Jump to content

Stranger in a Strange Land


Recommended Posts

2 hours ago, chris24 said:

Yesterday  Gvallee Said :   I am dead keen on reading Australiana books.

 

Gen, if you havn't already you might like a couple of books by Evan Green :    'Alice to Nowhere'   and   'Bet Your Life" and for early Aussie life  'Adams Empire"

The first two where you've been recently

 

Chris

 

 

Thanks for that Chris. I've added them to my wish list.

 

Gen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

38 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

Ah Gen! You are a French girl who is now stalking those big salties! Trey B N. 

 

Bryan is right—things were very different the last time I saw Paris. Did I tell you all that I covered the riots at the Sorbonne in the spring of '68? A couple of French students looked out for me then.

 

Ha ha! They are playing Gershwin's "American in Paris" on BBC 3 right now!!!

 

Did you take a picture of me then? May 68, sitting in the middle of the road in Quartin Latin? 

It is soooo long ago, it was in another life. I was still at school.

 

Once I stayed in a hotel in Tasmania and they played Edith Piaf 'Non je ne regrette rien'. I wonder why...

 

Gen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

That was something, wasn't it? Protesters digging up the pavement stones and then the workers replacing them in the morning. The riot cops would have loved me to get just a little closer. And I had just gotten back from Vietnam. I don't mess with that dangerous stuff anymore. I try not to fall down when I'm crossing the street. 

 

Edited by Ed Rooney
  • Love 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Ed Rooney said:

That was something, wasn't it? Protesters digging up the pavement stones and then the workers replacing them in the morning. The riot cops would have loved me to get just a little closer. And I had just gotten back from Vietnam. I don't mess with that dangerous stuff anymore. I try not to fall down when I'm crossing the street. 

 

 

Open manholes are the worst. But useful when a car is approaching at speed as a quick exit.😮

 

Allan

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah! This is Edo's blog day! You've come a long way Edo, kudos to you.

Stay safe, healthy and entertained. And fed with photogenic food.

 

Gen

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Interesting read as ever. Kind words about the Canadian health system,  I lived there the first 20 years of my life but didn't encounter it much and believe it has developed a lot. My sister in Ottawa has had both knees done and I don't think it has cost her anything. Given the number of peoples from all over the world Canada has taken in, I'm surprised they wouldn't accomodate you. Age likely the problem? In any case, there is that issue of winter. My early years were in Kingston which has a completely different climate just 170 miles upriver from Montreal. I spent most of a winter in Winnipeg and that tore it for me! Too severe, not man enough I guess! On similar grounds to yours, I got my UK passport easily, so here I am. Glad to hear some things are opening up in Liverpool, but take care, we're not really through this just yet.We had a very very small drinks party on the patio the other evening well spaced out. One of the gals brought her own glass and bottle and didn't touch any of the nibbles, but enjoyed herself

Edited by Robert M Estall
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Edo, I spent 20 winters in Canada; that's enough for anyone! But short spells of it are OK, I used to go back for about a week in February to break up the winter just a bit for my Dad. He enjoyed my cooking and I went for bracing walks on the frozen lake and shoreline of Lake Ontario for old times sake.  Happy to get back on that plane though. Brilliant afternoon here in Suffolk, I think we'll do our Sunday roast chicken out in the garden. The dog finds it hard to bear!

Edited by Robert M Estall
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Spent several winters down the South Atlantic, Falklands, South Georgia, Bird Island. Still air temperatures down to -40 add 100mph winds on top its downright dangerous, leave a glove of and skins sticks to metal, the water in your eyes freezes without goggles. 

The penguins love it, gets up to -20 and the locals are in T shirt and flip flops. 🙂

Andy.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Andy you're selling it well, where do I book?

 

I have met -35 with a stiff breeze out in the Canadian Prairies. That was quite far enough! Flin Flon used to hold the record.

