When it rains pennies from heaven, it pours

This morning, for the first time, Graham wiped his own butt after taking a dump. And then he said to Mary: "Thank you for letting me ride the bus." How bout them apples.

Tomorrow I head off for Athens, Greece for a weekend of jet lag and dragging my sorry ass around a bunch of archaeological sites and purveyors of grilled lamb in preparation for a meeting on Tuesday. If all goes, well, I'll be returning to the Balkans for further reconnoitering.

For the first couple of nights (the ones on my nickel) I will be staying in this backpacker's dive and will resist the temptation to be lured back to the room of a pair Norwegian-Australian girls to smoke clove cigarettes and drink home-brewed Ouzo bought in a ditch on the south shore of Corfu.

I have sewed a Canadian flag on my bag as subterfuge.