“Travels to a Different Time” : 2August1973: All Over Bulgaria and Yugoslavia: 30 Years in Bulgarian Prison For Smuggling Turkish Hashish

I hopefully have a few decades of travelling ahead of me but my 30 years sentence for smuggling Turkish hashish out of Bulgaria could make that wish a bit of problematic. I was up at 6 a.m.in Sofia taking the tram as close to the highway as I could go. Right tram wrong direction. WhatContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 2August1973: All Over Bulgaria and Yugoslavia: 30 Years in Bulgarian Prison For Smuggling Turkish Hashish”

“Travels to a Different Time” : 31July1973: Slanchev Byrag and Sofia, Bulgaria: Naked Long Hair in Bulgarian Bathhouse: Woken up by Bean Shaved Bulgarian Drill Sargant: Is Greasy Goulash in My Future?  : My Brilliant Career as a Black Marketeer

Time to split from the pathetic Black Sea back to Sofia so up at 6 a.m. and started with a lift from a Bulgarian guy in a blue car who also picked up two girl hitchhikers. He dropped us off at Tarnovo and bought us a pastry. I let the girls go ahead so itContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 31July1973: Slanchev Byrag and Sofia, Bulgaria: Naked Long Hair in Bulgarian Bathhouse: Woken up by Bean Shaved Bulgarian Drill Sargant: Is Greasy Goulash in My Future?  : My Brilliant Career as a Black Marketeer”

“Travels to a Different Time” : 27/28 July 1973: Sofia, Plodiv, Slanchev Bryag Bulgaria: Bulgarians in Track Suits: Bulgarian Black Sea Coast a Dud!

Up early and after a meagre breakfast and took a tram as far as I could towards the main highway but I still had a 3 km walk to make it there. Why is everyone staring at me? Have I forgot to zip up my fly? Perhaps I should join the local circus as aContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 27/28 July 1973: Sofia, Plodiv, Slanchev Bryag Bulgaria: Bulgarians in Track Suits: Bulgarian Black Sea Coast a Dud!”

RKS Poetry: “Rasputin Putin”

“Rasputin Putin” As you recall Rasputin the mysticattached himself like a parasite to Mother Russiaattempted to seize Tsardomisolated and lost in mystic hazegraze on the oligarchs thievery masked in the international banking hazedevoid of reality after locking his wife in a monasteryto dilly dally with a ballerina who ended up infloating heads in a marinaPoorContinue reading “RKS Poetry: “Rasputin Putin””

RKS Film: “Audible”: Time for Some Personal Reckoning?

When you watch “Audible” which is nominated for best Documentary Short in the upcoming Academy Awards you may take a sympathetic view of a deaf football team along the lines of feeling sorry for them and hoping they win the upcoming homecoming game after losing to another deaf school football team from Texas after aContinue reading “RKS Film: “Audible”: Time for Some Personal Reckoning?”

“Travels to a Different Time” : 26July1973: Sofia, Bulgaria: Dodging the Haircut Police and the Unknown Green Soft Drink

Today was my first full day in Sofia so I took the tram into the city centre and had breakfast of a slab of bread and some strange green soft drink without a label. The green Blob Juice seems to be the only soft drink in Bulgaria. The architecture in the city centre was beautifulContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 26July1973: Sofia, Bulgaria: Dodging the Haircut Police and the Unknown Green Soft Drink”

RKS Wine: Tapiz Alta Collection 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon

If you are on auto pilot and hear “Mendoza” your mind will go bing bing and it will text you “Argentinian Malbec”. But there are some good Cabernet Sauvignons and Cabernet Francs there as well. The generous James Suckling gave this one a 95 and if history serves me correctly this usually means I’ll giveContinue reading “RKS Wine: Tapiz Alta Collection 2018 Cabernet Sauvignon”

“Travels to a Different Time” : 25July73: Two Plane Crashes Augments Anxiety: Taking My Chances with Balkan Airways: I am a Martian Who has Landed in Bulgaria

Today is a big travelling day with Bulgarian airline Balkan Airways flying from Athens to Sofia in Bulgaria. Two very recent crashes are in the news. One a Pan Am crash and the other an Ozark Airlines crash in St. Louis. Woke up at 8 a.m. and could have slept in but that would haveContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 25July73: Two Plane Crashes Augments Anxiety: Taking My Chances with Balkan Airways: I am a Martian Who has Landed in Bulgaria”

“Travels to a Different Time” : 24July1973: Glyfada, Greece: Getting Ready to Penetrate the Iron Curtain; I am a Victim of Hippie Discrimination

Mom’s last day. I woke at 7:30 and phoned Balkan Airways to find out that the next flight to Sofia Bulgaria was leaving Athens in 5 minutes so I’d have to wait until tomorrow.  I then rang Overseas National Airways about getting Mom back to North America. We went downstairs and tore savagely into ourContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” : 24July1973: Glyfada, Greece: Getting Ready to Penetrate the Iron Curtain; I am a Victim of Hippie Discrimination”

“Travels to a Different Time” ; 23July1973: Paros and Glyfada, Greece: A Cauldron of Emotions and the Dutchie Gets Pissed! Will Curiosity Kill the Cat?

Well our last full day in Greece for 1973. A great morning swim and most likely my last in such beautiful waters as I head behind the Iron Curtain. After our morning swim a hot shower then breakfast of oranges, rusks and honey. We left for the docks at 11:30 and Michael the Dutchie wasContinue reading ““Travels to a Different Time” ; 23July1973: Paros and Glyfada, Greece: A Cauldron of Emotions and the Dutchie Gets Pissed! Will Curiosity Kill the Cat?”