RON DAVIS -- Through my eyes

I needed a vacation. I needed to get away from watching Huntington

Beach city affairs for a while so I could gain a fresh perspective. And

what better way to do that than to fly to Ireland and reflect on the

events back in Huntington Beach over a nice, cold -- well, almost cold --

Guinness.

I knew I was in real trouble when I wondered why my travel agent

booked Karen (my wonderful wife) and me for a Monday night flight (5:15

p.m.) to Shannon, Ireland. You know you’re in need of a vacation when

you’re thinking, “Didn’t she know there’s a Huntington Beach council

meeting Monday night?”

I had some inkling that my mental health may have been suffering when

I mistook the flight attendant’s spiel about tray-tables, seat belts and

oxygen masks for a Huntington Beach power point presentation on

infrastructure and capital projects.

I’ll tell you how sick I was: Greenland reminded me of councilman

Peter Green. And Peter Green reminded me of the $18-million sports

complex. I then began regretting that I was on a jumbo jet rather than

sitting in the council chambers listening to the discussion and hearing

the vote. Hey, I’m not kidding -- I was one very sick puppy.

And, you think that’s bad? The jumbo we were flying on had a computer

poker game. After several hands, I was dealt a flush. You know what the

flush prompted? I wondered how the City Council voted on the sewer fee.

By the time we arrived in Shannon, I was exhausted. During the brief

moments of light sleep on the flight, I dreamed I was shuffling and

reshuffling the names Dettloff, Bauer, Garofalo, Julien-Houchen, Cook,

Boardman and Green like a pack of cards. During my dream, a guy by the

name of Silver played dealer and reminded me that his Cook, Boardman,

Julien-Houchen and Green, beat my Garofalo, Bauer and Dettloff.

After 14 exhausting hours, we finally landed in Shannon on the west

side of the island, just a little northwest of Limerick. Thankfully,

driving a car in Ireland did not allow me to morn the missed council

meeting. Given that I’d hung out with some of my Democratic friends

several weeks before the trip, I felt that driving on the left side of

the roadway shouldn’t be much of a problem.

As I snuggled in behind the steering wheel, on the right side of the

car, I wondered if the Irish also reversed the location of their bread

and salad plates. Ah, this was going to be an adventure.

As we traveled the west coast of Ireland from Galway north through

Westport, Ballina, Sligo, Donegal and Letterkenny, any concern about the

political wranglings of the Huntington Beach City Council dissipated with

the soft Irish rain. By the time we’d reached the northern most point

(Malin Head) on the island, where we stood on a hill with only the great

expanse of the North Atlantic before us, council members Bettloff, Gauer,

Book, Goardman, Jarofalo, Hulien-Gouchen, and Dreen were vague memories.

By the time we spent the next three days on the east coast, just a few

miles north of Dublin, in the idyllic seaside village of Malahide, mental

health had returned.

Refreshed and renewed, I was free to return to the wonderful community

of Huntington Beach with a new perspective on the significant issues

confronting the community.

Issues that paled in comparison to driving 60 mph in a six-foot wide

car on the left side of 14-foot Irish country road, meeting a 10-foot

wide bus coming in the opposite direction. (And I thought 4-3 votes were

close!)

In the future, no more biting commentary or hard-edged opinion pieces

from this guy. No more name-calling. I’m a new man. Next week I’ll just

write a soft little piece about what our lovable #@*&%#@@* City Council

members did at last Monday’s meeting.

* RON DAVIS is a private attorney who lives in Huntington Beach. He

can be reached by e-mail at o7 [email protected]