Pharmacy – paralyzedbynotcaring

Helpful Items, Part II

The advice “travel light” is not without merit, but I do recommend considering packing the following items for any extended trip. I was either glad I brought this stuff or had to buy it on the fly.

Hand Fan

Yes, it rained A LOT during my trip, but there was enough sun and heat to make a spur-of-the-moment purchase of a street vendor hand fan a life-changing event. Even if it’s not that warm outside, walking for miles and hauling your pack around is sweaty work. And buses? Sweaty. Very, very sweaty. A/C is not so much of a thing in Europe as it is here, so you have to make your own wind, just like Tyra Banks intended.

Pocket Mirror

Another golden impulse buy—the pocket mirror saved me from countless embarrassments. Blotting my sweaty face with paper napkins almost always shredded the napkin and left huge pieces of lint fluttering on my face. And with the wind and rain, everyone needs to know what the hell is going on with their hair before they step into a nice restaurant. Also, you can signal people with sunlight if you get bored.

Scarf

You may have noticed I am not especially fashion minded. Probably this is due to the fact that fashionable clothing is not made in my a) size or b) budget, so I have given up and wear basically the same thing every day. Yes, I brought six identical black tank tops to Europe. Not having to worry about putting together an outfit only gave me more time to explore and eat new foods. I brought a scarf, but it wasn’t an infinity scarf and kept falling off. I gave up on it and bought an infinity scarf from a street vendor at the gay pride event in Hamburg. Dad loved shopping there so it was extra special. My advice, bring one or two infinity scarves to change up your wardrobe. They won’t fall off and you’ll look at least slightly different in your pictures. Plus, they are light and easy to pack.

Umbrella
Invest in one that won’t turn inside out and backwards. I never found one.

Dry Shampoo
*Cue the Hallelujah music* Dry Shampoo! If you haven’t already joined the dry shampoo revolution, you have a wonderful surprise in store. You do not have to be a slave to long showers and the hairdryer anymore. I use this brand, which I recommend if you can stomach the price. This brand is less expensive and nearly as effective, though dry shampoo in general can smell and feel gnarly. Try a few out before you decide what works for you. If the first three or four do not work—DO NOT GIVE UP. There are loads of options, and the time and energy saved by using dry shampoo cannot be overstated. Still not convinced? Observe the picture above. That’s 4th or possibly 5th day hair. This is my life now. I can’t imagine getting up an hour earlier every day to wash, condition, gel, mousse, protect, dry, then curl my hair. Forget it.

Eye shade
I am a napper, so using an eye shade is nothing new to me. I used an eye shade on the plane and a few trains, but it mostly came in handy in my actual Airbnbs as I was trying to sleep at night—it stayed lighter A LOT later in northern Europe and it screwed up my sleeping schedule (go to sleep early and sleep in as late as possible). This particular shade has convex areas for your eyelashes so you don’t wake up with bedhead on your face.

Pocket Kleenex
This one is probably pretty obvious, but I went through a lot more Kleenex than I thought I would. Pack triple what you think you need. I ended up using this not only for sneezes, but for napkins, blotting paper, and toilet paper.

Handkerchief
I had my dad bring me an actual handkerchief because I was going through so much Kleenex just blotting my face. A handkerchief is greener, classier, and won’t leave lint all over your lip hairs.

Benedryl
So they don’t have the same drugs in Europe. For over the counter stuff, bring what you like to use, but also bring Benedryl. You never know what exciting new pollen you’ll be allergic to, and Benedryl can double as a sleep aid.

Books
I brought The Stand and Daisy Miller and Other Stories knowing I’d trash them or leave them behind as I finished them. The Stand was very satisfying to finish because it cleared up so much room in my bag. Bring a few paperbacks you know will be entertaining but not lifelong companions. I bought a few books while on the road, too, trying to keep this same philosophy.

Things I Thought I’d Use But Didn’t

Compass
I brought a small compass, but I used the compass app on my phone almost exclusively. I forgot I even had a real compass.

Reusable Water Bottle
I was gung-ho to go green and use this collapsible water bottle, but ultimately it just made more sense to reuse regular water bottles, and then recycle them when they became unwieldy.

Bungee
Several travel blogs suggested this adjustable cord to help you hang your laundry, but I never needed it. The Airbnbs always had a rack or a lot of closet space where I could hang things to dry.

Earplugs
I am an earplugs advocate, and even though there were some loud nights, I didn’t like using the ear plugs when I was travelling—I wanted to be alerted to the noises around me. The exception was when Dad and I shared a hotel room. He snores. A lot.

