I don’t normally do ‘Throwback Thursday’, but was so pleased to see this headline a couple of weeks ago that it made me revisit an ALAW from 2016!
Five years ago, we’d purposefully avoided a dolphin show whilst on holiday in Mallorca, but had re-created one ourselves. The limerick wasn’t very good, but the pics and commentary still make me laugh (if not my other half🤭) so I’ve included them here along with a brand new limerick…
A lassie once thought t’would be cool To porpoise around in a pool She got all of her kicks Doing Flipper’s old tricks ‘Cos she knows that it’s dolphins that rule!
…and the old pics and commentary:
“Squeal, squeal, squeek?” “What’s that, Flipper? No, of course you’re not the only albino dolphin!”“The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the ‘Star Spangled Banner’.” Douglas Adams.“Squeeaaal, squeeeaak, squeak, squeal??!!!!!” “Of course I won’t post this picture Flipper. Honest!”“… and just remember it’s the head end that you’re supposed to blow bubbles from!”
(As with the original blog post, no sprats, sardines or spouses were injured in the making of this montage)
or a dolphin or two! The dolphins put on a terrific show just outside Aberdeen harbour last week (pics taken on a Canon 650D camera at 1/640 seconds exposure and ISO 400, with a Tamron SP 150-600 Di VC USD zoom lens).
I was observing from the shore and this sequence was shot at f11 at 500mm…
If you are observing from a boat and not from the shore, then the rule is to let the dolphins encroach upon you and not for you to encroach upon them – the Aberdeen Harbour pilot boat got it very wrong!
I saw this campaign poster in the press recently, exhorting the Thomas Cook group to stop promoting ‘swim with dolphin’ events on its package holidays. In many instances the dolphins are captive animals in marinas. Pretty disgraceful really, so it’s a serious limerick this week.
“For instance, on the planet Earth, man had always assumed that he was more intelligent than dolphins because he had achieved so much—the wheel, New York, wars and so on—whilst all the dolphins had ever done was muck about in the water having a good time. But conversely, the dolphins had always believed that they were far more intelligent than man—for precisely the same reasons.” Douglas Adams – The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy
So:
I really agree with the notion That it’s time to set wheels into motion To close down the shows Because everyone knows That dolphins belong in the ocean!
… you can, of course, be otherwise entertained on your holidays by members of your family acting as surrogate dolphins!
Here we have Firstborn encouraging ‘Flipper’ to jump over an obstacle:
“Squeal, squeal, squeak?” “What’s that, Flipper? No, of course you’re not the only albino dolphin!”
“The last ever dolphin message was misinterpreted as a surprisingly sophisticated attempt to do a double-backwards-somersault through a hoop whilst whistling the ‘Star Spangled Banner’.” Douglas Adams.
“Squeeaaal, squeeeaak, squeak, squeal??!!!!!” “Of course I won’t post this picture Flipper. Honest!”
“… and just remember it’s the head end that you’re supposed to blow bubbles from!”
(No sprats, sardines or spouses were injured in the making of this montage)
Five years ago, we’d purposefully avoided a dolphin show whilst on holiday in Mallorca, but had re-created one ourselves. The limerick wasn’t very good, but the pics and commentary still make me laugh (if not my other half🤭) so I’ve included them here along with a brand new limerick…
