Morning chaps. I’d like to welcome you back
To the third form of your years, I trust you’ll thrive in here
Others in the past have come alive in here. Happy to say they found their way
You recall I asked, back when I saw you last, that you’d consult my list of books for summer reading. We’ll go over those and others you’ll be needing for the coming year, if I'm still here. I suppose you heard the word that’s going about, my superiors doubt I'm fit to teach you. Have a nip before the game and they’ll impeach you. Forget about the fact that I reach you. I reach you
Well, enough of that. Lets get on with it. I’ve arranged to show some slides that might amuse you. And if, of course, you’re bored, then I’ll excuse you. Though what you’re about to see, in times of sickness, is my cure, living well is my best revenge, you can be sure
This is the Grand Canyon, in the great State of Arizona. See there, the magnificent blend of all the colours of the rainbow. It is virtually unphotographable at any given point it is so vast. The Colorado River trickles through its base like a deeply buried brook. Geologists say that with time and erosion the Pacific Ocean, some 300 miles West, will one day reach the Canyon and flow through there
I camped here, see? Right there. Oh, what peace I found. The only sounds I heard were the sounds I made. No-no, it is true
And here beyond, on a remote roadside stand, an Indian boy planted himself arms folded beneath a sign that said “seashells should lead the world”
This is a hobo, a dying bread. A pity. He claimed that an inheritance fortune awaited him in a bank back East but he couldn’t care less
There’s more of them. The one with the umbrella claimed to be the real Mr. Bojangles
Sunset
Another sunset. I know it looks undistinguishable from the last but I remember the difference
Vancouver, British Columbia. I spent some time there at a ski lodge. Something so healthy and wholesome about skiers
Like this one. She always seemed to appear when I took a slip on the slops where I had no business being. But I’d look up and there she’d be. And soon it happen that whenever she’d turned and look up, there I’d be
The chalet. Inside there, by a warm fire, is where my mind has want to wander now. To the scent of pine and the taste of wine. You’re too young for wine now but make a note of it
There she is again. We rented those horses for a day. See mine? His name was... Oh what was it now? I forget. Oh yes, it was sugar
And there’s my friend again. She looks rather sad there. It seems that everyday, well, she always had some special plan for us
And this, this is a beautiful Indian girl. Look at her! She and her secret mysterious ways. The pride of her people. Our sunshine, they said of her
This was the road South into Oregon
This is how logs are transported, long rafts that trail the northwest rivers
Big Sur, California
An old Spanish Mission
Carmel, California. Those trees seemed frozen against the landscape. They remind me of a book I once heard of called The Cypresses Believe in God
This was near the end of my adventure. The clock in my head told me it was time to leave. So that I was more concerned with seeing what I could first hand rather then rush for the camera. I find that travelling alone is somehow more realistic then with others. You find yourself in a new place all alone and you deal with it as oppose to when you’re with others who are familiar to you and in a sense shelter you from situations you would otherwise meet head on. You know what I mean? Besides, if your loved ones are with you, you have no one to go home to
So on Monday, Lord, I’ll go before the Board and hear what adjective they give this life I live. It makes me laugh that they should write my epitaph. But somehow I’ll get by, I’ve got my slides, I will endure, living well is my best revenge, you can be sure. Yes, in times of doubt, in times of sickness, they’re my cure. Living well is my best revenge, you can be sure