Inflatable Travel Neck Pillow
I love the idea of this pillow and used it on my redeye from SFO to Madrid, but I never really fell asleep. The pillow shifts ever so slightly as you finally relax your neck on to it, even when the pillow is secured in front. It’s just not that comfortable. I do like that I could deflate it to take up less space in my bag, though, and for that reason alone it is superior to other U-shaped travel pillows.

Take what you will from this. Remember, whatever you packed is what’s going with you.

Stonehenge

No visit to this adorable little island would be complete without a trip to Stonehenge. I signed up for a minibus tour for a day trip to Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge, and Avebury.

I was very excited to have a comfy seat on the bus.

Even though the pickup time was before 730AM.

It was about two hours to the Salisbury Cathedral, which has not only the highest spire in the UK (3rd highest in Europe), but also the oldest copy of the Magna Carta.

For scale, those white flags in the lower right-hand side are about eight feet tall. This cathedral is massive, and the spire can be seen for miles. The cathedral has all the arches and molding you would expect.

Salisbury itself is a small town dominated by this impressive building. Grade school boys were jogging laps around it as I was taking pictures.

The cathedral has an ante room dedicated to the display of the Magna Carta. There are several copies of the Magna Carta around, but this copy is labeled as the oldest, if not the original. This document was the first of its kind in that it limited the power of the king and held even him accountable to the law. It was signed by King John (Richard the Lionhearts’s brother) while Robin Hood was off somewhere creating his own set of rules. The document itself was large and written in such a neat hand that it looked fake. Oh, and it was in Latin.

Then we went to Stonehenge. A freeway runs very close next to it–so weird to see this ancient circle of stones from 60mph.

Apparently the freeway used to be much closer to the circle! Hard to imagine that being the case. The circle is roped off so the tourists can’t get very close. You can walk all the way around it, though.

One of the stones was leaning so much that it had to be cemented in place. Other than that, the stones are left to their own devices, safe from the selfie sticks and screaming children.

The wind carried the ripe smell of the next door sheep farm. Life goes on as the cars pass on the freeway and the sheep pull up the grass. Stonehenge was exactly like the pictures I’ve seen but completely different than I expected. I don’t know how to explain it.

Our last stop was Avebury, a small town encircled by monoliths you can actually touch. (Note: it’s pronounced Ave (rhymes with knave) – Bree (like the cheese), not “Ave-bur-y” like it’s spelled).

There was a group of worshipers between two particularly large stones. They held hands in a circle and listened to drums. Nearby, a lady leaned her whole body against a stone for a long hug. I had my lunch leaning up against an unused rock. The fields here are open to the public. You just have to figure out how the gate unlocks.

There are two types of rocks at Stonehenge; one type is the type you see here at Avebury, which leads people to believe that this is where those rocks came from, but the other kind came from really far away. Part of the mystery is how those huge, extremely heavy rocks were transported before Amazon two-day shipping.

This day trip was especially fun because a) all the other passengers were old people b) the bus held only 16 people so it wasn’t overwhelming and c) I got to see one of the seven wonders of the world. I recommend a day trip like this, including Avebury, if you plan on visiting Stonehenge.

I am reading Stars Above by Marissa Meyer and The Night Manager by le Carré.

More famous things

I spent some time at the Churchill War Rooms, which are near Westminster. They are all underground, and a Churchill museum is in the center. As you wind your way through the narrow, airless hallways, you see not only what it was like to have to exist in a constant state of anxiety, but also what it must have been like working with Churchill himself, who put up signs like this:

There will BE no WHISTLING. I SAY.

And keep the typing noise down!

That’s right, a noiseless typewriter.

All the clocks are at two to five (16:58), which is two minutes before the daily meeting.

The offices and work rooms and bedrooms looked a bit like jail cells with doilies.

It was hard to stay in one area without getting claustrophobic. Once in the museum part, though, it opened up a lot and I discovered that Churchill was an honorary American.

and the recipient of many, many medals and awards

including this old thing, just the Nobel Prize for literature. NBD.

Churchill was a prolific writer, beginning with war reports to newspapers and ending with nonfiction novels describing everything from WWII to the joy of painting. He was always busy with something.

Here’s his pistola.

Here’s part of his underground map room.

That’s about all I could digest from this guy.

I can’t decide if his expression is bemused or really, really angry.

Time for tea!

