in 17 days we’re heading for the trip from hell. 33 hours of travel – with no time off for good behavior. get up 4:30 the morning of the 9th. 30 minute bus to Pula, Croatia. 3 hour bus to Trieste, Italy. 2 hour train ride to Venice, Italy.  overnight train across Italy to Dijon Ville, France. short train hop to Lyon, France. longer train ride across most of lower France to Beziers. last short hop to Magalas, the closest train port to the village of Abeilhan, our home for february and march. leave 5:55 morning one day, arrive at the last train depot around 3 afternoon next day, and we’ll still be 5 kilometers from our Albeilhan home. my bones, my brain, my body are all going to complain to my mind. but what do i care – it’s an adventure, and i’m a survivor – if it were easy, everyone would be doing it.
speaking of surviving, i’ve never seen Survivor or American Idol or Fear Factor. saw a wee bit of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Weakest Link because mom watched them before she broke and died. saw my first and last 10 minutes of Big Brother in england last august – a sad unpleasant experience. i’ve read about them tho. their unifying basic essence coalesced in my mind this week as i walked in the sunshine with my love down a 3,000 city street: they’re all about watching people being humiliated as they chase after money and fame. folks with no lives or dreams of their own sit home in the dark staring at the tv watching folk abuse themselves for money and glory – then go to work the next day and talk to each other about what the tv people did the night before. how utterly sad. what little lives. forgive them father for they know not what to do. where’s darwin’s survival of the fittest when we need it?
speaking of survivors, in 1900 the human population was 1.6 billion. today it is 6.5 billion – a 406% increase. “Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies in the final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and not clothed.” – General and President Dwight Eisenhower.
once more into this survival fray. my heart works for days with only minor missing beats, then beats go seriously missing. went for blood work – which ain’t easy when you don’t speak the language and can’t read the signs. paid $64, was given 2 pieces of paper and pointed towards a door to give blood. a guy also waiting to be deblooded took pity on my look of confusion and tried to explain the second piece of paper – finally took my arm, led me into the water closet, put an empty cup in my hand, pointed to my groin, pointed to the window with a dozen cups of urine all placed on their numbered papers. thank goodness – i rely on the kindness of others. sometimes i think they’re wandering angels vacationing down here to taste our misery.
$64 for lab work which would be at least $500 in the u.s. – something’s wrong in america. go back to the doc tomorrow and see what we see. blood pressure and blood sugar have already passed the test. but i think we’ve found the culprit – salt. ate a large packet of salty peanuts couple weeks ago and my heart dropped down to the scary 5 beats skip 1 range. stopped salt and went back to nearly normal – or as nearly normal as this smith can be. last night we ate out – salty steak and fries, and today i’m skipping again.
