final countdown - epic II

(wednesday april 18....sipping a DELICIOUS apple-banana-cherry-ginger smoothie off a side street in stari grad, dubrovnik, croatia)

yesterday was almost a write-off.......after a little walk, a headache started creeping up again......pills don,t work.......so after a 12-hour post-migraine sleep, i went down for an afternoon nap.....i thought my one day in korcula was soon to become a void....i managed to wake around 430pm and saw a bit of the island before the sunset.......phew!......it was stormy and gorgeous......and i got adopted as wind-playmate by a cute puppy.....so good!
earlier today i sat on the bus ....anesthetized.......i couldn,t move my limbs but i was conscious of what was going on around me......i had to will with might to make my eyes move......when have i EVER been this tired?
i ad woken up at 5am to pack and catch the bus to dubrovnik.....alll was in order.........i double checked that the essentials were in their designated places.......i locked the door and dropped the key in teh batheroom window (as instructed to do.....twice).....i hoisted up my small bag and made my merry way to the bus terminal with plenty of time to get myself there......i mean, this was the only departure time off the island today.......i didn,t want to take any chances.......
it was then that i noticed.....my eyes made contact wit the bars.....the closed bars......the locked gate.....at the bottom of the stairs......the gate for which i,d dropped the keys through the bathroom window....and i was walled in......the bus station mere metres away.......the sun was rising casting pastels in the sky and i didn,t care........it was early.....i didn,t care......i didn,t know which door belonged to my landlord....i didn,t care......i climbed back up the stairs.......and started knocking on the door i saw.......now, i had assumed that my landlord lived upstairs.......i,d never seen him enter nor leave....i,d never glimpsed him in the window.....but while i had been trying to sleep away the punding in my head the day before, all i could hear from upstairs was....over and over again......no joke......"the FINAL COUNTDOWN"............and to see this man, you would know that no other person on the island could possibly love this song as much as he........
so back to the knocking......within 7 minutes it had progressed to banging o the door......by 10 minutes, i was running out of time and contemplating having to camp in the courtyard until someone awoke....debating with myself whether it would be so bad.....but i didn,t give up.........i started knocking/tapping/noising any surface available......windows, doors, furniture, glass, metal, wood......it was surprisingly accoustically varied.......finally a face appeared in thewindow....a confused face......i never thought i,d be so happy to see this dude......and now 4 minutes until the bus leaves (it,s like that johnny cash song).......he freed me from my cage and i jogged the 3 blocks to the station.....
maybe the relaxation after the panic had led to the state of anesthesia.....whatever it was, i,m glad i made it to dubrovnik......this place deserves at least 2 days........