Europeans take a relaxed view of property rights and a lax view of public safety. This verdant trail on the Isle of Skye provides private grazing for a potentially menacing bull and his harem of cows, as well as public access for human hikers. Among those who passed the bull were the Professor and four youths from Weiden—a town in southeastern Germany that faces the Czech border, where long ago the Professor performed reconnaissance with the Fourth Cavalry, on the edge of a world where humans were fenced-in by the Iron Curtain.
The Professor poses before a majestic railroad viaduct
outside Inverness. The imposing bridge was erected in the nineteenth century
with funds provided by the London stock market during a bout of euphoria
over steam railroads—the New Economy tech stocks of the day.
The Professor often has difficulty conforming to
contemporary standards of casual attire. Even hiking in the Highlands,
he wore a classic blazer, replete with university buttons. As a Wall Street
veteran, who has heard thousands of predictions, the Professor routinely
ignores dire forecasts. Wife Kathy’s yellow slicker shows that she took
seriously the consistent (and consistently pessimistic) predictions of
rain.