New York is done...

And aside from working till 2 in the morning and nearly sending a piece to London that had Had HAD to go to Paris, it went all right. I suppose. It helps to have 6 double-checks on everything to make sure it's all the way it should be, because when I rush or get tired, I stop being a detail guy and make snap decisions...and that's not the best thing to do about stuff like this. Everything has to be right or it all falls apart. Fortunately, in Paris we only have one truck to load and stuff to return to London instead of a half dozen directions...so it might be all right. We'll have to see. If I screw this up in any way, I might as well pack my bags and head back to Texas.

I couldn't get into "Mother Ireland" at all. But I brought a book titled "People Power" as a backup. It studies Peace/Conflict Resolution Organizations in S. Africa, Israel and N. Ireland and how they're helping or hindering the process of finding peace in those countries. It's an 8 year-old book and I already detect a hint of anti-Zionist bias in it, but they still make some very interesting points. For instance, even though a lot of media focus is on high-profile politicians and leaders working to settle these situations, it's the grass roots groups who wind up getting the populace to either agree or disagree with the compromises that become necessary. So even though an agreement may be found, the people who have to live under it might decide not to unless they've already been shown how it's beneficial for them and not just told, "This is how it is, now." That might be why it's been so hard for the Good Friday Accords to take hold, especially on the Protestant side. It wasn't until Ian Paisley , the rabid anti-Catholic, began showing himself working with Gerry Adams, formerly a member of the IRA, that things began to settle down and now only the fanatics are the ones causing trouble...only to piss off their leaders.

This is already helping me figure out things about section 3 of POS and the peace group Brendan's sister, Mairead, is part of. Who knows, maybe I'll actually get the book written some day.