All Too Easy

Nine-thirty at night and a station wagon has just parked. Five young children hve bounded out from the confines of metal and vinyl and headed for the water. An odd time to be going for a swim. But then their parents, sitting on the sand bundled in coats and hugging their knees, may be as perplexed by us as we are with them. We too are parked by the water's edge, but whether the interior of our vehicle is vinyl or cloth they couldn't possibly tell for it is cloaked in a wardrobe of underwear, shirts, towels, socks, more socks, and bras. We have just done our laundry have at the only available machine, a pre-spin manual one, reminding me of how 'grandma' must have worked to keep the family clothes clean. We had been left with hand-wringing and holding each item, a piece at a time, in front of the blasting heater as we cruised E75. "Just get them so they don't drip". Once again we had waited too long, living in T shirts well beyond their expiration date.

We had finally stopped before the station wagon appeared and John had dodged mosquitos to hang our laundry on a tree to complete the drying. Then he ran to take them down - it had started to rain. Rain apparently is bad for drying clothes but just right for a late-night swim.

This was the extent of our excitement today, and, for that matter, for the last three or four. Finland, for us, has lacked adventure, due perhaps to the thicket of mosquitos and endless rain storms which have kept us confined to quarters.

Traveling through Scandinavia has been easy, almost too easy. It has all the comforts of home and more and falls short on satisfying our newly acquired taste for discovery. We've taken to daily readings from the "Picadore book of Worst Journeys" in order to pacify the thirst. After only two months, we are longing for something different, a new journey, something to test our travel survival skills. Of course at some point in time we will have to go home. Live in the same place every day, wake up to the same scenery, walk the same sidewalks.

"Please, don't make me think about it." -- I wonder if we will ever adjust.