“Travels to a Different Time” :9August1972: Thoughts on Dublin: Bloody Remains of Blown Up Terrorist, Rubber Bullets and Screaming Mob: Welcome to Northern Ireland

In a way I am regretting my coin toss in Paris that sent me northward. What has it revealed? Awful accommodations, hair lice, great breakfasts, great beer, fish and chips in newspaper and more or less friendly people. But the air and the smells are different than southern Europe. Dublin is a cold city in its soul. As soon as I stepped into the city I was accosted by a drunk cursing me with the foulest language because I didn’t give him money for drink. The Irish seem miserable and I wonder because of all this rain!

Well on my way to Belfast I picked up a memory I will never ever forget. I am in a car approaching the border with Northern Ireland in a town called Newry. We hear a big explosion and a flash ahead. My God it’s a blown-up body, at least what was left of it. I felt like puking. Then a mass of screaming people running away from the explosion with British soldiers firing rubber bullets into the crowd and few dropping to the ground. Welcome to Northern Ireland. A far throw away from sunny beaches and hot weather. And I may have written about the failure of communism in Yugoslavia and East Germany is this Northern Ireland anything but a political failure. I have been a gift of a horrible memory by Her Majesty’s Royal Forces and some Northern Ireland terrorist organization. This memory will never die. You won’t see it as part of any tourist ads.

My driver friend said what are you going to answer if someone asks you what religion you are. I responded by thinking of something neutral and that was I was Jewish. Bad idea he said. Both sides will kill you if you say that. He advised me to say that I was Canadian and stick to that. What a shit pit Northern Ireland is. He also said if you stick to “your side of the battle zone” you should be safe but there is always the possibility of being in the wrong place at the wrong time particularly for bomb explosions. Speaking of the explosion I heard on the news that the bomb blast was caused by a terrorist with a bomb hidden under his coat. It detonated prematurely. After Newry I walked for miles and past a British base. Nearly collapsing from exhaustion I get a lift into Belfast. There are bombed out buildings and heavily armed British soldiers. I asked one of them where I could find a reasonably priced hotel but he told me they have all been blown up except for a few. So I check into the Royal Belfast Hotel and get taken up to a room by a bellhop who apologized and said he had to check my knapsack for bombs. Belfast indeed looks like a war zone combined with a touch of Industrial Revolution. I stayed close to a hotel which I am told is in neutral territory. I went to a simple steakhouse and had a huge meal for $1.75. I came home and had the luxury of a hot bath. Exhausted I crawl into bed and fall to sleep with memories of a blown-up body on the roadside and screams. There is a demonstration outside my hotel room. How can you ever forget a day like this? I suppose as a tourist all is not fun and games. What is more important years from now. Seeing dismal political failures or spearfishing on an Adriatic beach? I am beginning to think if there is some greater power planning my trip but for what reason I am not sure. As that hippie on a boat in Greece said it is important to live life in the moment. The bombing scene I lived in the moment. Should I forget it or live with it because it may hold some meaning I am not aware of?

Dylan’s Passage of The Day:  Shut Up the Voices in Your Head and Try Just To Breathe and Concentrate on Your Breath: Sounds Easy But it May Take Months To Be Able To Do It!

“To use your breathing to nurture mindfulness, just tune into the feeling of it….the feeling of the breath coming into your body and the feeling of the breath leaving your body. That’s all. Just feeling the breath. Breathing and knowing that you you’re breathing. That does not mean deep breathing or forcing your breathing or trying to feel something special or whether you’re doing it right. It doesn’t mean thinking about you breathing either. It’s just a bare bones awareness of your breath moving in and out.”

Jon Kabat-Zinn “Wherever You Go There You Are” hachette Books

“Travels to a Different Time” : 7August1972: Newhaven to London: London to Holyhead

Steve and Mike had hardboiled eggs which we ate for breakfast as well as a pint (of milk). We spent the morning walking the cliffs of Newhaven and looking at the pillboxes facing the ocean. I hitched to London which took me three hours. My last lift was with a lawyer named Jim who apologized he could not entertain me as he was busy. He did say if you get into trouble give him a call at the number on his card. Do I look like a person who gets into trouble? I did find a room for £1.25 that included breakfast but strangely I am sharing a room with a stranger. And there is an awful funky smell. Paris was enough of a big city for me plus everyone here speaks English. Hardly exciting. I have to get out of here tomorrow.

