Friday, September 30, 2016

Home Sweet Home!

It’s good to be back.  About traveling: I’m happy to be someplace once I’m there.  But the getting there is an unpleasant, tiring, best-forgotten experience.  Am I yearning for a past that never existed, or has it gotten worse in recent times?  I vote for its gotten worse.  The hordes of people on the move are all the evidence I need.

They’re everywhere en masse.  At the gates in the airports.  In line at tourist attractions.  On the trains and busses.  At passport control.  Everywhere.  And almost without fail, screaming kids add to the challenge.  I shall resist telling you what my solution would be to solve this last bit of unpleasantness.

So now it is time to catch up.  What have I missed while I was away?  In a word, very little.  That which had people’s attention a few weeks ago still have their attention.  Politics.  Sports.  Violence at home and abroad.  Dysfunctional government.  The more things change the more they stay the same.

It’s enough to make one cynical.  But even the cynics continue to play the game of staying up to date.  They may not believe the world is going to change for the better, but they are addicted.  We all are.  It’s part of the human condition.


I hate traveling, but I have a plan.  I’m beginning to put together my next trip – back to India in February.  Is there something wrong with this picture?  Probably, but it won’t stop me.

Monday, September 12, 2016

Traveling!

I am near the end of the first week of a three week trip to Europe.  After a short stay in London I flew to St. Petersburg and tomorrow will head for Prague and then on to Rome and Sicily.

While news is easy to get these days, being a bit removed from the immediacy of the moment provides a useful perspective.  For example, the play-by-play, minute by minute back and forth between Clinton, Trump and their surrogates followed by instant analysis from the pundits is, from this distance, an exercise in silliness.

I assume that here in Russia the locals have their own version of the same phenomena, but I am blissfully unaware of their issues and therefore free from being interested or concerned.  Is this hiding from reality or taking a welcome break from paying attention to trivia.  I think the latter.

Have a nice day.

Thursday, September 01, 2016

Test

This is a test