I cross the Arctic Circle once again. And once again, it’s marked at the wrong place—in the landscape, in people’s heads. Wrong again, and again, I’m bewildered. But most folks don’t stop here anyway, so it’s of little consequence.
This time around, I’m pondering other matters. It seems wholly absurd to me that it can get dark at night. I’ve now spent over three weeks to the north of said circle. And I’ve gotten used to a lot of things. What’s it like, when it gets dark at night? What’s darkness like, anyway? An experience that I’d had every day of my entire previous life has now been denied me for weeks, and I’m already having trouble comprehending it!
I’ve now long since left the E75, but I’m thinking a lot about that road. Part of the E75, of course, always stays well lit. Up to 26 July. Does that ever occur to the Greeks, the Macedonians, the Serbs, or the Slovaks? Or perhaps the Poles? I don’t think so. Most of them have no idea what kind of a road they live along. Should Europastrassen become part of a good educational background and be added to the PISA tests? What kind of question is that—of course they should!!
My renewed crossing of the Arctic Circle has begun to stir something in my spirit. Something else. While I was still on my Europastrasse back when I was traveling north, I’m now traveling south, at a sort of “next level.” The photos have been taken, the texts blogged—that level I’ve left. Now my thoughts are revolving around how my publication will look. The previous level: How does our human existence, our “being human” look on the E75? The present level: How do I publish this “being human,” how do I convey it?
And so I return to the south, curious about the sleepless nights—nights in which I’ll be peering into the dark. The Arctic Circle, during the time that I spent above it, shifted 92 cm farther northward. Which will have made my nights all the longer!
P.S.: I made the very last observation in this post before crossing the Arctic Circle out of concern for grammatical correctness.
PPS: In closing, a brief glance at my GPS: Sunset – 1:02 a.m. Sunrise – 1:17 a.m.
das pisa foto ist genial – das sollte man unbedingt ans unterrichtsministerium schicken!!!
Dafür gebe ich es gerne frei.
Aber das ist doch eine Fotomontage ? Wo sollte es denn von der E75 eine beschilderte Abzweigung nach dem Pisa in der Toskana geben ? Oder gibt es da noch ein anderes Pisa irgendwo in Schweden oder Finnland ? Die Gefühlte Distanz zwischen der E75 und dem Pisa (IT) ist ungefähr genauso gross(*), wie zwischen dem Unterrichtsministerium und einer richtigen Interpretation der Pisa Testergebnisse österreichischer Schüler(*) in den Medien.
(*) bzgl orthografischer Richtigkeit: ich schreibe in e-medien gemäss schweizerdeutscher Rechtschreibreform (ohne scharfem ß, sz) und ohne GenderInnen Wahn.
Wenn auch sonst einiges rund um Pisa sehr eigenartig ist – Fotomontage ist das keine!
Der Hintergrund zu Pisa ist schnell erklärt: Der Mensch versucht zu objektivieren, so meint er seine Ängste besser im Griff zu haben – und aufeinmal taucht ganz woanders wieder ein Schild auf wo es gar nicht stehen dürfte. Pisa ist jedenfalls weit von der E75 entfernt.