And, having - not "tired" per se, but in need of something to alleviate Cherry-Garrard's "The Worst Journey in the World" - I mean, I've been there, with Shackleton, with Scott, this, it's a new POV for sure, but I read travel literature as much for the descriptions of place, people and custom as much as the difficulties they overcome.
And these trials, the Antarctic, the penguins, the killer whales breaking up the ice looking for an easy meal (curious, who wouldn't be), the ponies, dogs, well, the blazing pack ice and sun, the frigid, sterile, cold Antarctic...
Enough...
Although, to be fair, what with the big global thawing underway I'm pretty sure there will be some treasures exposed, some creeks to be panned, gems to be mined, and damn whatever convention that holds that continent for Science I want to be there when these treasures are exposed!!! But there are no geologists on this expedition...
Anyways, Cendrars not having yet arrived (after the termination of Canada Post's Strike) I was looking for something to read, and I stumbled upon a pile of William S. Burroughs books. Which I thought I would have read by now, but, strangely, I haven't.
So I pick up "The Western Lands". And I'm loving it. I mean, it's completely the opposite of whatever else I was reading, and his junkie's obsession with Centipedes, poisonous/venomous snakes/octopi/spiders/etc, well, it's rather completely up my alley. At the moment. Or merely it's the contrast to the stark realities of polar exploration...
"I'll have what he's having..."
Christmas 2024 passed with a couple of great authors, a little too much Vodka (Stoli, which does less damage) and too much time on my hands, not well used. There's always next year...
So I'll leave you with "A Junkie's Christmas" by William S. Burroughs.