I don’t know why, but he looked kind of angry.
Lot’s of gun shots around here in rural England. Reminded me of Baltimore, except they’re shooting at pheasants. Pheasant hunting season started today. There are actually a lot of guns here, but they’re for hunting, not “protection.” There’s a big hunting culture: “If it moves around here,” I was told, “somebody will shoot it.”
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
It really is like this in rural Hampshire.
[I’m on break. Regular blogging will resume in February.]
…And then we’ll take it higher.
I was in Brixton, London, today and stumbled across… Electric Avenue. There’s a market there.
I had no idea Electric Avenue was a real place. Nor that the song was even “set” in London.
As a fan of 80’s hip hop, I felt the same way I felt in my early days in New York City: Delancey Street; Hollis, Queens; Farmers Blvd; Sugar Hill; the South Bronx; Queensbridge; “next stop, 125th St.”… it’s all for real. (As is Brighton Beach, if you groove more with Neil Simon.)
I cannot, however, verify the Bristol Hotel (much less Room 515). But we all know where it’s at: Jamaica, Queens!
It’s September 5th, 2011. Today happens to be my 40th birthday. But unrelated, my wife will soon be boarding the Queen Mary 2 in Brooklyn for an Atlantic Ocean crossing. We are packing our steamer trunks and hat boxes.
Here’s our view and where we are.
I just learned that when my mother came to America in 1958, she was on the MS Berlin. I wonder if the QM2 will be anything like this?
I’m going to England for two months of work and research with the police. After that, the current plan is to work our way east, far east, on the Trans-Siberian Express (I hear Siberia is beautiful in, er, December). We probably won’t be back until January, 2012.
I don’t expect to post much at all while I’m gone. So until then, take care and stay safe.
If you know any must-see sights in say, Perm or Yekaterinburg, let me know.
Since we all know that the Bible is the literal word of God (I’m not certain which version, but certainly one of the English-language ones, since it would make no sense for God to speak a language other than American), it turns out, perhaps not surprisingly, that there are people out there who insist the sun revolves around the earth:
“Heliocentrism becomes dangerous if it is being propped up as the true system when, in fact, it is a false system,” said Robert Sungenis, leader of a budding movement to get scientists to reconsider. “False information leads to false ideas, and false ideas lead to illicit and immoral actions — thus the state of the world today…. Prior to Galileo, the church was in full command of the world, and governments and academia were subservient to her.”
It is in the Bible, after all (Joshua 10:12-14), so it mustbe true.
In the most polluted waterway in America, Newtown Creek, which divides Brooklyn and Queens, I found this blue crab. Now I wouldn’t eat anything from this waterway, but I was surprised by 1) how large this was NYC crab is, and 2) birds know right where to go to get that good lump crab meat! Who teaches them that? It’s not like they’re from Baltimore or anything.
I love that on our block, storm preparations included harvesting all grapes, pears, and figs–and distributing the extras to us!
The dark grapes are ours (they’re tastier than our neighbors–not that it is a competition, of course). But we don’t have any figs, and these figs are some of the best I’ve ever had! Thank you, Italian neighbor!
Notice too, the hurricane box of wine.
It’s raining and the air smells really clean. But nothing of note, yet.
Afternoon Update: Well thatwas a letdown. Very uneventful here in my part of Queens, best I can tell. Though I am very thankful my basement didn’t flood, like many events in life, I slept through it (except for that goddamn car alarm at 6am).
Of course the corner 24-hour fruit and vegetable store was open when I went to take a stroll and buy eggs at 3am. It was spooky quiet last night, with no subway trains rolling by and almost no traffic.
Interesting I haven’t heard any fear of civil disorder after the storm hits NYC. I hope that’s just a sign of how things are not.
I went back and read 1938 New York Timesaccounts of the hurricane that slammed New York. It was pretty devastating. And at least two people were arrested for robbing 20 stores in Harlem.
Meanwhile I’ve battened down the hatches and taken things off the roof and rugs off the basement floor. By NYC standards, we’re on relatively high ground.
Ice blocks are in the freezer. I always have flashlights (for my bike) and we generally have a lot of food and booze. And I thinkall our wonderful spring water is gravity fed (the best of 19th century technology!).
I guess deep down I’ve been hoping for a power outage just so I can sit on our porch and play our Victrola. The neighbors will be in awe.
Let’s hope it’s fun, but not too fun.
Here’s to all the police and city workers out there working, keeping all of us safe!
My modem got fried by lighting during an amazing storm Friday night (deep down, I really didn’t think this kind of thing could happen). Until a new modem arrives… life is very strange and definitely unsettled.
It’s shocking how much of my day is internet related… from the obvious like email to the less obvious like blog posts and listening to Cubs’ game and reading out-of-town papers. Now just what do I doall day?
Time to wind up the Victrola, I suppose, and listen to some tunes.