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Achtung, corralled w/ moronicron covidiots in terminal Z during draconian SSSS times

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962

3 Dec 2021> Biden changed the window from 72 to 24 hrs 4 intl travellers but it doesn't take effect til next week, nevertheless we got tested again this morning just 2 b sure... seems the highest risk thing we do is go 2 the pharmacy 2 get tested 4 covid! if we get covid it will b from getting tested 4 covid > either that or we'll get a brain embolism from having that swab stuck up in2 our brain > so then we went 2 upload this info in2 the Lufthansa + United sites + even tho we meet all the requirements there was n error screen saying we didn't, which is unnerving 2 say the least... we got our tix thru United but R flying thru Frankfurt + each airline/country has seperate requirements so who nose where the problema is > we managed 2 get our boarding pass by saying we'd present our docs @ the airport so hopefully they'll let us thru... can't imagine they won't let fully vaxinated ppl w/ negative tests 24 hrs b4 + green pass (what else is there?), but who nose...

final 2 Bologna pics

 

4 Dec> @ Bologna airport... got past 1st hurdle, checked in @ Lufthansa + our covid tests + vaxine cards, etc. seemed 2 pass muster so that's a relief > we were there 3 hrs early + no 1 from Lufthansa was there til about 2 hrs b4, altho there was an Air France flight in the next counter over that had a line snaking thru the airport even tho that flight was 6 hrs away... mayB no 1's going 2 Germany b/c their #s are off the charts (read yesterday that 1 million ppl currently have covid there wich is insane 2 think about)... + we have a 4 hr layover there, oi

sumwhere 0ver the Alps

FRA > arrived Frankfurt airport, of course had 2 cram in2 a bus again (Y is it only Americans use jetways?) + sit on the tarmac then they let us off in this dank underground holding corridor w/ 100s of ppl packed in2 it going nowhere > we tried 2 linger in the rear outside the doors but the bus driver instructed us 2 pack ourserlves in > we had no idea what the line/crowd was 4 but as we approached it wasn't 4 immigration or covid but there were polizei checking IDs + telling u take down mask so they cd look @ your face + 2 other cops scanning the crowd as if there was a serial killer on the loose they were trying to IDdentify... meanwhile 100s of ppl r @ risk of exposure 2 covid (not 2 mention missing flights) 4 this apparent manhunt > finally thru that then another hectic scrum going thru immigration, complete K-OS, ppl trying to cut the line, 1 guy yelled (in glish) he had 2 minutes 2 make his flight cd he cut the line + this hippie Willie Nelson type in a mariachi uniform yelled back "we've all got a flight in 2 minutes, bro!" > then when we went 2 a lounge the agent looked @ our boarding pass + said we shd go 2 the gate early b/c it had n «SSSS» on it + we asked what «SSSS» meant + they said «very, very special security» > whatever, we had lots of time so we were chilling in the lounge getting a pretzel + a beer when suddenly another agent comes thru the lounge saying we need to leave the lounge immediately (there was no warning b4 this) + we asked «now?» + they said «right now!» so we hussled out along w/ the other passengers not sure what this was about, that maybe covid was detected in the lounge or whether it was about this manhunt underway > so we left the lounge + noticed all of a sudden all the retail shops were frantically shuttering the doors all @ the same time, it was weird > we made our way 2 the gate + got 2 a preliminary security checkpoint + sure enough, after checking all our covid requirements again, we (but not our bedder-½) were taken in2 a separate room w/ 3 German police who again asked 4 our ID + checked our bags, swabbing them down, etc. + when we tried 2 look @ the screen that had our info on it they told us 2 sit down > then they had us take off our shoes + they shook them out inspecting them, then finally told us we could go > we asked them if this was random or there was a specific reason b/c this was the 3rd time this has happened 2 us in the past few years (starting w/ our experience going thru Dublin) but of course they just shrugged + ignored us... so seems we R still on sum sort of homeland security terrorist list > seems police/homeland security R more of a terror than terrorists these dayz > + what the fuck is going on in Frankfurt? or is Frankfurt always this way? now we're @ our gate + this part of airport (terminal Z) seems abandoned even tho it's 2:40 p.m... really strange

> in Bologna + on the plane we finished reading Brooding by Michael Martone, which is weird b/c we're coincidentally re-posting a piece of his on Sleepingfish that had appeared in 3rd bed sum 20 yrs ago > he's definitely a writer's writer, a lot of his writing is about the writing process, technology (most notably gadgets we use to write... funny b/c even in his correspondence 2 us he went on about the new iMac he was using 2 write the email + wether it'd be his last) or just writing 4 the sake of writing about whatever... Schrödinger's cats, thermostats, etc. > the title piece is about cicadas (strange cuz it was written in 2018.. 2 yrs b4 they emerged from the ground, in DC @ least... mayB there was a brood in Indiana or Iowa or Alabama or wherever else he hung his hat, which is another thing he writes about a lot, where he hangs his hat)

5 Dec> home sweet home! fairly uneventful flight, flight attendant kept having 2 tell A-hole behind us 2 wear his mask + there was sum loud arguing, but no fists were thrown, so guess shd consider ourselves lucky (tho if we come down w/ covid in next 24 hrs it was probly cuz of this covidiot, who also stuck his feet up on our seat so they were right in our face) > then that dam ppl mover thing @ Dulles, cramming ppl in2 every nook of a confined space so if we didn't get covid on the plane we'd get it now > when we went thru Global Entry we were denied, apparently our membership had Xpired... bin so long since we travelled don't know what happened, spose we must have let it lapse in the early dayz of the the pandemic when travelling was the furthest thing from our mind > so had 2 wait in line w/ the rest of the peons + since we beelined 4 Global Entry 1st by the time we back-tracked 2 the cattle-herd line we were pretty much last > even the line for 4-in/non-US passports was shorter > + of course U.S. din't ask 4 shit far as vaxination or test results > the agent we had was wearing his mask as a chin strap + asked us 2 take our mask off so we had 2 talk 2 him 4 a minute or 2 face 2 face... this is seriously a great way 2 superspread—1 infected agent cd infect 1000s of incoming ppl > the sheer idiocy of all this was making our blood boil + head hurt, just trying 2 get thru it + get home + now we're finally here (tho still w/ a splitting headache!)... 0h s0 nice 2 b in our bed + guess we slept sum but weird b/c we got back @ 10:30 pm rite about the time our body thinks it's time 2 wake up + we din't sleep @ all on plane > watched that documentary about Anthony Bourdain... we was never a big fan but it was sad how he never really had a personal moment, like he was living his life as a celebrity 4 the sake of every 1 else + the whole thing w/ Asia is sad, how she's such a hippocrit + Bourdain threw his support Bhind her w/ all this #metoo shit + weird timing he killed himself right after she herself was accused of sexual assualt + Bourdain himself was the 1 who paid the hush-money

> anyway... now we're unpacking (in a literal + figurative sense) + trying 2 come 2 grips w/ the k-OS of our inbox, etc... sinking up 4-5 months of working off our laptop w/ our mothership iMac > nice 2 b in R one home w/ R one stuff after months of living in airbnb's where everything we do is like where's the coffee mugs or how does this toaster work + Inurnet that's actually reliable

961 <(current)> 963 > Tributary #3: «Columbia»—what was never lost can ever be found
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