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THE BUNKER LOUNGE
SEOUL CITY 30 MAY 80 Dear Folks, It is Payday in Seoul.
The day after tomorrow everybody will have a whole month's ration tickets to punch. The weather is beautiful, the flies have finally come out, and it looks to be in the 80s. The tanks have been driven around the back of the government buildings downtown, and some on the Special Forces troops have been put back in the ROK army where they belong.
It must be summer. I am at the moment two days into one of the legendary three-day breaks they give us once a month, and I have only had to work two of them.
Due to the imposition of the Crisis (or 'Flap' as it is more aptly described) I had to take break time to go over what I should have been learning during the first few weeks. I took the test this morning, and passed. I am now a fully qualified Watch Officer, and thus competent to endanger the peace of the entire Penninsula on my own responsibility.
Things were so bad there for a while that I quit drinking. I am going to remedy that this evening with a trip down to the Naija Hotel for strong cocktails and dining in neo-colonial luxury. All I have to do .is sot get trapped by the Curfew; but since I can sleep in tomorrow, even that isn't an impenetrable barrier. The Chinese Vice Premier visited Japan yesterday. That is noteworthy due to the fact that it hasn't happened in 2,000 years. It is astonishing to deal with cultures that have records that go back that far. China is saying Japan should re-arm (remembering that Japan still had a half million troops in Manchuria in 1945 it is a startling notion) and what's more, the North Koreans weren't going to swarm down over the border and make me got my camouflage fatigues dirty.
I do look rather dashing in them, but on the whole, I would just as soon skip it. So maybe I will have a year of peace to shop for brass and clocks.
I hope this finds you in the midst of warm summer weather, sailing, tanning deeply, and enjoying cold drinks on green grass. The news of the auto industry is so grim in the papers; I hope it won't be another hot summer with the Convention coming to Detroit.
And our next president, Mr. Carter/Reagan. Oh my.
I have a hard tine believing I am here sometimes; but I suppose I must seem sorta chimerical, too. My typing is disintegrating, and my body is crying out for a fast cab ride through the wide boulevards to a walnut bar with powerful gins. Take care of yourselves. Speed is Life, as we used to say in San Diego. Vic |