Today, after taking care of this tea train, I went to the British Museum. This place is massive and holds far too much art. That’s right. Too much. I think they should consider toning it down. It’s not a competition.

Here are some highlights.

Venus, my ruling goddess and general badass.

The most famous chess set in the WORLD (Lewis Chessmen)

A docent was giving a talk about them but I couldn’t hear anything she said because other people were talking and laughing and carrying on. Story of my academic life. Anyway, Harry Potter fans should recognize them.

I recognized this cat from an exhibit I saw many years ago at the Legion of Honor in SF. I don’t think it’s the same cat, but maybe related?

I have rarely seen a feline this pissed off, and I have seen some angry friggin cats in my life.

Here are some delightful weapons should you ever come across a cat with such ferocity.

and some VIKING weaponry

And some pretty violent looking what I can only assume are hair pins.

Here is a famous thing you might have heard of

Yep, it’s the Rosetta Stone. What, you can’t read the hieroglyphics?

Here ya go then

It’s been awhile since I have been able to find the Weirdest Jesus in a museum, but the British Museum does not disappoint. Look here.

This is a 4th-century mosaic of Mr. Christ, one of the first known images of Him. But to me he looks pretty modern, like someone I’d meet at an SF party who says Haiiiiiiii Girrrrrrrllll.

Guarding this masterpiece is the sphinx gate from the Neverending Story

Atreyu would’t quit now.

Three more pictures of the inexplicable.

A demon on a horse hanging from the ceiling looking like you owe him five quid.

A fight that cost an arm and a leg

and a head

And finally finding the best thing at a museum–a free bench!

I am reading All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr and The Night Manager by le Carré.

Whiskey and writing

Today I walked over the river Liffey to visit the Old Jameson Distillery.

That’s me there blocking the view of the river. The main whiskey production happens in Cork now, but the Jameson site in Dublin still sells the good stuff. I picked up some samples.

While walking around the northern part of Dublin, I found a mail box. It’s the closest thing to a leprechaun that I’ve seen so far.

The Dublin Writer’s Museum was only a walk away, and if you can believe it, not terribly crowded!

No pictures were allowed inside, but I was able to view many first editions, personal letters (written in old-timey cursive that I honestly cannot decipher), and a few artifacts like playbills and typewriters. The bust of Shaw was my favorite because he was such a hairy bastard.

The expected writers were extolled: Swift, Shaw, Beckett, Stoker, Joyce, Wilde, and Heaney, but I also took down notes on some books for my To Read list. These included Knocknagow by Charles Kickham, Melmoth the Wanderer by Charles Robert Maturin, Some Experience of an Irish RM by Somerville, and At Swim Two Birds by Flann O’Brien.

While walking about I came across two more literary points (pints?) of interest.

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This is a small inlay on the sidewalk on Grafton Street.

This is a life sized sculpture of the larger-than-life Oscar Wilde.

It looks like his head turned towards me in that second picture. Could he be any cooler.

Yesterday I went to the Guinness factory and then on the literary pub crawl so basically today was a repeat of booze then books because this is Ireland and that’s how it goes.

Tomorrow night I fly back to London.

Walking around looking around: Dubin

Last night the parties and pubs were lively until late, but in the morning, Dublin was blissfully quiet and I had a long rest in. When I was up and about, I discovered that pushing the shower knob to the “off” position did not render the expected result. I had to call the front desk for assistance. Everything after that was pretty smooth sailing.

I walked to the tourism office, which has a statue of Molly Malone outside.

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I remember singing an Irish ballad about Patrick O’Leary and Molly Malone, but I don’t know if it’s related to this stacked and stunning statue. At the tourism office I purchased a ticket for a day trip to the Cliffs of Moher (tomorrow–tune in then for the excruciating details). After that I was at liberty and walked around Trinity College. Here is Burke standing guard at the gate.

He can probably kill us with his brain.

The campus is beautiful as expected, with perfect green grass and grey stone work. Inside a courtyard is this stunner. No particular reason that I could see. Just because, you know, Europe.

The main draw for me was the section of the college’s library that houses the Book of Kells, which is a somewhat ancient Christian text (9th century). Of course no photos were allowed, but picture a beautifully illustrated Latin calligraphy of the New Testament. The book was oversized, with wide margins and relatively large type. I don’t know any Latin (my school cancelled the Latin classes the year before I enrolled; such is my luck), so I could get only an aesthetic sense of it, and that was enough.

Also in the library is the long room, which is a two-story masterpiece of accumulated literature.

