The daily stroll

As if that wasn’t enough of British silliness, the sculptor selected to design a monument in the new St. Pancreas International Train Station, has created a work featuring a hapless commuter being pushed on the tracks in front a a train driven by the grim reaper. (I am not making this up.) The statue is going to be replaced because of protests from the train engineers: the grim reaper is not a union member. (I did make that up, but I think it's true.)

My reaction to these two, eh, artsy efforts make it clear that my engineering education did not cultivate the artistic, imaginative side of my being. Quite simply: “I don’t get it!”

Taxes, collages and sculptures aside, it has been a really beautiful autumn here in Zürich. Nazy, who has been taking a “daily stroll” through the city and surrounding forests for the last several months, convinced me to join her. We began…

“Nazy”!” I said looking ahead, eh, up. “This isn’t a stroll; this is a mountain-climbing expedition.”

“Those are stairs, Dan. Mountains do not have stairs.”

“Yeah, but there are a zillion stairs.” I shouted. (Nazy had sprinted ahead.)

“Enjoy the view,” Nazy shouted back.

“This reminds me of the Great Wall of China,” I thought as I trudged upward, ever upward.

“When it flattens out…” Nazy began.

“Oh, Thank God!” I thought.

“We can run.”

“You are already running.” I replied.