8August1972: London and Holyhead: Wasted Day and Fish and Chips in Newspaper and a Pint

Had an English breakfast of sausages, eggs and toast. My type of breakfast. Then over to Euston Station for a train to Holyhead and then a boat to Dublin. What a waste of time with a 7 hour wait for a train! The scenery through Wales was spectacular and after a long search found a nice room with none of that London funky stink. The room was £1.75. I had a great walk on the waterfront and had fish and chips that was wrapped in a newspaper. Strange custom they have here. Stopped in for a pint at a pub at £.13. Came home and washed some socks. Tomorrow Dublin. So tired.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 6August1972: Paris, Dieppe and Newhaven: Right into a Pub after Arriving in England: Driving Too Fast With a Man With a Toothache

Up early knowing a long day of travel. Do I head south through France to Spain or head north to England and Scotland home of my ancestors? I did a coin toss and fate has determined north I go. I took the Paris Metro as far north as I could and that left 180 kilometres to go. I had a 4 kilometre walk to get to the highway and sticking out my thumb goodness knows where this adventure will take me. My first ride was with a guy in a green car and he left me off in a small farming village. There was a bakery and small grocery store so lunch was half a loaf of bread, sardines, vanilla cake and water. The next lift was with a guy who drove like a maniac as he had a bad toothache and was in a rush to get to his dentist. Next lift was with a father and son and the last one was a young guy on his way to Dieppe and he was nice enough to take me to the waterfront. I bought a ticket on the ferry to Newhaven across the English Channel but had some time to walk along the beach quite amazed by the old crumbling German pillboxes. I reached Newhaven at 10 p.m. and Customs did not even look at my passport. I met a couple of young blokes Mike and Steve and my goodness at an English pub for a couple of pints of really good British beer. This pub was the cozy sort of one you see in movies with men in white wool sweaters puffing on pipes. Strange being in Europe and hearing English spoken. Well Steve and Mike said I could stay in their tent for the night so we wended our way home and crashed out.

“Travels to A Different Time” : 5August1972: Last Day in Paris and the Bugs in My Bed? Rats Nibbling at My Toes

It is my last full day in Paris and I am heading North to England tomorrow. I must have walked 10 miles today and managed to see the Mona Lisa at the Louvre with only two people looking at it with me. Then to the Eiffel Tower swarming with tourists the bane of my existence. I am a tourist but no Bermuda shorts and some “See Paris” tourist guide for me. For lunch bread, a tin of mackerel and some orange cake. But I forgot to get the key for the mackerel tin so I had to bash it open. Went to the cafeteria I was at yesterday and had a dinner of macaroni, rice, a banana and milk for $1.25. My head is itchy and after scratching it a few lice dropped out! Had a very hot shower and combed my hair and got those filthy buggers out. I have lived lean and cheap in Greece and Yugoslavia but Paris is different. Will I have rats nibbling on my toes tonight?

RKS Wine: Ranch 32 Cabernet Sauvignon: Dump and Run

I am unsure how this wine ever reached the shelves of the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.

Aroma: Smells like wine. What grapes? Hard to tell.
Taste: Tastes like wine and poor quality at that. Not any shred of fruit.
Conclusion: Do not purchase. If purchased return for refund or dump and run.

(Ranch 32 2019 Cabernet Sauvignon, Monterey, Ranch 32, Greenfield, California, $19.95, Liquor Control Board of Ontario # 480269, 750 mL, 13.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 50/100).

RKS Film: “Flee the Light”: Witchcraft and Possession Horror Genre

I suppose if you are an aficionado of horror films and have seen them all you might be sophisticated enough you can create a whole list of horror subgenres.

With “Flee the Light” you will be introduced to the Witchcraft and Possession subgenre. Horror has become a more sophisticated game than the 1958 film “The Blob” was!  Of course, “The Exorcist” in 1973 may be the grandaddy of this subgenre. At university in Montreal I did a sociology project on reaction to the newly released “The Exorcist”. I attended at the lobby of the theatre where it was playing. There were people crying and running out of theatre. There were multiple fainting’s. It was close to mass hysteria. How can you approach such power in a film? A combination of great filmmaking a public relations slant that focussed on the hysteria.

Are you going to start running from the screen with “Flee the Light”? I do not think so. Your shiver meter will be running smoothly. Perhaps too smoothly as it should be smoking hot! The film is not a clunker so let’s set the record straight on that.

As a Torontonian I felt a connection seeing some of the scenes shot here and I know where! So I was pulling big time for the movie! Sentiment must take a step back from artistic quality. There is nothing wrong with the acting. How do you expect terrorized people to act? As a Canadian there is a directness and honesty about Canadian filmmaking and quite often creates the impression of a play rather than a film. The writing seems a bit patchy. The soundtrack is spot on and Canadian rockers “Tea Party” overdeliver with their song “Sister Awake”. What a perfect song for the Satan party! You can see the video for “Sister Awake” here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiPJ2zAgITg

I mean the film at this point looks like its rocketing to multiple standing ovations but like a North Korean ICBM it strays off target.

