TOURISTS RULE!

Last week I went to the British Museum to have some coins from the lovely Swat Valley, in north-west Pakistan, identified by numismatic experts।

I knew they were old, but not from the 4th century AD! Coins from the Kushan Empire: King Vasishka in front of a fire altar on one side and Shiva with Nandi, the bull-god on the reverse.

I was delighted by this news, but walking through the museum, I was appalled by visitor behaviour. Thousands of tourists hogged every showcase, blocking the view for everyone else, including many British pensioners on a cultural outing.

I waited for an American family to provide space for me to view artefacts from the royal tombs in Ur. But would they budge? Not likely! The woman planted herself in front and there she remained. When she did move, she glared as if to say, it`s my right. I`m here from Des Moines!

The behaviour was equally bad in the Etruscan Room and the crowd gathered around the Elgin Marbles was impenetrable. A tour-guide was lecturing her group of Italian tourists - bugger everyone else!

It was the same in the Egyptian Galleries. And to make things worse, everyone was wearing a backpack so they were taking up the space of two!

Does anyone hate backpacks as much as I do?

There is no admission charge to the British Museum. The Coins Department is open weekdays for a coin identification service 10.00-13.00 and 14.15-16.00 except Wednesday mornings.

c.Christine Osborne

Images: www.copix.co.uk

JUST DESSERTS

Best holiday news this week comes from Crete where a 26 year old Greek woman has set fire to a man`s apparatus, putting him in hospital.

The drunken Briton is alleged to have exposed himself in a bar in the popular resort of Malia. Waving his penis at the woman, he tried to force her to fondle it prompting her to pour a glass of Sambucca (reputed for its high alcohol content) over it and set it alight.

Oh, well done! Serves him right. Women have been used and humiliated since the dawn of creation so lets hope this incident teaches all such jerks a lesson.

Mind you, I don`t think Malia does itself any favours in granting liquor licenses to 63 bars and more than 18 nightclubs.

But it is totally unacceptable when residents are unable to leave their homes on a warm evening for fear of lager louts, and the danger of being run over by quad bikes.

Yobbish behaviour not only spoils the picture of Crete as a whole. It soils the reputation of the thousands of decent British holidaymakers enjoying trouble free summer breaks in other Mediterranean resorts.

Local anger has finally prompted island police to crack down on nocturnal goings-on in the former fishing village. Hopefully a sensible judge, on hearing the evidence, will not penalise this young Greek woman who did what others may only dream of doing.

c.Christine Osborne

Image: Ethnic carving from Sierre Leone

Source: www.copix.co.uk