Freedom is a word I rarely use without drinking..

[sqeeezy]

So....30,000 people dead of covid or intubation, mostly oldies like me, so it doesn't matter. 19,240 British young men walked obediently to their death on the 1st of July 1916, to give a comparison, most died within the first hour....Granada province let me out a week or so ago, Spain having decided the population was too dumb to undestand the concept of going out without chatting and hugging people. Personally, it leaves me with a bitter taste in my mouth, especially as my cat of 12 years companionship got killed by the neighbour's dogs and now I've got no excuse for talking to myself. What possible risk could I be posing, on my Himmie in the fresh air...no, they know best, don't they.
Anyhow, free, now, freer than Jennifer Fichter, freer than a pot lifer, so packed a couple of chickenburgers, a porkpie, an apple and off up through Albuñuelas, past the derelict brickworks, off into rosemary limestone crag country, pines and the trees some people call Californian live oak, here encina, up the gravel tracks, easy going up to the atalaya, note the firebreaks in the picture, don't take your spark arrestors out, fellas....here not so long ago, a firefighter begged for someone to kill him to save him from the pain of his burns...
The flowers are still lovely and views were great. Basmati the Himmie, reliable mule as always. I'm dying to get away to Morocco again, but by the time they decide to let us zombies in it'll probably be scorching hot. Ladakh next year maybe, if the Chinese haven't taken it over. Freedom is a word I rarely use...

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[Wintrup]

Your attachment won't load mate. Nevertheless, I liked reading your perspective.

 

[sam2019]

Ladakh next year maybe,

do it this year, it will be much better without the mindless hordes calling themselves "bikers" who storm Ladakh every year with a truckload of luggage and spares behind them and all sorts of strong alcohol on board. no kidding. somehow they are always surprised when I decline to share in the booze.

I dont know if I will be able to return before September, when the season all but ends. but I keep my fingers crossed!

and yes, agreed, nice writeup.

 

[sqeeezy]

Your attachment won't load mate. Nevertheless, I liked reading your perspective.

dunno why, but for the first time ever the photos wouldn't load where I wanted them, then I couldn't delete the post and start again...odd

 

[Wintrup]

More than ever I'd like to get away, but it's not looking promising. My vague plan at the beginning of the year was to hit Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria and back via Greece and the former Yugoslavia, Italy, France. Now all bets are off concerning continental travel as we once knew it. The political noise is hinting at mandatory vaccination and health ID, neither of which I will accept willingly and will submit to only under extreme duress. I can be grateful that I've freely traveled abroad since I was a teenager and had lots of adventures. That world is mostly gone now, subsumed into the bland, corporate globalist glob where distinctions blur, unless there's political capital to be squeezed from them. And now, as the US empire is crumbling and we are experiencing the birth pangs of the new order, plans will have to be shelved in favour of survival.

 

[sam2019]

plans will have to be shelved in favour of survival.

naa, I think you are overly dramatic here, although "they" are certainly trying - but my money is still on humanity and not the 0.01% who want to impose global fascism a la hunger games on us.

enjoying what we have is always a good idea IMO. no need to get to the hitchhiker's motto yet

 

[Wintrup]

naa, I think you are overly dramatic here, although "they" are certainly trying - but my money is still on humanity and not the 0.01% who want to impose global fascism a la hunger games on us.

enjoying what we have is always a good idea IMO. no need to get to the hitchhiker's motto yet

Maybe, we'll see. I'd be quite happy to be wrong, I often am.
I live in a village that's still quite traditional, for England at least. I tend a garden, carve wood, go for walks and bike rides. I'm content enough in this environment, but I have ties with Eastern Europe, where my father was born, and feel the need to be among those people. After years of living under Communism they always had their feet on the ground, were generally more philosophical and spiritual than here in the West. They don't tolerate bullshit quite so readily. It would be good to be among them for a while. There are changes there too of course, especially among the young, but when I talk with the older generations it's like something clicks and I am connected again, like plugging into my DNA. It wasn't so important when I was young, but as I got older it came to be so. Maybe it's because as we age and become more vulnerable we once again feel the need to belong to our tribe.