this is pam.

I call her dixie. dixie and I were in the same kindergarten class 17 years ago and in the same girl scout troop for 11 years after that. at dixie's eighth birthday party I rallied together the dozen or so little girls who had turned up in ruffled party dresses and got them all to cover their faces in icing. her mom never trusted me again. which was fitting, because one troop camping trip, we stole a bunch of her clothes, built a raft, and floated our loot out to the middle of a pond. dixie was against that plan. on another trip, early one january morning before anyone else was awake, our mutual friend jenn and I trekked out across a (different) frozen pond to check out an island. it wasn't as frozen as we thought and we wound up taking a frigid early morning dip. dixie was against that plan too. as she often reminds me and I always confirm, it's a good thing she has enough common sense for both of us.


dixie was my travel buddy for the london segment of this trip. the first day we started at the british museum, where we came to a true understanding of the british tendency to collect things; in other words, the yoink process. this is process by which british archeologists, sociologists and the like hear tell of a precious artifact in some part of the world, say yoink, and the precious artifact magically ends up in one of their vast and numerous collections.




the british museum is probably the best example of british yoinkage. it displays loot from all over the world, including a couple dozen mummies, the rosetta stone and bits of the parthenon.

the rosetta stone.

a bit of the parthenon.

british archeologists and I have lots in common. I like to collect things too, only my things come in rolls of 24 or 36 and people from all corners of the earth don't come to pay their respects. also, I don't have a donations box.


hmmm...


a donations box would solve a lot of my problems.


hmmm...