SlowpokeBlog

In case you couldn't guess from the cartoon, I went to Europe on my vacation -- specifically, Ireland. A couple days into my trip I found myself lying in our hotel room, totally knackered, wishing someone would just cart me around Dublin. Thus came the idea for this cartoon.

I imagine touring Europe must present some difficulty for Americans not used to getting around via their own volition. Thankfully for them, there are alternatives that aren't a far stretch from my cartoon. One tour company in Dublin drives people around the city in buses shaped like Viking ships. Some of the people in the ships wear viking helmets.

You can always pick out the American tourists in a crowd because they have the biggest, most complicated-looking sneakers. Wearing running shoes for comfort, I was no exception (though I like to think mine are less SUV-like than most).

Ireland's natural beauty is phenomenal. There really is green stuff growing on green stuff, even more so now that they've had the rainiest summer anyone could remember. I'm always amazed at how easy it is to find pristine countryside not far outside major European cities. I guess it helps to plan your city 1,000 years before the advent of cars.

That's me sipping a Beamish in the Cock Tavern in Howth, a seaside area northeast of Dublin. We did a lot of hanging out in pubs watching soccer matches and other sports like hurling. Let me just say that hurling and rugby make NFL players look like wimps.

Now I am swamped with work, the price one pays for getting away from it all.