The Panther Prints

February 18, 1997

By FINLEY MARTIN

The Five Year Plan improved their record to 8 wins and 2 losses after two victories last week. The wins come after playing Da Ladies and East Coast Cresting. The FYP have been on a winning streak since the beinning of this semester. They are currently ranked 2nd in their league, tied with AVC.

In a related issue, acting team spokesman Dave Chris- tian was put on the injured list after sustaining a knee injury in last Tuesday’s game against East Coast Cresting. Team physicians report that Christian tore ligaments in his knee and may have fractured his knee cap. It is too early to predict when Christian will be able to return to the team line-up.

In other FYP news, a recent letter printed in the Panther Prints bashed the team and spread vicious rumours about the teams ethics. Acting team spokesman Dave Christian com- mented “We really don’t care what [the D.Habbi team] calls us...as long as they start by calling us 8 and 2!” : Mr. Hands, who has been relatively quiet in the last couple of weeks, returns to the news. The head coach of the FYP was arrested late Saturday night after trying to strangle FYP member Dico Reyers. The incident occured at the FYP Cultural Centre where the team was putting on a Music Appreciation Night. Pat Perry was exposing the team to the sounds of Harry Connick Jr. when Reyers stands up and screams at Mr. Hands “Dance! M@#$%*&*()! Dance!”. The insult so enraged the coach that he stood up and tried to strangle Reyers with his feet. Reyers apparently suffered no injuries.

For more info on the Five Year Plan check out their website at http://www.peionline.com/fyp or email them at fanmail@peionline.com

What I did on my summer European vacation

By ANDREA BIRD

I have recently returned from a trip to Europe. I was gone 107 days, visiting 12 coun- tries and pedalling my bike over 4500km.

I wish everyone could experience and learn what we learned. For that reason I am writing this column.

On September 11 we biked about 70 km and entered Belgium at around 4:00pm. Our map had ended and we needed to get a new one.

While Jon (my partner) stayed outside with the bikes I went into a little store to buy a map. The man at the counter inquired about our trip. After speaking to him fora few min- utes he told us we wouldn’t need the whole thing and pho- tocopied what we needed.

Touched by his gener- osity I returned to my bike and put the map away. We were just leaving when the man came out of the store and asked us where we were staying that night. We told him that we didn’t know. Before we knew it we had a map to his house in our hand and we were on our way.

He called his wife and let her know we were coming. It wasn’t even an issue. We were travellers and therefore we were welcome. They in- vited us into their home with

open arms. They felt they

didn’t have a lot to offer us. Their house had burned and they were in a slow, costly process of rebuilding. They fed us supper (Belgium fries with Mayonnaise), washed our laundry, let us have showers, and set up a bed. The next morning there was breakfast on the table and a handful of Michelan maps in our pockets. All they asked in return was a postcard to let them know we had made it across the Alps. When we left we thanked Johan and Kriystal profusely. Johan’s response: “It comes from the bottom of my heart”. And with that we were on our

way, thinking it was incredible that people who thought they had so little to give gave us so much...

Travel tips: when plan- ing your trip, send ahead to the travel agencies of the coun- tries you will visit. Request specific info. We received free maps from almost every coun- try doing this. Buying a map will cost $10-15 once you get there, so think ahead. Once you do arrive, always check tourist offices for free maps.

If youare leaving in Sep- tember check the dates of low season tickets. The prices of- ten decrease dramatically if you can wait until mid-Sep- tember.

If you are budgeting for hostels be warned. They cost from $15-25 anight, even with the Hostelling International Membership. Furthermore, they often require you to buy breakfast. Depending on the place this may be little more than bread and water. If the option isavailable, inquire with other people (not hostel staff) to find out if it is worth paying for.

I’m glad that this part of our adventure happened in France, where we could speak the language. Had it been any- where else, we may have aquired a third travelling part- ner.

It wasn’t far from Stras- bourg, France. We had biked about 50km, it was early in the aftrenoon and it was a rather nice day.

We stopped on the side of aroad ata little wooded rest stop. We ate a bit, went to the bathroom and were on our way.

Just as we were leaving Jon heard a noise in the woods. He looked down and noticed a liilte black puppy struggling to get of a cardboard box. He was very cold and hungry.

If only it were possible to adopt him and let him live with us on our bikes. We took him toa house across the street and asked the owner to take

care of the little puppy. She was more than happy to make a new friend and we were happy to have saved the day for him.

It is strange the things that can happen when travel- ling. Not long after this I passed a parrot that was sitting beside the road. Even now the image shocks me and I wonder if perhaps that parrot was a halucination.

It was a sunny afternoon in Germany. We were on our way to Munich for Octoberfest. We were ahead of shedule so we sttopped in a small town to watch the locals.

There wasa young man, about 13, singing American pop with his keryokee machine. When combined with his ac- cent, high voice and his back- up dancers it was quite a sight.

We bought some Ger- man sausages and ate them in the sun. They were so good that we went back and bought french fries. They were not quite as good but we chowed down anyway.

Soon afterwards we left and found a place to stay. We managed to communicate our need for a piece of land to a local farmer. Our German was not quite as proficient as our sign language, but combining them we got our point across. The farmer took us to three of four places. He was very con- cerned with finding the per- fect place. We set up our tent in a huge green pasture.

Itwasn’teven dark. We have a two minute set-up tent and it’s a good thing. As soon as we set it up we both be- came violently ill. We were sick all night. The next morn- ing the farmer returned- car- rying fresh coffee, pastries and sandwiches. We explained, as best we could that we had been sick.

We decided to try and bike a little bit that day. They refused to let us go without packing up the food and send- ing it with us.