Part III- June 19, 2002

Subject:
Winnipeg- windchill and prairie hypnosis

 

Hi Everyone.

I'm in Winnipeg now, where I've been staying with my brother Dan for a few days. It's been really good.
The rides from Regina went well, but the Prairie has the somewhat unnerving attribute of making progress difficult to gague. It is frustrating to travel through it because you feel like you're in some kind of Twilight Zone episode where you don't really advance at all, because the landscape outside remains identical. This would be the sort of place you'd expect people to lift all speed limits, but no, you have to go to crowded ol' Germany for that.

These days I've been working on compiling a radio program based on some interviews I made with people while I was working with UGM in Vancouver's inner city. It's a lot of work, but I think the result will be satisfying. This project has much in common with recording an album.
Winnipeg is celebrating its jazz festival this week. There's good music all over the place. Two nights I went to the Market Square to hear the bands play. Last night there was quite the assortment of bohemian types hanging around in the street, with their Jamaican hats and sandals and hacky sacks and tye-dye skirts. Winnipeg has a lot of character. It's not all gang wars and wind chill factors here, you know.

I guess that was pretty short. Here's a few more tips for travelling light, in case anyone needs them to survive:

-shaving cream is a luxury. Leave it at home.
-if you lost it, forgot it, intentionally left it behind, or can't find it, then you don't need it. C'mon, life goes on.
-if it weren't for body odor, we could all travel with much much less baggage. If none of us showered or changed our clothes, we wouldn't be bothered by body odor. The only sensible solution is for all of us to throw personal hygiene out the window and enjoy the benefits of unfettered existence. Next time someone's body odor offends you, just think: if you had stopped bathing a few months ago, you wouldn't even notice it.
-a small sewing kit brings a lot of benefits at almost no extra weight.
-a book is a good friend, but next time try to make it something other than The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. (I'm not kidding. Many of you know that I did in fact hitch hike up the West Coast with that thing in my bag.)
-people are scared of hitch hikers. The only way to change that is to show them that you're the kind of hitch hiker that carries The Complete Works of William Shakespeare around with you. There is no other way. Unless you can prove to them that you also carry a sewing kit.

Marco

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