Lounge might be the wrong place but I need to unload

[DFW]

30. I know it may sound romantic and James Bondy and all

But when you get caught on a cold train track because your train has broken down, and they tell you to get off and wait for the next one, even though it's snowing and 10° below out, or the train drivers or pilots on some country you HAVE to get to (or get out of) decide to go on strike the day before you have to travel, or you have to get up at 4:30 AM four days in a row while not getting to bed before 1 AM those same 4 days in a row---then you get a new perspective on it all. At least I speak the languages of all those places, so I can cuss them out when it happens (all too frequently for my tastes--the first three times, you say, "oh, well," but the next fifty times, you tend to use stronger language).

I hate beer, but I do eat all that other stuff in moderation. My wife is German, and a master chef--you think I'm not gonna eat HER pastry? Chocolate is OK as long as it's dark chocolate--which they just HAPPEN to have in abundance in France, Belgium, Switzerland and Germany.