Perihelion

A new brand of toilet paper has made itself at home in our bathroom. It's called "Quilted Northern," as if it were especially designed for camping trips during the freezing rains and howling gales of late November in New England; just another item to add to the list of seasonal chores to be completed before winter arrives:
1. Retrieve woolens and heavy coats from storage.
2. Insulate the windows with thermo-seal.
3. Chop firewood.
4. Buy a family pack of Quilted Northern.
And, alas, winter is nearly upon us. Persephone's bags are packed and she is preparing to make her way to Hades for half the year. Which is why, having missed most of the summer with my heart surgery, I'm going to recreate June by seeking the sun wherever it still shines.
So next week, rather than traipse around to the cardiologist's office or the rehabilitation center as usual, I thought I'd make an excursion to the Greek islands instead. After all, what can be better for your heart than tramping up and down zillions of steps as you attempt to find your hotel in a maze of whitewashed buildings clinging to the cliff side, especially after a grueling, stressful flight from Boston via London and Athens. Still, there will be a healthy Aegean meal of fish heads in sour yogurt and squid ink waiting for me, along with a glass of that Santorini wine they ferment from strange grapes that grow on circular vines in the volcanic ground.
Interestingly, toilet paper looms large in the legend of Greek vacations, although I'm sure they don't sell black market Quilted Northern at the local Agora. Toilet paper, it seems, cannot be flushed down the toilet, and must be placed in appropriate receptacles instead. Beware of Greeks bearing plumbing supplies, apparently! How odd that Athenian engineers could master the Doric column but not the plastic u-bend pipe.
Nevertheless, I refuse to allow such hygienic inconveniences to ruin my delayed summertime. I shall be soaking up the rays and sampling the moussaka regardless. And, obviously, I will not be too concerned with updating this blog for the duration of my vacation, either. So do not worry if nothing more appears here until October the tenth or so. I am not dead, but merely wondering what happens if you drink ouzo and then swallow a dose of Crestor on an empty stomach.

Comments

[Laurent]

I suppose that the current economic state of Greece doesn't look promising when it comes to a quick solution of their ongoing plumbing crisis. (my weblog is STILL offline!)

[Tatyana]

Jettsetting to Santorini? Glad to hear inflated cost of cardio surgery did not empty your pockets.

Enjoy your goat cheese and honey, and return filled with vitamin D and new stories to tell.

[Giric]

I for one am happy to see you go off and enjoy yourself. There is nothing so healing as a good change of scenery to get the mind off ones woes.
Do they have scorpions, one wonders?! I never liked the whole shaking out the clothes and shoes routine. I much prefer a sunny beach in Hawaii where the English is well spoken and the toilets are American Standard.
As for toilet paper, I much prefer Angel Soft, tho any of the stuff can vary from package to package. We once got a pack that could have been used for light weight sanding of wood finishes and another that had slivers of wood still in it. It was a bit too close to nature for me. Of course some brands are so bad they simply disintegrate on contact leaving the user with a sense of defilement hard to discuss.
Aloha Fez!!! Tell me what is the proper Greek greeting?! I dare you to say Aloha to a Greek.

[Giric]

Dear Fez while you bask in the sun of the Greek Isle's you can think of me, elbow deep in applesauce or if I'm luckier wending my way down a green woodland path picking mushrooms and whistling a merry tune. The last mushroom hunt was a complete bust as we haven't had our usual late summer rains. The road to the mushrooms is an old rocky one with part of it tightly winding along a steep ravine. I promised myself last year I would make, "Himself," stop before we got to that portion of the road but alas we did not, so again I got to experience that white knuckle grip on the dashboard and door handle. Please avoid all such roads in Greece as I hear there are plenty there just like it.
Bon Voyage Mon Ami

[Giric]

I'm just delighted!!! "Himself," just called from his elk camp in the mountains and is on his way home with a gallon of Shaggy Mane mushrooms he picked. This my friends is one of the most delicious mushrooms to be found out here and I am having visions of delicately fried mushrooms in cream sauce.

[Giric]

Thought for the day: "Beware of Geeks bearing Grifts."

[Laurent]

I have started my weblog on a new platform: http://betweencontinents.wordpress.com/

[plumbers in Bristol]

It's really a bummer when bad toilets get in the way of your vacation.

[Adidas Sale]

triumph though it might be, is a direct punch in the flak-jacketed stomachs of all those fans who overpaid for their tickets, spent grocery money and silver face paint, and have had their throats caulked and re-caulked so that they can make their twelve-letter salutes to motherhood heard across a noisy stadium. Like, well, Skullman. Or the Terminator. Or Dougie the Cannibal, or any of the other "Rocky Horror

[glendora plumbing]

I know how you all feel iv been jobless for about 6 monthes, my goal in life is to become a plumber but it seems near to impossible because the plumbing companies are just not hiring.