Uh oh... Some corners of the universe breed the most terrible things...

There are some cases where I feel I must be pedantic. These cases usually involve someone making a boast, stating a ridiculous half truth – or just making a smart arse remark. Oi. You. No! A mortgage is not the same as a home loan, a mortgage is the legal document that allows a bank to encumber your property.

These people must be fought. Especially when said people say stupid things like ‘I just love life’, or ‘I am so bubbly’. Firstly – if a person is telling you this then they have a distorted view of the world (where they feel they need to conform to accepted principles), or they really, really need to get out more. You are not in a position to tell someone you are bubbly. The mere fact that you should need to tell someone this indicates a ‘Me, Me, Me Me, Me syndrome’. To you dear reader – it might possibly be a ‘you, you, you syndrome’.

In this, the third paragraph of this blog entry, I am going to dismiss people’s claims that they ‘love travelling’ when in reality they actually only visit ‘popular tourist destination A’ for a weekend, followed by a visit to ‘popular tourist destination B’ the following month. If I go to Malta for a week to withdraw from my normal routine I call it a holiday. I don’t lump it in with a separate weekend in Prague and classify it as ‘travelling’.

Let us look at a definition of the word travel (as defined by Dictionary.com):

“to move or go from one place or point to another”.

So, when annoying person no. 1 says they love travelling and are going to ‘popular tourist destination C’ they are in fact saying they love the act of going to a place, be it by plane, car or rail. Please find me a person that loves flying in a couped up plane. Please do. Please find me someone that enjoys the hassles of getting to the airport, the associated security checks and the numerous delays.

Annoying person no. 2 probably enjoys driving to a new place. Annoying person no. 2 should rightly say they ‘love driving’. I have no qualms with this. People’s biggest complaint of other people saying ‘they love travelling’ is usually confined to the choice of destinations. Some people should say they ‘love holidaying’. Others say they love getting off the beaten track (and they don’t mean getting lost and almost dying in a sub tropical Malaysian forest) when in fact in reality all they do is go for a wander into the slummy suburbs and wonder why they get mugged/pick pocketed. Still whether you want to go live it up in Albania or go to Brighton Beach, it means nothing to me if you just say “I love travelling”. For all I know you actually do love getting strip searched at the airport.

Think of me the next time someone says they ‘love travelling’. Ask them to explain exactly what they mean. I am actually currently visiting ‘popular tourist destination D’ one month followed by ‘popular tourist destination E’ the next month. Yet I don’t feel the need to tell someone ‘I love travelling’, just to conform to popular modern day expectations. So there. And no, I don’t have a chip on my shoulder.

End of rant.
And for you dear reader – if there are any of you out there that managed to read through to the end of this blog entry – I am pleased to be announcing (spoken like a true East European) my 30th birthday party on the 30/01/2010 at a venue to be confirmed in Christchurch, New Zealand. Yes, you read that right. Comments / suggestions for said event are welcome. Can someone please start making me a ‘Nova Prime’ costume for the said occasion?