Delfi (Ariana Marquis) and Andra (Annie Tuma) are two sisters living in Toronto. Poor Delfi has been having flashbacks of a Wiccan ceremony in the woods. Therapy doesn’t work as in a spinetingling scene the psychiatrist is frightened with what he sees so Delfi is referred to a spiritualist. Delfi continues the decline and strangely goes to her computer and somewhat magically recreates the location of the Wiccan ceremony in the woods outside North Bay. So the girls go on quest of the location renting a cabin. They find the location of the Wiccan ceremony Delfi is having visions about. North Bay may be known for its beauty but there is Wiccan community there and probably 23 Tim Horton locations!

Matters deteriorate but in a direction that may catch viewers by surprise. You might not have expected whose soul is captured and who is on the hunted list! Kudos to the film for delivering an unexpected ending.

Canadian songstress Jane Siberry plays Kata with an awkward edge but I am not sure how a Canadian Wiccan cult leader is supposed to act. I think the “awkward edge” makes her performance work.

The dog’s appearance throughout the film becomes a bit annoying at times.

You can catch the trailer here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08s-1hJz4DI

“Flee the Light” will be available on VOD platforms including iTunes/Aple TV, Amazon, Google Play,Vudu, Vimeo and on some cable and satellite providers on February 19, 2022.

Written and produced by Jennifer Mancini. Directed by Alexandra Senza.

RKS Film Rating 76/100.

“Travels to a Different Time” : 3August1972: Paris at $4.65 a Day

Up early leaving my hovel and heading to the Sorbonne area. I found another hovel for $3.65 a night including breakfast. I walked most the morning seeing the Palais de Justice. What a city of incredible architecture, parks and monuments. Suffering from hunger pains I went to a market and bought bread, jam, cookies and that was my lunch. At seven I went out to a self serve cafeteria for chicken and fries with a half litre of milk. I walked around for an hour after dinner and sat down in a park with a bottle of beer then came home to bed. Expenses for the day $4.65.

4August1972: A Meal Fit for A Prince (a poor one)

One can see so much of Paris simply by walking around and that I did today for hours. There is so much beauty to behold. More rain. Lunch was some water and grapes. After lunch it was to the Samartine department store and bought a canteen and a can opener. My second lunch was a cold can of ravioli with bread and strawberry jam. A strange lunch. Dinner was at the self serve cafeteria I ate dinner at yesterday. Dinner was beef, mashed potatoes, milk and a carrot salad. I strolled around after dinner and sat on a bench with a small bottle of wine and listened to the street singers. I returned home to my hovel not pleased that the chambermaids failed to clean my room.

Photo: Fotini Stephen

“Travels to a Different Time” : 2August72: Malaga/Paris: All Alone in Paris! Are Those Lice, Crabs or Fleas on My Sheets?

We flew on Overseas National Airways from Malaga to Paris. Mom is staying on board heading back to New York. It will be her birthday flight. And Robert at 16 years of age in Paris all alone! I have been well trained in frugal living in Europe so will have to put my skills to work. I took the crew bus into Paris and it dropped the crew at a nice hotel I certainly can’t afford. They were nice enough to give me a few snacks from the airplane. In the pelting rain off to find a room. The youth hostel was full. I ran into a 25-year-old American grosser chick called Karen who was looking for a room. It took us 4 hours to find some rooms at $6.00 each. Too rich for my budget so I will move tomorrow. We went out for dinner. I sleep with my money belt under my pillow and when taking a shower I take it in a plastic bag. Sleep was not great as I arrived at my room and the towels were dirty and the bed unmade and there were some sort of bugs on the sheets. My mom told me crabs were a big problem with the flyers my dad served with and they make your life miserable. In my best Parisian French I asked the front desk to give me clean linen and report the sheet infestation.

Photo: Fotini Stephen

Mindfulness Meditation Crimes?

If you read about mindfulness there is a constant theme that regular meditation is a panacea for an improved life. A sit-down meditation is envisaged and recommended but there are other forms of meditation such as mindful walking, mindful eating and for me last year it was working out a regime for mindful golf.

So if you somehow don’t have the time for a sit down meditation will the world fall down? I don’t have the answer but for several months last year while working at a golf course at crazy hours and playing a huge amount of golf at equally crazy hours that sit down meditation became difficult. However, working at a golf course and zipping around in a golf cart there were moments for a quick three-minute meditation supplemented by devising a plan for mindful golf. I talked with some of the regulars about how mindfulness might improve their game and I was surprised to learn that 20% of golfers were practicing mindfulness. Then it was bad ankle problems taking me off course of regular sit down meditation.

My world did not fall down but easing back into a set time to do sit down meditation brought a sense of “It’s Good To Be Back In This Space”. I am not sure how to describe that but a 15-minute mediation combined with some chair yoga had the effect of calming me down. Back to the formal meditation process was a “vacation for the mind”. It was akin to coming home from a long vacation. You don’t often understand what you missed until you return to what you missed.

Don’t fall under the wheels of mindfulness experts that seem to say daily mediation is required like antibiotics to fight an infection. Meditate in a fashion and at a time you feel comfortable with. Not to be dramatic but trust your soul to be your guide.