File this one under "Misc.."

Adjustments!
So, the summer solstice is nearly here and we currently have close to 20 hours of light per day - the dawns and dusks are extended though so i guess the sun is not technically "up" for more than about 18 of those. It finally gets dark at about 10pm and then light again around 4 am - being a bird in Europe must be a drag! Imagine having to get up before dawn! That's like 2 hours sleep per day - I know I'd complain!
Getting the girls to sleep is also a challenge as you can imagine with broad daylight outside - we still have the blinds drawn at 9pm to keep the sun out coz its so hot. First of all, we continually underestimate how late it is, and secondly, you try tell 4 & 5 years-olds that they need to go to sleep while the sun is still up and see if they believe you. Then of course, getting them up in the mornings sometimes needs creativity because they've not had the needed hours of outage to regenerate those baby batteries.

Soon we'll be in Italy! It's peak tourist season and I expect to have to mill around with the other million people who also want to see the wonderful sights, I think Paris was a good enough training run though.
But I can't help wondering about our little formalities that we'll encounter at the airport this time. I joke not when I say that every time we've been on a plane since we left, the regulations covering what you're allowed or not on the plane has been different.
One thing I must admit is that the volume of liquids allowed in carry-on luggage has remained constant - 200ml of this, 50ml of that and so on.

What has been of some interest is how you can treat liquid and gel articles and the logic behind it. The reason for the liquid restrictions is not so that, if a cosmetics fight breaks out on the plane the participants have more ammo at their disposal than can be cleaned up by the staff before the plane has to get going on its next flight.
C'mon, you know how many times you've wanted to start the game by squirting the guy across the plane with your hair conditioner. Or anointing the smelly guy in the row in front by tipping your cologne over his head. Then, the little girl across the way engages the combat by flicking stripes of toothpaste at you off the end of a toothbrush, and well, its just mayhem from here on isn't it.

But rather, the rationale is that, using a diabolical mixture of readily accessible items you can craft a cocktail of destruction and blow a hole in the plane. I thought it was smart that they only allowed small containers. So, even if you only have a little shampoo left in the bottle, but the bottle is, say a 300ml bottle, this is not allowed. Makes sense, coz, then you could mix the agents in the bottle and blow up the plane! These guys think of everything. But then they said, you have to put all your items in a clear zip-lock bag. At first this was puzzling, but I figured that, you must be able to see them better if they are in a clear bag than by individual examination. Non-zip-lock bags are not allowed. Also, it conveniently gives you a new place to mix your explosives - conveniently held together in a zip-lock bag to avoid those unwanted spills! I wonder how much of a Nitro-type mixture can go bang seriously enough to make a hole in a plane, or kill a few people on board - you know, critical ones like the pilot. Surely a few hundred ml's could do the trick.

Also, you can pack all you want in you check-in luggage! This is perfectly sound thinking, now, you can avoid all the bother and nuisance of large explosions in the cabin as they are all safely contained in the hold.
One last tip for aspiring arsonists - if you forget an ingredient at home, or if security confiscated your product you can buy any volume of it after you've passed security and carry it right onto the plane. I think this is because they only sell non-explosive glycerin gels in the pharmacies after security.

Still, I guess any obstacle to people wanting to blow up planes is a plus though - at least we won't have any dim terrorists on the plane - only smart ones.