20.10.: Maybe should I try and explain why I have decided to join the adventure of the Athens Express. For that I have to unravel a little of who I am. I am half French, half Canadian, 65 years old, having had 2 knee replacements.
Right, I think that explains it all !
Because I am half Canadian, I have that adventurous spirit the first settlers had. My grandfather was an early settler ( his family can be traced to 1780), there is even a squaw on his side ….. and my grandmother was a Scottish immigrant, she nearly sailed the Titanic (!) .
Then because I have had two knee replacements I feel I have been stolen about 10 years of my life : pain + surgery + rehabilitation + pain again and each surgery (4 of them) cost me one year of recovery, so I really have to catch back on that.
And finally I am 65 and I am convinced that it is now that I am preparing my old age. I truly believe that the way we age depends on how we face it. And ecology has the answers for that : doing as many “first times” as I can …… the Athens express is one of them, walking and riding a bike instead of driving a car, eating healthy food, worrying about the future generations, worrying about what is going on on the planet, being curious about how people across Europe deal with the environmental problems …… I am sure, all that will give me all the chances to age happily, without having to face loneliness, with a healthy body and an active mind.
Of course, I am a little scared … I don’t really know what to expect, but it is so exciting to be 65 and still say “This is the first time I have ever done that !”
That is why I have decided to join the Athens express, and it is the same aim I pursue when I couchsurf actively, hosting and surfing.
My conviction is that being an ecologist enables one to age happily !
