Since you marveled at my response to the threat of being handcuffed, FGC, you especially would have laughed your head off at a number of recent interactions I’ve had with people.
GoldTenters get enough accurate reporting about Lithuania to probably realize those people in particular suffer from some wicked kind of mental disease, like the collective mind has been totally hijacked. I know, it’s not the only place, but it seems to me to be most severe there. I got firsthand confirmation of this when I visited Lithuania briefly two times last year, after crossing over by bus from Kaliningrad. When I took this route last week for the third time in a year, I didn’t even schedule to stay there for the night, but kept moving straight through. I didn’t want to spend any more time in Lithuania than absolutely necessary.
Having said that, the countryside is beautiful and it was perfect spring weather, with flowers blooming. So, between the time my bus arrived in Klaipeda and departure of my ship to Kiel, I decided to rent a bicycle and go exploring. Innocent, right? Well, in the bike shop everything was going smoothly and I was on my way out the door, when the 40-something mechanic who was taking care of me, who had up to that point had been pleasant and doing business as per normal, he threw a wrench into the works. Out of the blue, he blurted out, “Trump is evil!” I burst out laughing and, not trying very hard to make a new friend, told him he was a fucking idiot. I guess my bias showed, as I wasn’t in much of a mood to deal with such a dimwit tool.
Anyway, I continued on my way out the door, but instead of realizing he had bit off more than he could chew, this guy followed me, trying to convince me he was right. It was amazing and anyone observing the scene would either have felt terrorized by it, or would have been ROTFLing. It was so outlandishly amusing to me that I was laughing like a madman, all the while yelling at him to just get his ass back in the shop. As I rode away, he was still doing his best to convince me.
When I returned the bike a few hours later, the same guy just had to tell me he had brought his two boys up to hate the Russians and to be ready to go to war with them blah blah blah. I bit my tongue and walked out the door, but once again he followed me, blabbering on about some nonsense he was convinced of but obviously knew nothing about. Then he said, “Trump is a loser.” Wanting to make sure I heard him correctly, I turned around and asked him to repeat that. “Trump is a loser.” My predictable response was, “Let me get this straight: some nobody mechanic in a bike shop in freaking Klaipeda, Lithuania, who has doomed his own kids to die because of a hateful myth he believes in, says Trump is a loser. You are obviously insane.” I continued walking away and, also somewhat predictably, he followed me for a short distance, trying to convince me he was right. Oy, vey!
The next time you came to mind, FGC (hey, why are you following me around?), was at the other end of the ferry, in Kiel. After confirming my destination, the first word out of the mouth of the pony-tailed 50-something driver was “Trump… ” Before there was time for a second word to follow, I yelled, “No! No! No! Don’t go there!” But he did. There was something about Biden was good for them, but Trump was ruining everything. This time I tried a different approach than in Klaipeda. I asked this guy if he had always been so profoundly stupid, or if he thought it was a fairly recent thing. Just like what had happened with the bike mechanic in Klaipeda the day before, this didn’t slow him down at all. It didn’t matter how insulting I was, he just kept ploughing forward, needing to convince me that he knew the truth. My cheeks and whole face hurt from laughing so hard about the situation. After paying him €22 for a 9-minute ride that would have cost like a buck 66 in Russia, he was still trying to convince me of something he was sure of as I walked away. The disease is strong ‘over there’.
That wasn’t all. I thought of you again last night. Another taxi in Germany, this time in Hamburg, after getting off the ferry that brought me back from Heligoland. I swear, it was an instant replay of the earlier taxi driver. Trump Trump Trump. I didn’t even try to figure out what he was saying, because his English wasn’t very good. All I said was, “You don’t know ANYTHING!” He didn’t seem deterred by that at all, but was puzzled by my wild laughter that I couldn’t stop, it was so funny. This guy turned out to be from Afghanistan, which made me laugh even harder, until tears were running down my cheeks. When I could speak without laughing, I asked if he liked it in Germany. He began to explain that life was difficult and I interrupted to ask again, but do you like it here? The short of it is, after living in Germany for 15 years, he can’t wait to return to Afghanistan, but wants to wait until it’s safe… Bummer for him.
At this moment, I’m on a train, going from Hamburg to Bern, Switzerland. From there, I’ll go to visit friends in the Emmental. If the weather cooperates, we’ll fly balloons. No matter what, springtime in Switzerland is always a treat. Life is good and always amusing, some days even more than others.
By the way, the birds on Heligoland were amazing! Especially the gannets. You could sit right down next to them and they paid no attention, as they had only one thing filling their little minds: mating! Thousands of birds mating and making a heck of a racket. I sat for hours each day, soaking in the scene. A flock of fucking birds is far more fun than being around crazy people 
Enjoy the springtime!
GoldBalloon
PS My theme song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pafY6sZt0FE
