“Keep your face always toward the sunshine—and shadows will fall behind you.” Walt Whitman I didn’t want to get out of bed. I could sleep for another five hours, but Shell wants to go for a run, and the day heats up quickly. She is right, the run makes us both feel better. Another 5…
European Summers
“In the middle of summer the fields are golden, the forests thick, and the air heavy with the scent of hay and wildflowers.” Leo Tolstoy We are up early to avoid the heat. Today’s forecast high is 32 °C. Under a blue sky, we run a quick 5 km—the Danube on our left, the parliament…
Back to Budapest
“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they’re happy at home.” Anton Chekhov A reasonable drive ahead of us today. We head out for a run and get in some breakfast and a few coffees. On the road at 8.30 am. It is a six hour drive to Budapest. About half an hour…
Schlafen
“How about if I sleep a little bit longer and forget all this nonsense” Franz Kafka I sleep and sleep. I slept through the night. When dawn broke through the curtains, I went back to sleep. When Shell held me, I went back to sleep. Dreamless, deep sleep. I can’t remember sleeping like this. “Sleep…
Running Man
“Running in the wind, in the pollen and dust, a flower in flight” Vladimir Nabokov I slept poorly. Our air conditioning system kept turning off, making it a particularly hot night. It’s a cool, overcast morning, and all I want to do is run. An odd feeling for someone who does not enjoy running. Or…
Demographics
“I am incapable of conceiving infinity, and yet I do not accept finity. I want this adventure that is the context of my life to go on without end.” Simone de Beauvoir I wake up with a slight hangover. It is early, and Shell wants to go for a run before it gets too hot….
Bad Füssing – Germany
“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware.” Henry Miller Up early for a run. It is a warm morning and it is tough going. I can’t be bothered with breakfast. We walk to the town square and I order a coffee that comes…
Guebwiller – France
“They had spent a year in France for no particular reason, and then drifted here and there unrestfully wherever people played polo and were rich together.” F. Scott Fitzgerald I slept well. Our place has floor to ceiling windows on two sides, and I thought the light would keep us awake. Somehow, in the heart…
All Roads Lead to Burgundy
Burgundy for kings, champagne for duchesses, claret for gentlemen. Prince Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord It shocks me how quickly my body loses conditioning. It probably shouldn’t. I am old, I am eating terribly, and I have been drinking mightily. It is devastating what regular alcohol does to the body. Still, I am only a week…