Jack's Gibblets
And what the hell am I doing in London?
I wrote about this yesterday, but now it includes a turkey. Consider this a sequel of sorts to the quack cartoon.
So what am I doing in London? I don’t know. No, honestly…let me explain.
I’ve always wanted to visit London and the rest of the United Kingdom. In 2000 or so, a girl I was seeing (Hi, Ems) planned to visit London, and after she had her trip booked, she asked me to come along. She talked me into it and we were going to London. Yay! But there was another girl who was actually girl one’s best friend. Unfortunately….ahem…yours truly had a sort of a thing with girl two before he had a sort of a thing with girl one. I was young….OK? There was such a fit involved that I withdrew from going to the trip like Matt Gaetz withdrew from being Attorney General, and I ate the expense of the trip like Matt Gaetz eats Trump’s ass.
This trip was supposed to happen during Thanksgiving so I’ve always felt I needed to visit during Thanksgiving. I don’t know why. It took nearly 25 years but here I am. I’ll miss Thanksgiving this year. Save me some turkey.
I had saved up and I booked this trip last July. The good thing about booking to visit London in November is that it’s not really expensive. I bought three flights for less than $900. And then a few days after booking the trip and paying for flights and hotel rooms, CNN laid me off. Fuck it, I was still going.
I teased you about where exactly I was going. Many thought it was Iceland because I posted a pic from the plane of Gull beer, which is Icelandic. Some of you are smart and caught that, and really thought the trip was for Iceland when I posted another photo and a joke that I came without a jacket and didn’t know Iceland was cold. I got ya. I brought a jacket and a heavier coat. My suitcase is PACKED.
Iceland was a layover and the airport is NOT impressive. I was only there for about an hour but I could tell it was very wet. I didn’t see the Northern Lights flying in or the volcano currently erupting.
This cartoon was mostly drawn on the plane between Reykjavik and London in an aisle seat a big guy in the middle taking up all the elbow room. But he was very nice and traveling with his family. Honestly, drawing on a plane isn’t that difficult unless you have zero elbow room. I also started two other Thanksgiving cartoons on the plane but they were too complicated to draw without elbow room. I thought they were pretty good and maybe even better than this one, though they didn’t feature any turkeys.
Also, IcelandAir has great WiFi between the States and Iceland, but I couldn’t access it on the second leg.
I was looking forward to people asking me about the States after recognizing I’m a Yank the second I opened my mouth. I was expecting to hear shit about Donald Trump and to be asked to explain it. There’s been none of that. If you think coming to London will get you away from Americans….WRONG! There are too many of us. The only person who wanted to talk to me about Trump has been a guy from Boston. In case you’re a Republican, Boston is in America and yes, blue states are also the “real” America.
I have learned two things so far and that is, yeah. There’s no tipping here. I read that when you order at a pub, you do it at the bar and then take your drink back to your table. That’s mostly true. I think the waiters at the first pub where I drew the cartoon (the Hayden) will come to you. I’m writing this blog at a place called the Prince Alfred where you do have to order at the bar and you don’t run a tab, you pay as you go. Donald Trump must have visited and they said, “Fool me once.” Also, there’s a crying baby in this pub but that’s probably because they’re playing Bryan Adams. There’s a pub nearby with the word “cock” in it and I’m definitely planning to visit it.
On Friday, I’m going to Liverpool but just for one night. I won’t get to do much. I’m starting to think I should have booked a smaller town to visit just to get another feel for the place and maybe do a better job of avoiding Americans. Saturday, I’m going to Edinburgh for a couple of days and then I’m taking a train, a ferry, and then a train to travel through Northern Ireland and Ireland to spend a couple of days in Dublin, and then back to Iceland for a few more. I’m flying home on December 9. I’ve been invited to a dinner that night back in Fred but I may not make it.
I’m still tired and will be adjusting to the time change. I was feeling bad about taking a nap between the cartoon and the blog, but it’s still early back home. It’s 8:50 p.m. here which means it’s only 3:50 p.m. on the U.S. East Coast.
Jet Lag Clay is out.
Drawn in 30 seconds:
Timelapse with a voiceover:
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How'd I get 17 comments for a cartoon I drew on a plane? Sheesh. Thank you all.
I commented on this earlier, but apparently it didn't post.
The dismissal of charges should not be cause to hate on Jack Smith. It's a tactic to leave open the possibility of renewing the prosecution of the Mango Mussolini after he is out of office. Had Smith not elected to drop charges without prejudice (meaning they can be re-opened at a later date) the case would have been tossed out by the next AG with prejudice, meaning they could never be re-activated. That's indeed their plan, but by preemptively quitting and filing for dismissal because of the DOJ Nixon era rule (not law!) that a serving president cannot be prosecuted while in office, the case can be re-opened. Too late to block his presidency, but better late than never. The same with the documents case, which he has similarly dismissed - again, without prejudice. Odds are Agent Orange will die before conviction (perhaps in office?), but at least the possibility of his being brought before the law still exists. If you need to blame someone, I would suggest: Merritt Garland who dawdled and delayed because of the possibility of the appearance of impropriety; the SCOTUS that ruled almost two months after Smith asked for clarification on immunity; and Mitch McConnell, who knows perfectly well that Drumpf is guilty of insurrection, said so and then refused to convict on the second (and the first) impeachments, using some half-assed excuse. That's why, more than anything, the world will suffer the torment of a second term.
For more on this, see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doY2CrOam80
For a truly bleak outlook, consider that Vance and his cronies may engineer a coup on Jan 21, 2027 so that he can serve out Trump's term of office and then two more. I wouldn't put it past him, law school graduate that he his. Yale has much to answer for. Richard of Gloucester had it right in Henry VI Part III: "First kill all the lawyers."
Have a nice time in London. Catch a show, visit Kew Gardens, and the Courteau, the Tate Modern and the National. London is full of great food (not English). Try Brick Lane. Dublin has wonderful fish and you can visit the places where Joyce, O'Brien and others all tippled. Edinburgh may have decent food, too, but I never found it. Haggis isn't bad, actually, but not there. Glasgow, when you take the boat-train to Belfast.