By Corey Sandler
It has been, in many ways, a long and somewhat distressing year. It has been said that optimism is a political act. I’ll hang my hat on that for a while.
Far be it for me to quibble with the words of Shakespeare, but I’ve never fully come to terms with the concept of infinity, especially as it comes to things like wheels and circles. In “King Lear,” Edmund declares that the “wheel is come full circle.”
I get the general idea: the wheel has made a full revolution and is back to where it started. But is that an ending, or a beginning?
It’s the same thing with the tick of the clock at midnight when we come not to tomorrow, but to a new today.
My mind is a very crowded place. A conglomeration of spinning wheels, you might say.
Wheels Along the Amazon
Two boys stop wheeling to consider a luxury cruise ship on the chocolate brown waters of the Amazon River at Paratins.
Happy to See You
Old Times Not Forgotten
Tivoli Gardens in the heart of Copenhagen opened in 1843, the third-oldest amusement park in the world. It’s part of the wondrous fabric of that city and a regular stop on our visits there.
Alla Siciliana
The narrow alleys of Siracusa on the Italian island of Sicily are barely wide enough to accommodate a scooter. At left a modern scooter imported from Japan; at right a classic Italian Vespa P200E from the late 1970s or early 1980s. Most Americans caught their first glimpse of a Vespa (Italian for “wasp”) when Audrey Hepburn took off with Gregory Peck’s scooter in the 1953 film, “Roman Holiday.”
Sleeping Policeman
In many places around the world, a common nickname for a speed bump in the road is a “sleeping policeman.” That’s the term in the U.S., much of the U.K., and many parts of the former British Empire including Jamaica.
A few more: “gendarme couché” (various French-speaking nations), “policía acostado” (Columbia), “Śpiący policjant” (Polish), and “gulintis policininkas” (Lithuanian).
Here in Salaverry, Peru is a completely different version of the term: a sleeping cat atop a cycle belonging to the tourist police. A young recruit keeps watch from near the curb.
Circles on the Thames
Among our highlights this year was a late night ferry ride down the Thames from the West End theatre district to our ship moored at Greenwich.
We passed abeam of the London Eye. I thought of “Spinning Wheel”, written by and performed by David Clayton-Thomas, front man for Blood, Sweat & Tears.
What goes up, must come down
Spinning wheel got to go round.
Drop all your troubles by the riverside
Ride a painted pony, let the spinning wheel fly
Dude, Where’s My Bike?
In some European countries bicycles rule the road.
On January 1, we shall turn the page to a new year.
Albert Einstein, a pretty deep thinker, gives me a bit of hope. He said, “Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”
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