{"id":685,"date":"2003-04-27T22:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-04-27T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/2003\/04\/27\/macs-jottings-animals\/"},"modified":"2003-04-27T22:00:00","modified_gmt":"2003-04-27T22:00:00","slug":"macs-jottings-animals","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/globetrotters.co.uk\/newsletter\/macs-jottings-animals.html","title":{"rendered":"Mac.s Jottings: Animals"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During my trip to Egypt the guide said we could ride a camel but first<br \/>\n we were to go inside Cheops Pyramid, the largest one comprising around<br \/>\n two million three hundred thousands blocks each weighing two and a half<br \/>\n tons.  When inside all I could think of was what if two million blocks<br \/>\n come tumbling down on me in twenty seconds? <\/p>\n<p>Outside the guide told us how much to pay the camel driver and how much<br \/>\n to tip.  But the driver kept pulling at my leg asking for more money.<br \/>\n I was too busy pretending I was Lowell Thomas the explorer on my camel<br \/>\n and ignored him as I gazed off over the desert.  He finally got mad at<br \/>\n me &#8220;not listening&#8221; and dropped the reins and for one mad moment<br \/>\n I thought he was going to kick the camel and send the camel and me careening<br \/>\n across the desert.  As I got off &#8220;Coca Cola&#8221; both the driver<br \/>\n and the camel spat on me.  Maybe it was just the camel.  I guess he did<br \/>\n not like Lowell Thomas.  The driver when he found out I was an American<br \/>\n had told me my camel&#8217;s name was Coca Cola.  I later heard him tell a Canadian<br \/>\n that the same camel&#8217;s name was Canadian Club.  The camel&#8217;s breath<br \/>\n was as bad as mine.   <\/p>\n<p>Berlin: we were told that 22 percent of Berlin&#8217;s population was<br \/>\n over 60 years of age and have 22,221 dogs.  Some are not registered (the<br \/>\n dogs).  They have to pay a tax if the dogs are registered.  <\/p>\n<p>At the ostrich farm in Outshorn South Africa I have learned that ostriches<br \/>\n have small brains and big hearts.  Bigger than mans.  I learned that a<br \/>\n male ostriches feet turn red when the want to mate.  My nose turns red.<br \/>\n They do everything by instinct.  Ostriches are desert animals with little<br \/>\n oil on their feathers.  If taken to a wet climate their feathers rot.<br \/>\n They have found in an ostrich&#8217;s stomach ladies high heels, spark<br \/>\n plugs and coins, from which they die of copper poisoning.  They will eat<br \/>\n anything especially anything shiny.  They have little feeling in their<br \/>\n bodies.  They have cut open an ostrich&#8217;s throat to take out an object<br \/>\n the ostrich swallowed and the ostrich continued to eat during this process.<br \/>\n The female sits on the eggs during the day as she is more camouflaged<br \/>\n than the male and the male goes on duty at 4pm and sits on the egg during<br \/>\n the night.  Ostriches mate for life.  I believe swans do too and some<br \/>\n humans.  They were experimenting with ostrich eyes as transplant for human<br \/>\n eyes.  I have never heard if this was a success or not.   <\/p>\n<p><b>About the author, Mac<\/b>: during a century of travel (well 78 years!)<br \/>\n both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count<br \/>\n both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted<br \/>\n signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time.  So here is the<br \/>\n perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.  I can be e-mailed<br \/>\n on<b><i>:<\/i><\/b> <a href=\"mailto:&#109;&#097;&#099;&#115;&#097;&#110;&#052;&#048;&#048;&#064;&#121;&#097;&#104;&#111;&#111;&#046;&#099;&#111;&#109;\">&#109;&#097;&#099;&#115;&#097;&#110;&#052;&#048;&#048;&#064;&#121;&#097;&#104;&#111;&#111;&#046;&#099;&#111;&#109;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Next month: border crossings<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During my trip to Egypt the guide said we could ride a camel but first we were to go inside Cheops Pyramid, the largest one comprising around two million three&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"css_class_manager_body_classes":"","css_class_manager_use_in_post_loop":false},"categories":[2,3],"tags":[15],"class_list":["post-685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-main-article","tag-april-2003"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - 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