[rollei_list] OT: Travel
- From: Marc James Small <marcsmall@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 06 Sep 2010 02:09:35 -0400
At 01:32 PM 9/5/2010, Peter K. wrote:
Wow! Why detest travel so much? It would give
you an opportunity to use your cameras.
Peter
Travel is hideous. I am 60 and really am not
interested in extraneous inducements to pleasure
-- remember that I lived in San Francisco in the
"Summer of Love". To a large measure, I have
been there and done that. Shucks, folks, I was
present at the very last performance of Barnum &
Bailey under the Big Top, back in '56. I do not
gamble. I do not go to strip clubs. Thanks to
the Internet, there are few archives I have an interest in consulting.
Travel means a loss of control. Back when I had
a law office, I always had someone back at home
station who could handle things for me when I was
out of town. Today, I have no such person. When
I leave town, I am on my own and whatever
arrangements I have left behind had best be
self-directing or disaster will result. I have
lawn tortoises. Who is to keep them when I am
gone? What about my water turtles and my
fish? My cats? What if the house burns down in
my absence? Best to stay home and stay in charge
of things. And if I travel, I probably would
miss shows on TV I want to watch, due to the
interests of the folks I am visiting -- I cannot
very well demand that a dedicated Protestant
family suddenly switch over the SyFy channel to
pick up the latest episode of, say, WAREHOUSE
13. (My wife, who went to Maine, missed the
latest INSPECTOR LEWIS episode for those reasons.)
Photography? I have no darkroom. So, I have no
photography. I do have a Canon Rebel DSLR which
my wife took with her to Maine but which she
could not figure out how to use, so she shoved it
back in the bag. At the least, if I'd been
there, I could have showed her how to use
it. But she sprained her back, so her visit has
been minimal as well. She did get to gift her
grand-daughter a bear at a bear factory, and that
was Pam's reason for going, so more power to her.
Air travel means no smoking, and I smoke. It
means that you cannot carry a pocket knife, and I
carry a Victorinox knife, as I have since 1988,
having carried a Wenger before that since
1964. Air travel is impossible. If the Emperor
of Japan suddenly insists that I come to Tokyo to
receive a $5 million US dollar award, I'll be
there posthaste. But, in the absence of that,
why go through misery to see strange turf? I
have spent my life seeing strange turf. Ireland
was fun, but that was when you could smoke in
pubs. I doubt that I would go back. Most of the
other strange turf I have seen was just so much
strange turf -- my folks were bicoastal so I grew
up on Route 66. I have seen it, kids. It is
time, now that I am 60, to stay at home and enjoy retirement.
The entire US Terror Horror Response is so
stupid. Let them blow an occasional airliner out
of the skies while the rest of air traffic
proceeds calmly. I am a Rational Anarchist and
have no time for these government
restrictions. I might be more inclined to travel if they would go away.
Marc
msmall@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Cha robh bàs fir gun ghràs fir!
---
Rollei List
- Post to rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Subscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with 'subscribe'
in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Unsubscribe at rollei_list-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with
'unsubscribe' in the subject field OR by logging into www.freelists.org
- Online, searchable archives are available at
//www.freelists.org/archives/rollei_list
Other related posts:
