Across the Pond - Blogithttps://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/I don't travel any more. But when I was a kid I did. Generalissimo Francisco Franco was still alive and Madrid was Madrid. Paris was Joni Mitchell's version. London was a real vacation from reality. hourly12000-01-01T12:00+00:00Screenplay Kernel: FBI Special Agent Sally Campos, Ret.https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/632276Tall, tanned, young and lovely Sally Campos ambled across the TCU campus on her way home from work at the University Library Archives and Special Collections Department. Is this what it feels like to be in shock? You doubt your own eyes and ears? POTUS # 43 has agreed to donate a large cache of...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/614763Splendid Swine By Dominique Steijkar Kilburn, London, United Kingdom I walked on the sidewalk, or in the center of the road if no traffic, amid a gulf of fog you couldn't see through. An hour to first light. My stomach was not just empty of nutrients, it was recently evacuated of toxins. So, as...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/421147Bloggers on 747, Up All Night, Suspended in Time My shoes were white and black now -- I looked like Kenny Rogers with a red beard, and was dressed like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever Blister. I had discovered double-knit and was wearing it for all I was worth. I remember the worksheet at...She Stripped Her Sweater Off in the Middle of a Busy Restaurant in Parishttps://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/383901We earned $0.75 per hour, ten hours per day, for ten days. Do the math, minus social security. It gave us a boost in the arm to be able to go to Paris and spend money. We traveled all over Paris, the way that students do, walking. Toward the end of our stay in Paris,we reunited with as many of...This Blogger Stripped in front of a Hundred Others!........................https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/383840The first night we went into St. Emillon was the feast of St. Michaelmas. They take their saints very seriously there, and the little town on the hill was completely lit in candle-in-brown paper bag. We have a name for this, luminary. It was astonishing. At first we thought the town was on fire,...Blogger Learns to Tilt Windmills in the Land of Jean Paul Sartrehttps://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/383627We drove through the night, singing "Starry Night" under the bright French Stars. This was 1973 and my two South African friends and I had decided to change our names. John became Arthur, a hat tip to the legendary king of Camelot; Grant became Mick, his favorite rock 'n' roller, and I chose the...I poured two fingers of scotch neat and set the glass by the bed.https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/382955My final parting with Esmeralda left me with a new determination. During that night, after the wine glass crashed to the floor in some mock wedding farce fiasco, I walked myself sleepy, all around Madrid. I got a little crazy in my thinking and eventually returned to my hotel. I poured two...https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/382398We landed in Madrid shortly after sunrise. There is a range of mountains alongside the airport which are beautiful with the new light. The dirt is reddish like it has a lot of clay in it, so it doesn't look as much like desert. But out there by the airport it is very close to being desert land...Bloggers on 747, Up All Night, Suspended in Timehttps://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/381998My shoes were white and black now -- I looked like Kenny Rogers with a red beard, and was dressed like John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever Blister. I had discovered double-knit and was wearing it for all I was worth. I remember the worksheet at college describing the type clothing that would...Going to Madrid............................................................https://www.blogit.com/Blogs/Blog.aspx/kingmi9400/381425I was walking across the main concourse at JFK International. I was looking down at my shoes. They were very expensive, white buck, with strap and buckle. The black marks on them reminded me of a clumsy kid who keeps scuffing his own shoes. That was me. So, I stopped at a shoe shine kiosk. Twenty...