Peripatetic RPh

one has a million helpful friends in egypt! upon arrival at Cairo airport, i needed to take a shuttle to the next terminal in order to take bus 356 to downtown cairo. many naysayers, bus is late, no bus, bus is slow, bus dirty thus clothes get dirty and that was just for the airport shuttle. (ok ok they only denied existence of the airport shuttle which i waited only 5 minutes for). i waited maybe 15 minutes more for the airport to cairo connection. i was just about to cave and take a taxi, as the bus stand was darkish and mostly deserted and all of the buses were in dismal shape, when the mad max bus zipped in and the driver jumped out and motioned for me to get aboard. we seemed to be ... read more

i showed me mums the last photo entry. she said "i don't know these people". i say, "one is talking in your ear now"(we are in library). she forgot how i looked back then. can you find me?... read more

Trimming a tree while in it. Cutting through about 25cm branch . It swings down and knocks chainsaw into leg, cutting pants. Nary a scratch on leg. Then mums says, "forest service made us wear chaps"! ... read more

I found a term I think more accurate than OCD. It is muscle memory. That's what lets me know where and what buttons to push on electronic devices in the dark or during blindness of phone screen blackness! At least one memory works!... read more

i have found some random notes i had planned to blog about. i think i´ll just go ahead and make some random writings. me thinks i must be getting old! hmmm! the last time i blogged i forgot to mention the most important event of the morning. i FELL in the shower, after some floundering and cartwheeling about. i even thought i would regain my balance and then WHAM, DOWN i went. i even took out the pedestal for the sink. maybe i should consider buying one of those button thingies to call for help should this happen again????? i wish there was a button thingie to help with the memory loss, but i and you will just have to settle for some disjointed blogging! that was the last morning in sarande, albania. that afternoon i ... read more

a highlight of the trip has been raki/rakia/rakija etc etc. it is a local brew sometimes also called lion's milk(add water and it becomes white). i especially appreciate it just after my excercise with breakfast. it has been offered mainly by the older, both male and female and they always tell me it is home brewed. very nice but i think with breakfast is a bit much. i also had brandy and a kahlua like drink with breakfast. maybe i'll continue the tradition once home?? something to ponder. so i left skopje for ohrid, macedonia. it is a great town on a large lake in southern macedonia. i got a room with a view, and raki of course, at a seasonally discounted price. always ask for lower. i had first just walked away from the price ... read more

in the coastal town of montenegro they can't/won't help with buses to pristina, kosovo. so i hopped a bus to podgorica the capitol of montenegro. once there i found a night bus to pristina but i wanted to go today. only one bus they tell me. my experience tells me that closer to the border there are more buses, so i hop next bus to berane which was mentioned the day before by some fellow travelers. in berane they tell me only a 0030 bus, which is the same one from podgorica, so i decide to head to the border at rozaye. i buy a ticket but the bus that was there a moment ago has left, EARLY!!!! so i am stuck in berane for 5 hours awaiting a bus. a day later, i met a ... read more

let's see: from belgrade, serbia i took the slow train to sarajevo, bosnia/herzogovenia. we crossed through croatia and made all the required passport checks. we even changed train engines at each border? why is beyond me because none was any faster than t'other. at least i added a bunch of stamps to passport, or rather i should have. i have had to just rely on the border guards for my stamps because i don't know what the hell they are doing. i didn't get stamped leaving serbia and worried a bit about this. especially when the croatian border guard balked when she perused my passport and then said "moment" and walked away with passport. i heard her calling in my numbers to check on it. a short while later she returned and stamped passport. don't know ... read more