Month: July 2005

Everything is pretty much packed and we are ready to go. The kids are much more excited than the parents, but that is just fine. In exactly twelve hours from now, we will have been on the road south for one hour in search of sunshine and fun times. Where will we end up? Could be the Dordogne, Ardeche, Jura or any one of several places. We will not be sure until we get there. See you (hopefully) in two weeks or so.

Alright so in two days we are supposed to be leaving for vacation, and yes we still do not have the slightest idea where we will be going.

Perhaps we can just head on down south to the Dijon area and find out what fate has to offer us from there. That's in the middle of France by the way.

Hopefully the weather will improve, as there is nothing worse than spending too many rainy days in a row in on a muddy campground.

Keep on thinking positively.

I hope that I never end up like that old grumpy couple standing over there waiting to get off of the train. Look at them both with those ingrown frowns on their faces, stooped down with the invisible load on the shoulders, all kinds of wrinkles emphasizing their extreme disillusionment with the way things turned out, so bitter with life and everything that it could have offered. The saddest part of all is not that they feel like they have wasted a whole lifetime, but rather that they fail to realize that there are still days ahead which in theory could be enjoyed so much as to make up for times past, a hundred- if not a thousand-fold. We will just have to wait and see.

Once in awhile Marlies reads my blog. I know this because this evening I happened to spot it displayed on the computer monitor where she had just been sitting.

So the next time I see her I say (kind of excitedly): "So you like to read my blog once in awhile do you?"

She answers (quite honestly): "Yes I do, but ninety-nine percent of the time it is pretty boring."

At least she is honest.

This is my boring predictable travel schedule every day of the week for who know how long.

First of all I have to wake up and (try) and get ready in time:

• Alarm goes off (6.12)
• Breakfast and coffee (6.15)
• Shower and brush my teeth (6.29)
• Comb my hair (6.56)
• Leave on my bike (6.58)

The house in which you are staying is crooked and ready to fall apart with the slightest touch. The wooden floor is tilted and the stairway creaks when you walk upstairs. Each storey higher is tilted even more, and when you walk over to the edge to look out the window, the house sways slightly with each and every step you take. You can feel the unnerving vibrations beneath your feet. Better stay in the center of the room just in case. There's no way you would dare ascend the attic. The bed that you have to sleep in is also slanted to one side and when you lie down it creaks and breaks off. Often objects break off when you touch them or just look at them or just glance in the general direction is all that is needed. These are the drawers which collapse to the floor, here is the door knob that breaks off, over there the bookshelf that tips over, and in the bathroom the sink that cracks open and the shower curtains which rip and tear. You trip over the mess on the floor and the landlord gets all mad and raving at you because you have broken yet another one of his prized possessions. Shame on you! So why does he leave it on the floor or on the stairs in the first place then? This is not important! Even if you are very careful, you inevitably break something else, and the house wavers even more, those terrible vibrations getting more and more powerful...

I've heard that it does happen to some people once in awhile, but I never expected this terrifying experience to happen to me. Though I can ever so slightly remember similar numbness when I was around ten years old, but nothing as intense as this fleeting episode in the wavering darkness.

For the next week I will be the only man in the house. Both of my sons have gone away for fun and relaxation.

Lennart and his baseball buddies are partying up a storm on the Costa Brava in Spain. Maarten is with his best buddy Bas in some fancy Turkish resort.

In the meantime I will do my best to defend the fort and keep all unwanted intruders at bay.

In my vision I stood atop a lofty cliff which fell off onto a distant sea whose vastness kept me in awe for an uncertain time which even to this very day I am still unable to measure in my mind.

So there I was innocently attempting to wire the new lamp in place, when all of a sudden...

The spark like a miniature multi-chromatic lightening bolt jittered and then jumped from the pointed tip of the copper wire to my thumb, a jolt of electricity running up my right arm, right across my ribcage (just missing my heart) right across to my left shoulder and then down my left arm disappearing to who knows where -- not me.

That's when I let out an uncontrolled scream which some sinewy synapse in my lower back gave a jerk and made me drop whatever I was touching.

I stood frozen in time and dared not make a sound for fear that I was no longer alive. But I was and I went on and then ...

Those lousy terrorists set off a bunch of bombs again, this time in London.

In the middle of rush hour and alot of people killed and maimed. London is only a little over two hundred miles from here, so I guess you could consider it a near miss.

I sure hope that I don't get blown up while traveling by train or standing like a bunch of sardines in the over-crowded tram.

When you think about it, you are merely a sitting duck and anyone can just randomly take aim and then roll the dice to decide your fate.

One second you are there and then you are gone, just like that.