Archive for August, 2013

Straight Pride UK promotes the idea of having a straight pride, alongside a gay pride. Fine, no problem with that. Not sure I see the point, as situations where I feel discriminated against as a heterosexual are reasonably infrequent, but each to their own.

In fact, their wording starts off quite nicely.

There is nothing right with being homosexual, there is nothing right with being bisexual, and there is nothing wrong with being heterosexual

But then it says this.

being proud to be of natural orientation

To me, that implies that being homosexual is not a natural orientation. Which is where I start to take issue with it. Any sexual orientation you are born with is a natural orientation.

And if it is natural, why should we be proud of it? Sure, it’s great being straight. The majority of people in our society are straight and this being straight gives me a large selection of potential partners (ideally I would be bisexual but you can’t choose how you’re born), but surely something I have no control over, and was given randomly at birth is not something I should be proud of?

Their Twitter strap line is worse.

A voice for those practising traditional lifestyles & relationships. Those who want to celebrate being of natural born orientation & traditional family values.

To call the homophobia experienced in the twentieth century traditional relationships does a rather large disservice to extensive periods of history. And what are these traditional family values they speak of? Presumably a time before martial rape was criminalised because I can’t think what else is different between a loving couple marrying and adopting today to one of fifty years ago.

Then, as you reach their aims page, you begin to suspect the entire thing might be a troll.

Heterosexuals do not have equality, homosexuals have more rights then any sector of society. They have the right to take over city streets, dress ridiculously, and parade with danger and contempt, invade hotels and B&B’s run and owned by people who object to homosexuality, and then sue them when refusal is given.

Surely it must be, because no intelligent person could believe this, could they?

Finland do many awesome ice cream flavours. They do some interesting ones too. Here is Elina eating a Salmiakki ice cream, and in Laitila we found a tar flavoured one.

Cathedral in Helsinki harbour.

Helsinki Cathedral.

View of the harbour as we took the boat to the zoo.

The Elina shop, were I took Elina for her check-up.

They don’t seem to have KFC in Finland, but they do have SFC.

The Finnish Parliament building.

Finland’s coastline as we flew home.

Finally, some panoramas…

Helsinki harbour. Click for full size.

The view from the observation point at Helsinki Zoo. Click for full size.

Given Elina’s hate of onions, I’ve occasionally joked I wanted to go to an onion restaurant that has a giant onion for a logo. Turns out there is one in Helsinki.

Some highlights from the Lancashire Wolverines at Yorkshire Rams game, that finished 7-22. You can see the full set on Flickr.

In celebration of Gabrielė’s birthday we headed down to one of the best Chinese restaurants in Leeds – Red Chilli. Most of us settled on the Courtship menu that came with three starters – soup, a platter then shredded duck – followed by a main course of many dishes.

Elina opted for the baby octopus and it was exactly as it sounds – lots of little baby octopuses.

We also got Gabrielė a “everything tastes better with cat hair in it” mug on a count of her being a crazy cat lady.

For the Humanist Society of West Yorkshire’s summer social, we organised a trip to Thwaite Mills Watermill, a working watermill located on the River Aire just outside the city centre.

Suf and turf with an extra large king prawn.

Men at Arms is the 15th book in the Discworld series. It focuses around the City Watch, so I was rather looking forward to it. However, while it had its ups and downs, I felt it dragged on a little and some of the stretches I found a little dull. A happy ending will see everything alright though, and with Captain Vimes becoming Commander Vimes, all was well.

Elina recommended I should read some more of the British classics, and it was only until an hour into Pride and Prejudice that she began commenting on what a terribly boring book it was.

I found Jane Austen, as a writer, to be a bit stunted in the variety of vocabulary she employed. Everyone in the novel was handsom, and all actions were either boasting or lacking in civility. Everything was civil. She simply couldn’t get enough of the word.

Despite this though, I actually found myself engrossed in a story that only grew more captivating as it developed. Far from the bore Elina had suggested it to be, I found the story strangely captivating – perhaps because it appeals to the common experience of growing up and trying to find a rich husband (to which I have yet to manage).