Miscellany and irrelevents

One of my favourite aspects of travel is photography, and I’ve had a travel-photography disaster! 

I was taking photos while waiting for a ferry at the harbour in Torno on Lake Como in Northern Italy,  when I slipped on a slimy rock.  I came down really hard on my backside – hard enough to jar my teeth!  I didn’t drop my camera, but it nevertheless hit the rocks just a bit too hard for some of its more delicate internal mechanism, and now it doesn’t work.

We had a near miss with an unfortunate incident today, on the way to visit one of Porto's many port wine tasting cellars.  The port tasting cellar that we visited was Taylor's in Vila Nova de Gaia, on the opposite side of the river Douro from Porto.  

I've been TSA'd! 

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) looks after security at US airports – they scan checked luggage which goes into the hold of aircraft, and they have a right to search it without your permission or attendance.  If you lock your bag with a padlock, for protection against theft or having illicit things planted in it, they will remove the padlock if they decide to inspect it, even if that means cutting it off.