Each alcove had its own bust and staircase, one of which was spiral.

I mean really now Ireland is just showing off.

Let’s look at some of the heads.

Shakespeare, of course.

Bill and Ted’s main man, So-crates.

And Cicero, who, if my memory serves, got so mad that Cleopatra didn’t follow through on a promised book loan that he slandered her for years until he died.

This man was serious about books.

The St. Patrick’s Cathedral, like many places of interest in Dublin, was close at hand.

It’s even more impressive on the inside, with the expected stained glass, but also many memorials, such as this one from the Great War.

There is also a bust of Jonathan Swift, of Gulliver’s Travels and “A Modest Proposal” fame. Swift was active in this church and gave many sermons. The bust was donated by a Mr. Faulkner (relation to William unknown).

I sort of imagined him as a long, lanky man with eyes a bit too large and fingers a bit too long, but maybe that’s Ichabod Crane I’m thinking of.

Just down the road is Christchurch Cathedral, which was closed for the day but had its courtyard open.

The view from the other side reveals some food stands.

Honestly I think they have the right idea. I’d be at church more if there were crepes.

On the other side of the cathedral is a beautiful memorial for those who died in the Armenian genocide.

Around the corner I found my demon.

He even LOOKS like he’s singing the Police’s “Every Breath You Take.”

Time for some shepherd’s pie, my friends. It is definitely time for shepherd’s pie.

I did see one more relic from the past–

That’s right, Tower Records, in the flesh. If Dublin wasn’t so torn up with preparation for the light rail, I would have crossed the street to peek inside this blast from the past. But as it is I’m not quite up to crossing against lights and jumping fences. Tower and I are two records spinning in different directions.

This evening’s entertainment included the stage play Once, based on the 2007 Oscar winning movie. If you haven’t seen the movie, consider watching it or just giving up on cinema all together.

Before the play and during intermission, the stage turned into a bar and audience members went on up to cure what ails them. They had no vodka (an upsetting trend in Dublin), but don’t worry. I made it work.

According to the sign, this is the only stage bar in Dublin.

The show itself worked really well on stage. It moved a little faster than the movie, but the songs were just as powerful and the main characters just as compelling.

Tomorrow I am taking a bus to the cliffs.

I am reading The Night Manager by le Carré and Winter by Marissa Meyer.

The Scottish play

Today I stood in the standby line outside the Globe to try to get a ticket for Macbeth. I queued up at about 12:15 and got a ticket about 13:25. It was a yard/standing room only ticket.

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So I queued up again to wait to stand. Today was a day of standing.

That’s the queue inside the theater to get inside the theater.

Once inside, I was only two rows back from the stage and two blisters away from enjoying the play as God and Shakespeare intended.

It is an open air stage and even the wyrd sisters were not immune to being interrupted by the occasional aircraft.

Major notes include the wyrd sisters singing all their lines and Mac and Lady Mac having a child (not a speaking role). Duncan and Malcolm were as undynamic as usual, but the final scene

spoiler alert

was Malcolm turning to the throne, crown in hand, to see the tiny Macbeth child climb on to it.

Interesting.

After that was a wine bar and then more wine so that is all for now.

Carry on.

Black balsaming my way through life

Today the bus tour must have been rerouted because we ended up disembarking precisely where we had begun, and that can’t possibly be due to all the black balsam we’ve imbibed, right? We saw the Nativity Cathedral, an Orthodox Russian church, which is even more impressive in person.

I really do think it might be bigger on the inside.

I didn’t get much farther than this because a large sign advised that all women should be appropriately dressed in skirts and head coverings, neither of which I was wearing or even packed. Dad said a lot of women were in street clothes past this point, but I am trying to put off being escorted out of a church for as long as possible. I waited outside.

We decided then to walk to the KGB house, and along the way we ate burgers and pink soup. The KGB house turned out to be closed on Tuesdays, so we went to the Riga National Museum instead. There is a lot of modern (20th c) art here, and probably my favorite thing was watching dad read the painting’s title, step back and look, and then step in to read the title again, this time with his glasses, then step back and shake his head in a sort of ehhh-is-this-a-first-draft? sort of way.

There were some winning pieces though, notably the Madonna with a Machine Gun:

Vodka:

and this somewhat confounding painting of Moses, Aaron, and Hur:

Admittedly, I don’t know who is who, but I can’t get past the sparkler headband in center stage. What is this supposed to represent? It is not near the traditional aureole that signposts divinity. Maybe this is an after party I was never invited to.

