The time is upon me for another trip and my ramblings thereupon..........
General busy ness and the controlled assessment for the GCSE class left me spending the half term in sunny Wiltshire so I havent been far since Easter, no not even a little trip, the farthest I have been from home is Hatfield to collect the detritis of a year in a student house for Al.
Last year was a bit of a trial getting to Alaska but I am determined to repeat the experience, Alaska that is not the travel disruption.
I have come on leaps and bounds since the first solo Trip to Hawaii, I was struggling on a daily basis, like giving up everything you were ever addicted to in one moment and having to live the rest of your life without them. Without Dunc in my case.
I cope, I toddle on, I go on with life, some of the last year of his life seems to be decades ago and some of it seems yesterday - working full time has helped but it doesnt stop me craning my neck as I approach the drive at the house to see if he is home.
The trip
One would have supposed that the experience of US Airways getting to Alaska last year would have been enough to plagarise Sir Steve Redgrave ie "If anyone sees me near a US airways plane, you have my permission to shoot me" but no, I am back for a bit more punishment , a lovely lady from BA helped me price it so at least this year, someone is to blame and with US Airways being more integrated into Oneworld there might be more joined up baggage handling and passenger handling.
Starting the trip in Dublin this time to make sure that it ticketed on a BA plane, I've popped FAI Fairbanks on there so you can see where I am going, I'm not flying to FAI on some prop that is Dash by name but not by nature, I am driving but it gives you an idea anyway.
Damp
Quite a lot of rural Alaska is "Damp"
I know quite a lot of rural Wiltshire is damp as well but not in the same sense.
We have come across "Dry" counties and towns in our travels before, some of the best Bourbon distilleries in Kentucky are situated in dry counties, Alcohol restrictions that is, Dry counties dont sell alcohol and there are strict rules about drinking what you have brought into the area. Some of them have never relaxed their laws since the prohibition era and some have strongly religious governance who dont allow it.
Damp is another thing entirely, in the north of Alaska, native peoples and workers can be affected by the effects of drinking alcohol, in damp areas you can bring alcohol in but not buy it , several native communities have voted to go completely dry and have had a stunning reduction in alcohol related crime.
If the sun sets in November and only rises 67 days later in January, one would hazard a guess that alcohol consumption would assist the passing of the long darkness but too much it turns out, native peoples were so affected by drinking that it was banned altogether.
........Perhaps thats why "moonshiners" is such a popular TV show. I brought a jar of something highly alcoholic back for Al last year and neither he nor Jordan have summoned up the courage to drink it!
You have to admit the Alaskans are a hardy lot, look at the reaction to a 5.0 earthquake yesterday...
