Grave Error

The world is what it is; men who are nothing, who allow themselves to become nothing, have no place in it.

The first line of V.S. Naipaul’s A Bend in the River is very provocative. Naipaul spares no one any pity or compassion in his portrayal of a brutal world. But, I am not sure that I would fully agree.

In Paris on Sunday, I was having a late lunch in a restaurant and was reminded of something I had noticed in Ibiza on my way to Formentera last year, life is better when you speak fewer languages:

At the port, I also learned another interesting piece of information about myself: I am perfectly happy to only speak English and Spanish. What I love is the sound of language. It is great to be able to listen to language and not understand the words. That way you can project any meaning onto the words that you choose or simply enjoy the words as if they were the sounds coming from musical instruments. What is worst of all is when you actually understand what is being said and are forced to follow someone else’s conversation. You learn that people have the most irrelevant, mundane, and even offensively simple-minded verbal exchanges. It is analogous to having someone fart on the elevator. They are sharing their innermost bodily stink with you, the doors are shut, and there is no where to go for fresh air. So, I sat and listened, mainly to Mallorquín being spoken, and loved every minute of it.

And when the person sitting next to you is from your own country and you overhear his conversation, especially when he is saying repeated, “I’m going to be totally honest with you,” you really want to puke! We often think of “prejudice” as a negative thing, but it is also an important defense mechanism that allows us to make split second decisions about how to react to certain stimuli. In other words, “prejudice” (and I am not talking about “racial prejudice” but the ability to make pre-determinations) keeps us from dealing with such incredible merde. Continue reading →

Sorry for going back to my poor quality, low-artisian videos, but sometimes I just can’t resist. Here is “Isn’t It a Lovely Day” by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald (which I have referenced before) to the view of Pont Neuf in Paris, first as the day is only gray and then as it turns to rain. Having known it was going to rain, I was all prepared for the view and for the song.

And yes, I know. It is time for a new camera.

This afternoon I set out for Barajas Airport in Madrid at 5:00pm for a 6:40pm flight to Paris. As always, I got into a very nice conversation with the taxi driver. Of course, the tax driver missed the Terminal 4 exit because we were chatting, and we got lost trying to weave our way back to right terminal. Luckily, I still made it to my gate on time.

After last Sunday night’s Barcelona to Madrid fiasco, where my flight landed in Madrid at 2:15am instead of 9:30pm due to an electrical storm, I spent all week checking Paris’ weather to make sure I didn’t have to repeat the same ordeal. Unfortunately, the forecasts all predicted storms for Friday night. And guess what? Continue reading →