We made our way to the city center to again admire the House of the Blackheads–one of the most beautiful buildings I’ve ever seen.

That’s it on the right. It catches you by the lungs when you see it for the first time as you come around a corner.

I found a bakery and enjoyed some Latvian dessert, but dad said it was too fancy for him as my mint leaves uncurled in my tea.

Guess what I ordered.

Anyway we found a shop where dad was more comfortable.

See that bag? Yes, he BOUGHT things today. Here you have it, the eighth wonder.

After a cafe dinner that included herring that I am too polite to describe (dad loved it) & a black balsam cocktail better than Christmas, we walked back to the hotel by way of the Opera house.

Notice no one is about. The streets are very low key and the crowds haven’t been close to overwhelming (Prague had throngs of people pushing through narrow streets). Riga is the largest city in the Baltics, but it is still small enough to walk comfortably (cobblestones aside). The city buses share the road with trams and city vans, just smaller versions of the bus. There are fewer bicyclists here, much to my relief. And there are a normal amount of cars*. I have been impressed with everyone’s ability to speak English, the quality of the food, and the beauty and accessibility of everything. Riga has more than delivered.

Tomorrow, KGB house or bust.

Miles walked: 7.02

*The car tax in Denmark is 180%; noticeably fewer cars are there. Loads of parking, though.

Hallo from Berlin

Yesterday I traveled from Amsterdam to Berlin. There was only one transfer that was a bit difficult, but only because my reserved seat was in the very first car and I had to walk along the length of the train for a long time. When I say I walk I mean run madly waving my ticket so they don’t leave without me. Always a pleasure.

It was of course raining because that is what it does in Europe. The rain however did treat me to this as I sped across the German countryside.

That’s a rainbow, in case it’s too light to see. Only three trains and a taxi ride and I was at my airbnb in Berlin (Kreuzberg district–west Berlin) meeting my new roommate Molly.

She likes to sleep on shoes and watch you eat snacks. I got in about 8pm and my other roommates asked if I was going to go out lol. Anyway the streets were bedlam because Deutschland and Italia were playing futbol. It only got crazier after that penalty kick.

Today then was a bus tour. I was very happy to find one somewhat easily, considering that the tourism office was not where it was supposed to be and two policemen had no idea where it was.

However, the bus driver wasn’t all that helpful and the tour guide said most things in German. I did make out that the bus loop map wasn’t going to be followed because of all the street closures due to the soccer game. Soccer. Why do you keep ruining my vacation? Unfortunately this meant the bus tour was a bit haphazard and I couldn’t keep track of where we were supposed to be on the tour guide, let alone where we actually were. The stops were not announced by their names or by their numbers on the itinerary. I thought Germany would be the most exact in general and especially in this manner, but soccer. Soccer. Soccer. The tour guide did mention that Albert Einstein went to college here right across the street from where the bonfires ate all those piles of books. I’d rather know which bus stop we were on, frankly.

My tour included a boat trip up the Spree river. Did you know that Berlin has more bridges than Venice? (Side note, the boat tour in Amsterdam said that Amsterdam has more canals than Venice, but fewer bridges. I think there is some serious Venice-envy happening all over Europe.)

The plus side is that the boats serve drinks.

Do not be seduced by how bright and sunny these pictures look. Berlin has a horrible case of hotcold. When the sun is out, it is a punisher. Then a cloud comes by and everyone puts on parkas and watches their breath fog. I believe hotcold is a form of torture, am I right? I did feel a few rain drops, but they seemed to be isolated incidents.

The bus tour did not yield a lot of photo ops, mostly because I didn’t know what I was supposed to be looking at until it had already passed by and the English announcement finally started. This bus tour is really failing. Did I mention it had no wifi and the Coke Lite I bought on board was undrinkable because the tab came off without opening the mouth of the can? I am dis. pleased.

However, despite this oppression, I did manage to take this stunner.

Bam. That my friends is Victoria, goddess of, you guessed it, victory.

I am not sure what Germany won or what this is in relation to. It looks to me like she’s surrendering anyway. I didn’t ask because I was already having an attitude about my wasted diet coke that was 2 Euros. I have discovered that when I am not around someone I feel compelled to please (I am a people pleaser), I easily fall in to being sullen and misanthropic. Not following YOUR OWN ITINERARY adds to this. Hotcold torture adds to this. Lack of wifi adds to this.

