Ahh, nothing like another Friday night sleeping in Hartsfield, this is the second week in a row, and one would think I would get more intelligent and not fly Delta this time of year, but hell, it is just the way things happen for me and for the other five or six thousand stranded travellers during the spring storms. I still can't understand why there is a big hub-bub about the drought conditions in Georgia - everytime I am in Hartsfield, it is fucking raining, and the flights are always delayed due to weather...
I guess I will scroll down and read my top ten things to do in Hartsfield before I find a place to fall asleep and try and catch three hours of sleep so that I am not a walking zombie for my wonderful children tomorrow...
Crushing Tomatoes - I have never been to one of those tomato festivals where they dump loads of the juicy overripe things in the street and people start out congenially and with some courtesy pelting each other and crushing the fruit underneath their bare feet - but this week, it had to be the closest emotional feeling to what those festivals turn into - an all out throwing and bashing of tomatoes that leaves the willing participant wondering what happened, stained, and a little more wary about going back next year. I had a few tomatoes thrown my way, I threw a few tomatoes, and inevitably ended up messy, tired, and needing to feel a little cleaner, a little less naive, a little less open to new things. It was a good lesson this week - taking things at face value becomes a difficult thing to do - you just don't have any idea what those other folks who are chunking things at you are thinking - sure it is all in good fun, but what if they get some sense of accomplishment out of the act of pelting you, or are just at the festival because they know it is a temporary lapse of reason, it will end in a few hours, and could care less what their actions (or their lack of action) will have on the guy who gets sideswiped by a really big juicy hothouse 'mater (as we call them in the south). Tit for tat is not very fair, I don't think I would be one of those folks who would retaliate by throwing harder, throwing more often, and being vicious about things, but I can imagine that it can happen -
A Farewell to Arms is the worst book in the world for a traveller to read - there is nothing more depressing than getting to the end of the book mid-way through a five hour flight and getting to the last page to find out about a dead child and lover - I can say this with some authority, I flipped to the last page tonight, and there it was - I guess it is good that I re-reading the classics - and Hemingway does a hell of a job throwing the heavy shit out there when you least expect it - they are travel books with a little bit of lesson in them, and the lessons are profound, and then more exploration of Spain or Italy. I switched gears and started East of Eden after A Farewell to Arms and The Sun Also Rises - that book was a little more uplifting - a lifetime of running away and then an ending of being together - somewhat practically romantic, and genuine - I just finished the first part of East of Eden - I can sympathize with Adam's naive love and Charles's jealousy - but in the end Charles ends up with the emotional side - so who is luckier Adam or Charles - what one does not know, one does not know, but Adam can remain happily and blissfully ignorant (maybe that changes later in the book), but for now Charles is getting the reward that Cathy has to offer - they understand each other, and well Adam the wanderer, the sucker, the brain full of wanderlust and dreams, he makes the commitment - but it appears (at least now) that he has been duped...Another great thing to think about for the traveller - what happens when you wander - I guess it is better to be blissfully ignorant than to be educated and devisive (sp) -
Well, there is a stranded British traveller next to me - unfortunately he has two 75 year old companions and two children (poor guy) I am going to see if there are any hotel rooms....
Until the next wonderful night in Hartsfield...
G
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