Soul Walker Revisited

A tiring journey for ones soul

      Well I was going to write about Egypt, but since nobody else seems to be doing that, I then thought about writing about the return of Jean-Bertrand Aristide to Haiti,  and how the powers that be could be trying to set up a cage match between the current government, J-B A, Baby Duck, and some genetically mutated strain of cholera.

   Now that I've come to my senses, I've decided to revisit a short story written by Brian Fawcett, in his book  'Public Eye' entitled 'Soul Walker'.

   The basic premise is based on a story Fawcett recounts in the first person. It's of a conversation he had with a man he encountered at LaGuardia Airport in New York, probably in the late 1980's (assuming it's a true story, which the preface in the book suggests it could be).

   I'll get to the main point without spoiling the story for those who haven't read it yet. The man he encounters proceeds reveal to him, in great detail, the nature of and the travel abilities of the human soul. He says that the human soul does not fly, and as a result, airports are very disruptive places for human souls.

   Intrigued, I've often thought about the validity of his contention. I'm thinking more and more about it as I write this piece from India, a country I arrived in nine days ago.

   As fascinating, unique, and sensory stimulating a place India is, I can honestly say it has taken me a good nine days to feel like myself (and not because of the food/water ingested bacteria that makes Goa, quite possibly, The 'Wet Fart' capital of the world).

   Well now that my 'soul' has arrived, I think back on other trips I have taken in recent years, and the premise actually begins to make a whole lot of sense.

   Last year I visited England for three weeks, and it took me a good week to feel comfortable, much as it did the first time I visited in 1988.

   Seven years ago I visited Australia and I remember it taking me a good two and a half to three weeks before I felt 'at home', so to speak.

   In the year 2000, I visited Thailand and experienced a good two week adjustment.

   So where am I going with this? some could argue that I was suffering from fatigue due to 'Jet Lag' or from 'Culture Shock', and I don't deny these things play a factor, but I had a pretty shitty sleep last night, both literally and metaphorically, and by all rights I should be one cranky dude today, but the opposite is the case, I actually feel like myself for the first time since I left home on January 27th.

   Now when you take in to account that India is some 9000 miles from home, and I've been travelling now for some 360 hours, including a six day stopover in England; that would mean that my soul 'Walks' at a rate of about 25miles an hour, this rate makes sense given the distances between England and Montreal, which is over three thousand miles,and if it takes me six days to adjust, then that's a 138 hour adjustment period.

   Anyway, I'll get out my calculator later, and in the meantime 'You do the math', but for now I think it's safe to assume that my soul is moving at a clip anywhere between 20 to 25 miles per hour, not bad eh? That means that when I left Heathrow for India  the night of Feb2, my 'soul' was probably just arriving only for me to kiss it on the lips, pat it on the head, and wave it "Bon Voyagee!" as Bugs Bunny used to say.    

                                                                                              Dirty CT February 2011