Political Happenings #1of3

In the campsite in Buna, Yugoslavia, a lady (an elected official of the left-wing British Labor Party), said President Reagan was in big trouble in the US, and he would soon be impeached. She had recently been to New York City, had attended a meeting at Hunter College, and said everyone there hated Reagan. I told her, “Going to a college in New York City to learn about the political health of the US, is like going to a Doctor for a physical exam, and he only looks at your armpits!” I was being polite when I said “armpits.”

Inside the city wall of Avignon, France, I watched men applying large political posters right on top of other rather new, large political posters printed in another color, with a different picture. I kidded them about “political dirty tricks,” but when I understood the poster they were putting up was for a conservative candidate, and they were covering the poster of someone on the socialist-left, I encouraged them to proceed, amidst much laughter. Those new posters were for M. Le Pen, almost unheard of in the USA until the 2002 election.

In Evzoni, Greece, when we stopped for fuel the station owner heard us speaking English, so he mentioned “Margaret” (Thatcher). When I said, “California” and “President Bush,” the Greek really liked that, and liked it even more when I said “President Reagan.”

In the medieval town of Kampen, The Netherlands, we were backing into a parking place, when an older gentleman saw the USA sign on the bumper. He smiled and came over to talk to us. With a big smile on his face, the Dutch man said “America, (then pointed to us) Freiheit (freedom, pointed to himself) President (put his hand as if to shake Reagan’s hand, then pointed thumbs up) President Reagan, Moscow (here he placed his fists as if to indicate Reagan protects him from Russia) and all the time was smiling and letting us know he likes the Americans very much.

While we were eating lunch in the Grand Hotel in Stockholm, Sweden, a well dressed gentleman told us a joke — “In America you have Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, and President Reagan, in Sweden we have no cash, no hope, and Parliament.”