I woke up earlier than everyone else today and spent a couple of hours on the internet. It’s interesting. A week of limited access has somewhat changed my perspective. At first it seemed to me that there was like a conspiracy to keep me from posting, as I couldn’t find anyplace to get on line and nobody else in our party of 15 seemed to give a shit because, after all, why should they, but it almost felt like an intervention, like I was involuntarily in internet rehab. Then, several days of trying to squeeze my activity into an hour kept me focused on the blog, with barely time enough to read the headlines.
The Game of Kings
So, today I caught up on the news, read all my mail, even glanced at facebook and Wonkette for a bit. Tried and tried to find something in the news that I cared enough about to comment on, but there wasn’t much. Mitt Romney said something stupid and everybody in England hates him. No surprises there.
Then, everybody else got up, we had coffee, I put together a puzzle with Isabel, went out for some croissants, came back, started another puzzle, then went out for a walk, played chess in the park, they’ve got these giant pieces and the board is painted on the sidewalk, I sat on a bench and had Isabel move the pieces for me, this is something I’ve always wanted to do and didn’t even think to take a picture but it felt very decadent and empowering to sit back and order the pieces moved, although Sam, who is 9, beat me which should make me proud but he really isn’t that good, I just screwed up. Then we went for lunch at McDonald’s which made the kids happy and I thought it would be cheap but it really wasn’t. After that we walked around the old town, up to the tower in the Cathedral and toured a museum, because it was free.
There was a weird moment there. On the top floor there was a scale model of the city, circa 1850, but the room was completely dark. Nonetheless, we walked in and were looking around it. Then, when a few more people wandered in, the lights went on. I thought maybe there was a motion sensor, or maybe it was a timed thing. Then Isabel started touching the display and a voice in the corner said “Stop that,” or words to that effect, it was in French and in a very somber, hollow voice, and I looked over and saw an old man in the corner. Apparently, it was his job to sit there, in the dark, until enough people came in the room to turn on the light.
Different strokes for different folks, I suppose, but I would totally hate that job.
Now we are back at the flat and my brother Dennis (who is a piano teacher) just taught Sam how to play Old McDonald Had a Farm. If Sam comes out of this trip with an interest in the piano, that will be a major success.
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