Lastly, the bar I read about on Lonely Planet is only a block away from my airbnb and I was all set to try it until I read that it doesn’t even open until 10pm. I like to be well into my tylenol pm/wine stupor by then. Maybe tomorrow, but I doubt it.

Tomorrow I will go to the museum island, though I can’t decide which of the five museums to explore (don’t say five, you know I can’t).

The bus drove by parts of the wall, which I figured out before the English version announced it, so maybe I will investigate that area as well. It’s quite famous.

I am reading Catherine the Great.

“Isn’t it strange that I who have written only unpopular books should be such a popular fellow?” – Albert Einstein

Sex, drugs, and black cats

Today my priorities were getting packed and buying more cheese. What a compelling first sentence. Any second now you’re going to make me smoke tobacco and-and have drugs.

First though I went to a cafe ruled by a cat.

This black cat’s reign of terror included the whole bar. No one’s seat, once warmed, was safe.This guy literally took his beer outside in the rain to finish. When I left, I passed him, and said “Cats, eh?” He said, “There’s nothing I could have done.”

Some of you may know that, in addition to legal sex work, Amsterdam also has legal drug use. It’s not the same for the rest of the Netherlands, but Amsterdam remains special. I went into a coffeeshop, which here means drug store, and asked for the mildest brownie. They suggested this space cake.

I bought it with cash, and when I passed a walking policeman down the block, I avoided eye contact. I don’t really need pot to be paranoid.

(Half of this brownie has been eaten, but I am experiencing no noticeable effects.)

After the coffeeshop I popped into the Sex Museum for lessons, but I’m afraid most of the information there was unenlightening.

As societies have progressed, their art related to sensuality has become coarser. Around one corner, a mannequin prostitute jumps out at you from behind a curtain. Fun times.

Tomorrow I travel to Berlin. I have only a bus to a train to a train to a train to a taxi to navigate, so it’s like a totally easy day.

I am reading Catherine the Great and The Stand.

“Your wit makes others witty.” C the G

(Entire brownie has been eaten per MP)

Packing and other impossibilities

I leave tomorrow. I’m leaving. The. Country.

As I was separating everything I want to pack into piles, Lil Bro came in my room to observe. He then spent an uncomfortable amount of time trying to teach me to flick my pocket knife open in a sweeping jabbing motion. To do this is simple: I just need to stop being left-handed and caring at all about my nails. Honestly I am bringing a knife to open challenging food packaging and to pry my case off my cell phone to remove my sim card. Lil Bro advised me to perhaps consider buying pepper spray, and then he ambled out to check on his frozen chicken Alfredo.

Food was also on my mind and was my first item to pack. I am worried every meal in Europe will be covered in vinegar, so about a fourth of my suitcase is filled with foodstuff.

Did you spot the ketchup packet? I might bring more of those. You just never know.

Then it was time to color code my psychoses.

Blue for every day, light blue for trouble, white for emergencies, and so on.

Next I checked Pinterest and learned the right way to roll/origami my way through the heap of black clothes I’m bringing. The eight black shirts I packed are rolled into torpedoes lining the bottom of my suitcase. Rolling got a bit tedious and unrealistic–I’m not going to pack this painstakingly every time I need to catch a train. So then I just forced everything else on top of the row of rolled shirts.

That bra is a 36DD for scale.

Today around 6PM, I tried to check-in to my flight, which leaves tomorrow at 5:30PM. After entering my flight information, the Aer Lingus website rejected my check-in with this gem:

As this flight is departing in more than 30 hours, if you choose to check in now for this flight there is a charge for seat allocation (unless previously purchased seats). Alternatively you can check in online for this flight within 30 hours of flight departure time and avail of free seat allocation.

First of all, can we please take a moment to deal with the phrasing “avail of free seat allocation”?

Now, I have recently become mediocre at math, so I know this message is nonsense. I checked back again a few minutes ago–10PM–but the same malarkey manifested. I am displeased and unimpressed. The FAQs said that a transatlantic flight is eligible for check in 24 hours prior to takeoff, but the website still failed this test. I would like to avail of free bullshit. I’ve been spending so much time worrying about how to navigate the ridiculosities of the Eurail system that I completely forgot to fret over the plane ride.

I must remember that “in nonsense is strength.” (Breakfast of Champions, Kurt Vonnegut)

It might serve you well to remember that, too, when reading these posts.

As for reading, I read a few poems in Imitations by Robert Lowell before returning it unfinished to the library.

Now I am going to lie down and start the long process of saying good bye to my bed.

Category: Pharmacy