stream of consciousness

I’m sitting at the airport in Frankfurt. It’s 8:30 on a Friday night and I’m looking at getting home around 11pm. This is exactly how I want to spend my night. So, I figured while I had time to kill I would write. As I write this I’m taking a break from reading, “A Dark Oval Stone.” I’ll probably have it finished by the time I get home tonight. It’s really good. The only problem is it deals a lot with grief, and because I’m a crier I tend to cry over these books which is not good when you’re in a public place. I don't think anyone is staring at me yet...I’m also listening to the new Iron and Wine album, “The Shepherd’s Dog.” I recommend this as well.

I’m still amused at the “conversation” I had with my taxi driver on the way here. In broken English he was describing the German social welfare system and then saying how horrible the US system was. How could millions of people be living on the streets? How could they not afford health insurance? Then he asked me what I thought about it. Wow, that’s a complicated question to end a day of 4 hour meetings.

Getting through security was frustrating. I thought the Germans were supposed to be efficient but we were all going through one security line. On top of that, the conveyor belt with everyone’s bags was crawling and there seemed to be lots of security people standing around pointlessly. And if they did it right the first time why do I have to go through security again at the gate? Nothing like doing the same work twice…

Fortunately I've developed a defense mechanism in travel situations. I’m normally somewhat impatient when it comes to time and waiting (which you probably already knew). But when I travel I force myself to be utterly relaxed. If I let anything get to me it will all snow-ball. With so much traveling my stress level would skyrocket. So I choose to remain perfectly relaxed in my own little bubble.

There is one silver lining to a one day business trip to Germany. It's not the duty-free shopping because I am so over that. (Just because the Vera Wang is duty free it doesn't mean I can afford it.) But I can afford Haribo. My favorite Haribo are the “happy cherries” but they don’t sell them in the UK. So I was overjoyed- perhaps disturbingly so, to find them in a shop here and bought two bags. I had to hold myself back from buying more.