzles pieces From the clay True, it may seem like a stretch But it's thoughts like this That catch my troubled head When you're away, when I am missing you to death When you were out there on the road For several weeks of shows And when you scan the radio I hope this song will guide you home They will see us waving from such great heights "Come down now, " they'll say But everything looks perfect from far away "Come down now, " but we'll stay I've tried my best to leave This all on your machine But the persistent beat Sounded thin upon listening That frankly will not fly You will hear the shrillest highs And lowest lows with the windows down When this is guiding you home They will see us waving from such great heights "Come down now, " they'll say But everything looks perfect from far away "Come down now, " but we'll say...
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AuthorThat's the author up there ... I was young and sprightly then. Archives
October 2022
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