It's Thanksgiving day here in the planet of the free, which some of you in Iceland may not be aware of, and I don't really blame you. My van won't start, and the cat just pissed on the bed. Still, there's an upside to everything, I'd Pocahantas, wooden U? I can hear the fish sizzling in Alaska.

It's a time when Americans gather on street-corners to ceremoniously burn replicas of Thomas Jefferson's garters and powdered white wig, just as Egyptians tie inflatable Virgins of Guadaloupes onto their heads and drink coffee until 2am. It's a great time to be young, or riddled with age, or both.

I intend to celebrate by having a shower. Each worships in their own way.

I was walking home from Diva coffee-shop this morning and saw a couple walking towards me. For a moment I thought the man was my dead father. The same shape, same posture, same way of moving. And the the woman seemed to be my mother. Of course, they weren't, but it did seem somehow significant, as I hadn't known that I was thinking about them at all. A nice little trick to play on myself. I'm like you, I think about everything. And everything bleeds together.

I'd like to go to Iceland sometime. It looks so spectacular from the photographs I've seen, and the reality must be even more breath-taking.

Debbie had long blonde air and was one of the high-school hippies. Damn, I wish she was here now!

I keep thinking about Leon Trotsky today, dear dear Leon Trotsky. Not so much about the things he did, more just about him. And now I'm thinking about the beautiful thing he wrote in his journal in Mexico, as an old man, just before they killed him. I can't recall the exact words, but it's something like "I'm sitting at the table in the garden. The weather is warm, and above the wall I can see the blue sky and I can see the bright sun. Natasha has just bought me coffee. The world is beautiful. May future generations cleanse it of all injustice and oppression."

Happy Thanksgiving, to all who know me, and to all those I know.

I just went to the bathroom, and heard the TV news from Aurora's room reporting on a local man killed outside a bar last night.

Even more, Happy Thanksgiving to all those I don't know.

Have you heard the one about... and on we go!





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