Florida Odd

MAKING MAGIC WITH WORDS

  Coming soon. 

 Also, my latest Regency Gothic, Shadows Over Greystoke Grange.

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Bulletin from the Space Coast:


To see a video of the Dragon Capsule launch on December 20, 2019, click here.

Although the launch of the Dragon Capsule, designed to take astronauts into space, was a success, the capsule failed to make it to the space station, due to what sounds like an avoidable error involving a clock! The astronauts destined to fly on her quickly announced that if they had been aboard, they could have easily corrected this minor error! Fortunately, capsule and cargo were recovered; the cargo will be sent to the space station via a more tested means.

FLORIDA ODD

I used to post oddities that happened here in Florida on a regular basis—until the really "bad stuff," like the Pulse nightclub massacre, began to overshadow our lighter moments. Happily, Sunday morning's Orlando Sentinel (12/29/19) provided me with a few bon mots that are more smile than gloom.

On the front page of the Local section:  our governor, Ron DeSantis, holding a football made of python skin! It seems that the fame of the Great Python Hunt* has now spilled over into a football bowl game called The Python Bowl.

*For newer readers, the Great Python Hunt is held each winter in the Everglades, which is being overrun (eaten out) by pythons which were dumped by their owners and bred like rabbits in the "foreign" setting of the Florida Glades. There are currently thousands of pythons in the Glades, with the State desperate to find ways to get rid of them.

The remainder of today's odd tales come from Disney's annual report of misadventures at their theme parks. Below, a brief summary of the more weird ones.

A woman from Peru was in line for Flight of Passage at Animal Kingdom (a notoriously long line) when she felt something wet on the back of her leg. She turned around to discover a man urinating. He was apologetic—he couldn't hold it any longer but didn't want to lose his place in line. Disney's action:  the man was banned from Animal Kingdom for the rest of the day, the woman given fresh clothing.

In an incident at the Magic Kingdom, a woman from New Jersey cut into the line for Space Mountain and ended up in an argument with a couple from Canada. The fight became physical—pushing and shoving. (Evidently, Security did not catch them & matters did not escalate at the time, as the Disney report skips to after they all rode Space Mountain.)  Unfortunately, the adversaries left the park at the same time. The woman told her husband (who was in a wheelchair) what happened, and he promptly began to chase the Canadian couple in his wheelchair, hitting the man in the chest with his cane. Disney's action:  the man in the wheelchair was banned from Disney World. The Canadian couple did not press charges.

Also at the Magic Kingdom, a woman eating a turkey leg was admonished by a stranger for allowing bits of meat to fall on the ground. This ended in a shoving match. (No disciplinary action recorded.)

From personal experience - at Animal Kingdom:

Having grown accustomed to people's kindness toward someone with a cane, I was astonished on my trip to Disney last spring when riding a "scooter" through Animal Kingdom to discover how many people seemed to have left their manners at the gate. NO attention was paid to the fact that someone was riding a scooter in their midst. Almost no one gave way or made any attempt to allow me through the throngs of people flooding the walkways. One mother even shoved her little boy straight in front of my oncoming scooter, evidently because she wanted him to see something on the other side of the sidewalk and I simply did not exist for her. Believe me, it's a good thing those vehicles stop on a dime! I had so many close calls that day I doubt I'll go back to Disney World, as much as I enjoy it.

So, Grace's Advice:  see the Parks while you're young and nimble!

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For a link to Blair's website, click here.

For a link to The Abominable Major on Amazon,  click here.

For a link to The Abominable Major on Smashwords,  click here.   

Thanks for stopping by,

Grace