Q: When traveling with our kids on Hollywood Boulevard recently, we had to fight our way through aggressive street people dressed as Disney and other cartoon characters. When our kids posed for photos with them, they demanded several dollars each. Is it legal to do this kind of intimidation? How do we deal with them?

A: Those street characters are breaking several laws, including panhandling and illegally wearing copyrighted Disney and other costumes. However, in both very busy tourist locations, it seems the police do nothing more than tolerate them, as long as their aggression doesn’t turn to verbal and/or physical violence.

The official attitude has usually been that they have the right to make a living, as long as they don’t make overt pests of themselves. However, after several recent serious incidents in New York City, legislators there may introduce bills to curb or totally ban the costumed characters from their streets.

Our opinion: Let ‘em be as long as they obey all laws to respect and protect the rights of tourists. As for copyright violations, that’s a decision Disney and other companies must make, whether it’s worthwhile to start civil cases against people who obviously don’t have the financial means to defend their illegal actions. Also, the publicity of the big bad companies going after the poor little guys could be negative.

A recent one-day labor action at the famed Louvre museum should give all senior travelers something to think about. The museum employees weren’t asking for more money, but protection against gangs of aggressive pickpockets who’ve just about taken over the famed Paris institution.

If your spring and summer plans include visiting Paris or just about any other large city, follow the basic rules of self protection from street crime. Senior tourists are particularly easy targets, because pickpockets know they react slowly and are too often distracted while they take in the city sights.

Here are some very basic rules for protecting yourself as you travel this season:

All right, we admit it. Seniors are forgetful. After we stuff our suitcases and check out of our hotel room, there seems to always be something we’ve left behind. Cellphone, laptop, dentures, socks, wristwatch, ring, favorite pair of slacks, important papers and so on.

Fear not! Everything will get back to you. More and more hotels now have chargerback.com, a website that quickly matches lost items with owners. When a hotel employee finds a left-behind doodad, it’s description and guest information is entered on the website form.

Guests who report matching descriptions on the website can zero in on the lost items. They can then pick them up on their next visit or pay a shipping and handling fee of about $10 to get them back through the mail. Of course, if you forgetfully (or deliberately) leave your traveling companion behind, that requires an entirely different set of rules.

There has been considerable speculation lately about American meatpackers and restaurants slipping horse meat into their menus without identifying it. Although horseflesh has been an acceptable food in many countries around the world, it is still frowned upon by most American diners.

Therefore, as a service to our traveling seniors who are against eating a Dobbinburger or Seabiscuit steak, here are ways to tell when you suspect the meat on your plate once ran at Churchill Downs. It may help the next time you’re traveling in France, Belgium or Italy. People there consider horse meat a delicacy, but it’s not for you.

1. Before you sit down, you exclaim, “I’m so hungry I could eat a horse!” Then the waiter says, “Funny you should mention....”

2. When you try to cut into your flank steak, you hear a plaintively negative “Neigh”.
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3. Completing the horse meat dinner, you suddenly get up, whinny and run the mile in 1:34.

4. An hour after eating equus, you feel a sudden urge to watch a John Wayne movie.

5. You realize Hamlet asked the ultimate question about whether it was horse meat at Elsinore: “To be or not to be, that is the equestrian!”

(To our senior travelers: Hope the lame humor gives you a horse laugh!)