9am eternal
(I can hear you calling)

On the sentimental wave
an all-conquering emotion
ruling this enclave
like a former devotion

Calling a name
as familiar as it was true
reigniting the flickering flame
the meaning still offers no clue

Lingering amidst the sunset
fading by sunrise
-the part so desolute-
yet without compromise.

March 31st, 8:56am

No snowflake ever falls in the wrong place. ~Zen

I read these today, and really wonder if they can be true. The magazine assures us that it is indeed factual, according to various reliable sources it has to be said, but can this be right...

Ten years ago, only 500 people in China could ski. This year, an estimated 5,000,000 Chinese will visit ski resorts.

?? I'm quite sure that the number of Chinese skiers will have greatly increased, but only 500 ten years ago?? Did Eddie the Eagle visit the Great Wall about that time??

As for banking, nothing has changed really,

The original name of Bank of America was Bank of Italy.

Which brings me to this one, which I do not wish to spend much time pondering, because even with today's billions, it seems only a dozen people hold the world's currency...

If the entire population of earth was reduced to exactly 100 people,50% of the world's currency would be held by 6 people.

The year is 2006, but not much has changed, only the stomach is closer to the land than it was in the 1800's...

In the 1800's, people believed that gin could cure stomach problems.

I did hear that McDonald's were beginning to close 'restaurant's' in the UK, as they seem to have gone beyond the levelling-off stage, but as David Bowie once said, this is not America...

McDonalds calls frequent buyers of their food heavy users.
Americans ate eight million more orders of french fries and almost six million more hamburgers this year compared to last. [for the year 2005]

Let us be grateful to people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.

Marcel Proust