Life in the Etc Lane

*Not a lot of folks honking and shoving to be in the Etc Lane.*

Saw this in Sri Lanka on the way out of Colombo. It looks like the government paved the roads to all major destinations and had a bunch of pavement left over. So they built the Etc Lane which, my guess, takes you to all the places in Sri Lanka not worth mentioning.

As you may have figured out by now, I haven’t been traveling around India much lately thanks to the SARS CoV-2. That’s the virus that gives you the new (novel) disease known as COVID 19. (That’s the novel COronaVIrus Disease of 2019. Isn’t the internet great?) The whole messed up world thanks you, SARS virus version 2.0.

*“Wearin’ my mask…bum-bum-YAYYY!! Breathin’ my own breath…(yay)”*

Most of my travel blog this year has been me expounding upon all the thrill-packed touring I did before February. But I’m beginning to run low on material. Therefore, this post is dedicated to some of the miscellaneous pictures I haven’t used yet. So you’re kind of in my Etc Lane.

Here’s a tiny batch butter churn I saw in Darjeeling. An invention that let Indian pioneer women crank out a stick of butter an hour.

*Turn-turn-turn-turn-turn-turn…(one hour later)…turn…turn……turn…there!*

Indian trains rock along most pleasantly, and each sleeper bed is provided with a brown paper package filled with freshly laundered linen. Unrelated facts to most of us, but not to this mom.

Delightful child. *Slept the entire 10-hour trip.*

And in the Changzhou airport, they were broadcasting the 70th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Don’t try to count all the people in this single float display. (After about a million, I lost track.)

*My Chinese is a bit rusty, but I think the announcer said the most loyal party members are allowed the honor of carrying that big thing in the middle balanced on the top of their heads.*

And here’s that frog band you’ve all been waiting to see.

*Frog band waiting for princess band to show.*

You’ve probably done this before but if you stand in the middle of two mirrors just right, you can see an infinite number of yourself! That’s right, an infinite number! And, according to legend, the last one of you is made of chocolate. (If I read the Book of Random Legends correctly.)

*One, two, three,…hey! Three isn’t an infinite number. Foo! Guess my camera wasn’t aimed just right.*

I have a few more random photos to show but my nickel’s worth of internet time has expired.

PS (If you saw a shot I’ve already used in a post, feel free to write a scathing comment. Or be magnanimous – pride yourself on your great memory, shake your head at my poor one and click the thumbs up.)