Monday, November 24, 2003

We'll pick up the lunch tab

It was billed as a quiet pub lunch in the English countryside: a chance for President George Bush to mix with ordinary folk, sample traditional fish and chips and enjoy a kitchen-table chat at the constituency home of his friend and ally, Tony Blair.

...Two jumbo jets, two liveried presidential helicopters, four more US Navy helicopters, a motorcade of limousines, 200 US secret service agents and 1300 English police were required to unite Mr Bush safely with his fish and mushy peas. Total cost? £1 million ($2.3 million).

...The village football pitch was transformed into a helipad as hundreds of police, some with dogs, created a buffer zone of several hundred yards to keep out the locals.

They were almost too effective as Mr Bush, after exchanging greetings with the Blairs, looked around desperately for an English hand to shake only to find himself posing for a photograph with Mr Blair's press secretary.

...Further embarrassment was averted when Mr Bush found a pair of villagers, Gary and Angela Forshaw, waving from behind the barriers.

The couple, who took a day off from their lighting factory jobs, were almost overwhelmed when the world's most powerful man waved back and called out: "Thank you for your hospitality."
article

I don't have anything to say.

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.

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