Scheduled – a rest day.
Actual – resting in planes and airports then dining in Windsor.
Modern jet travel doesn’t allow much for adjusting to cultural changes and time zones with the abundant availability of inexpensive air travel but with the “global village” fully manifested, cultures are becoming far more blended and sadly in many ways, more homogenous. The internet and other forms of communication have drawn us all closer which in many ways is a positive development, especially for advocates of egalitarianism, yet in many ways we are losing that uniqueness of distinct and varied peoples and cultures. All this was running through my mind as we made our way from the coast of southern Turkey, up to Istanbul and then on to London, England.
It struck me just how much more “western” Turkey was than it was the first time I visited over 26 years ago. Tied into my current running obsession, it also struck me that as an example of rapid change is when I first ran along the sea front in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2002, I never saw another “runner”; certainly lots of walkers, fishermen, and football (soccer) players but not runners. By the time of my last trip there in 2006, on an early morning run I saw several runners out along the sea wall. Perhaps the real lesson here is that as a society becomes more affluent, you have to take up formal exercise as you’re no longer doing hard, physical work – yeah, I think we become lazy, victims of disposable income. Just a theory....
Anyways, on this particular Wednesday we were winging back west and a day that started with Scottish porridge in a Turkish resort ended up with Italian pasta in the Royal English town of Windsor. As it was a rest day and the weather unusually gorgeous for England in April, a pint of old English ale suited purposes rather well. Certainly a nicer drop than Turkish coffee and no need to brush coffee grounds out of your teeth after!
And for those interested in trivia – the Royal Oak is the most popular pub name in the UK so not strange that we found one in Windsor. Maybe a quest to visit all of them would be a unique marathon? At least “hydrating” wouldn’t be an issue...or would it?!
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