I've Fallen and I Can't Get Up

Hi friends: It's a little discouraging for me to face up to an entire month, October, without writing anything. As some of you have suspected, work has been beating me down some. And the isolation of living somewhere new. I've also been struggling with a virus, it seems like almost a month now, that has dampened my enthusiasm for everything except sleeping. The saying goes "you can't keep a good man down" and as my life's ambition is to have "good man" as an epitaph, I'd better get up. Thanks to you for giving me a poke to see that I was still breathing.

It would be too self-indulgent to blather on here about my U.S. Election angst, we all have it and for similar reasons, even if some of us view the next leader of the world from opposite sidelines. Be it enough to say, any change at this point has to be positive. I'm not sure this blog is the place for political rants: there's plenty of cyberspace elsewhere to host that. I think the "success" of this blog, if I can be that self-indulgent has been in the "what I got up to today" spirit of it. So, in that spirit, I will continue, though perhaps without so many links.

Pictured above is me/myself/I and my brother-in-law at Kleine Scheidigg in Switzerland, photo courtesy of my dear sister who takes very good photos of the two of us. As I discovered from Forensics - one of the many courses I have been cajoled into teaching or compelled to teach at AISB as part of my self-styled financial freedom package - I will not name names. Once a student told me the names of my nieces and nephews and my maternal great-great grandmother, I thought it best to refrain from names of family and friends.

I'll let the picture tell its tale: it was a great day and I would visit this place again and I was very happy to share the experience with my family.

The trip to Switzerland was undertaken by rail from Budapest. It was an overnight train and, yes, "Night Train" was resonating through my brain whilst I rode, which may explain why I couldn't sleep better. That and the virus. The coach consisted of several six passenger compartments, lining one side of the car, with six seats within, three facing three. The seats fold down to accommodate the six passengers in bunks. Fortunately, there was only one other passenger in my compartment and they did not snore. It was a surprisingly pleasant way to travel. The main train stations in Budapest are all very close to my apartment, perhaps less than six tram/tube stops, so rail is darn handy and responsible.

Speaking of responsibility, I think the ecological/environmental Armageddonism is getting to me. Please, refrain from sending me anything illuminating this issue further. I've thought about it, which is why I stopped driving a car four years ago and if I can find a way to get to Europe by boat and rail without spending all of the money I'm saving (see above), I'll do it. Frankly, the world just isn't set up for non-air travel between continents. When all those Brits traveled to Australia on P&O in the sixties, were they mortgaging their lives to do so? Maybe. I know the planet and all life on it is screwed, I just don't need any reminders, at least not now. Remind me after I'm over this virus. I suppose the viruses will survive.

I best not push myself too hard, it's 12:30 am, with no election results in sight and I can never be sure that I'm feeling 100% these days, so I'm turning in. I will try to pull it together and get back to blogging. In the meantimes, walk or take a bus, pass on the New Zealand lamb or the apples from Chile; wash your hands regularly and cover your mouth when you sneeze.

Ken