The other Carlos

The Marquette Grad put together a very thoughtful travel kit for my trip to Italy. It included all sorts of practical items, such as ibuprofen, a sewing kit (not that I know how to sew) and dental swabs that can be used after a long flight to approximate a quick brushing. There was one piece in the kit that, I must acknowledge, struck me as very odd at first. It was a Traveling Gnome. The little guy is holding a suitcase and comes with a passport that explains his history and tastes. The idea of the Traveling Gnome is to leave him someplace where you had some fun.

I had been thinking about what to name the gnome. I was warming up to the idea of the gnome after I arrived in Italy. Once I had my plans in place to watch the West Ham game at Fiddler's Elbow, I decided that that would be a good place to leave the gnome. TMG had told me that I had to name him, and by Saturday morning, I had settled on it: Carlos, in honor of Tévez. I scratched out the name on the gnome's passport and wrote in "Carlos" before I set off. After watching the game in the back room at Fiddler's Elbow, I walked back into the main bar. Carlos was in my backpack. After another pint or two, I decided that it was time to go. I took Carlos and his passport out. I put the passport on the bar near the Guinness taps, then placed Carlos on top of the passport. I took a couple of pictures -- both of which are very blurry, unfortunately -- and then off I went. I hope both Carloses stay put for a long, long time.