I remember taking our son to Ottawa en route to my Dad in Kingston. I guess he was about 5 and it was pretty cold. He joined up with the neighbours kids and played in the snowbanks. I was really impressed with the kit these kids had: snowsuits with space age technology. None of this wooly mittens and rubber boots with an extra pair of socks we relied on when I was a youngster

Edited by Robert M Estall
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My part of the U.S. the summer can get over 100F, usually the hottest is 90s F. I believe we got down to 13F overnight a couple of times this past winter, but most overnight lows were in the 20s, many in the 30s.  During the winter, it’s just a series of cold fronts that last a couple or three days then warms to the 40s, F during the day. Sometimes a spring temp for a day or two! We’ve had a long cool spring this year with temps in the high 60s and 70s. Just the past week or so it has been in the 80s with 90s to come in a day or two.
We can get below zero F, but a lot of years go by before that happens. I can’t remember the last time. But we do deal with severe spring storms. So far we’ve made it through the highest danger time here, but my home state of Oklahoma has dealt with some baseball-sized hail in small areas. No major tornadoes!
 

I’ve never wanted to live in the northern U.S. because of the longer harsh winters. I’ve never visited Florida, and never desired to unless it was in the dead of winter. My body doesn’t handle heat plus high humidity well, I feel faint and my heart doesn’t react well even when I was a girl. Florida has that combo in spades.
Edo, I understand your requirements perfectly. Especially how soon you’d have run out of decent photo ops in your Mexico town. I noticed a decrease in my opportunities from Oklahoma City to Wichita. There is enough here, they just take a bit more digging them out. When one is new to an area, I’m sure there are great opportunities but the problem is we don’t know about them. As you said, strangers in a strange land. As far as asking locals about places, unless they are stock photographers, they don’t see the area like we need to see it.
Betty

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Robert M Estall said:

Andy you're selling it well, where do I book?

 

I have met -35 with a stiff breeze out in the Canadian Prairies. That was quite far enough! Flin Flon used to hold the record.

I remember taking our son to Ottawa en route to my Dad in Kingston. I guess he was about 5 and it was pretty cold. He joined up with the neighbours kids and played in the snowbanks. I was really impressed with the kit these kids had: snowsuits with space age technology. None of this wooly mittens and rubber boots we relied on when I was a youngster

There are cruise trips down there, not in the winter though. The wind howls around the Antarctic bottom of the world with no land mass to break it up an the waves get monstrous.

Some of the old whaling stations are interesting places, ghostly places with feral cats left over from the whalers, they survive the winters by keeping inside the ruins. I have loads of 35mm transparencies which I keep meaning to  get uploaded.

Andy 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Jinotega has a month where it might get hot and a month where we are really tired of rain, and two months where everyone wears anoraks because it's below 65 F in the morning.  Most weather complaining people I've known of other than New Yorkers. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Ed Rooney said:

https://edostrange.blogspot.com/2020/06/not-quite-irish-enough.html

 

I'm feeling as if I am living on the dark side of the moon.

Welcome to Tsiolkovskii, Ed. Or Fermi if you prefer, he was Italian. Mostly Russian back here, but some Germans and Dutch. We're all here as well.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Far_side_of_the_Moon#/media/File:Craters_of_the_Far_Side_of_the_Moon.jpg

Edited by spacecadet
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 09/01/2020 at 06:22, Ed Rooney said:

No, I'm not referring to being a Yank in Western England. I am that but I've lived in England before and I've lived in Europe off and on for 20 years. 

 

I mean that I am a stranger from the twentieth century who finds himself in this very strange place -- the twenty-first century where it seems that as soon as I get the knack of something they change it. Updating they call it. Everyone wants stronger passwords, PIN numbers, and the maiden name of my mother's dog. I'm sinking under the load. 

 

And there are many many more strange things: mod fashions featuring body ink, piercings, wild hair colours, half-destroyed garments. There's fast unhealthy food, people living on the street, New Right and Far Left politics, endless and pointless bureaucracies, and on and on and on. Is this Liverpool? The UK? Europe? Or the World? 

 

I suppose I could attempt to capture these things for editorial stock . . . maybe a picture of someone talking or texting on a smart phone? Or has that already been done? 

 

Edo

I guess you like me could still operate a rotary telephone.😄

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, Marvin McAbee said:

I guess you like me could still operate a rotary telephone.😄

I saw a video where someone gave two teenage boys a working old-fashioned rotary phone. They tried for ages to make it work. First off, they left the handset in the cradle while dialing. Not that they knew to take each number all the way to the stop anyway!
It was hilarious. 

  • Love 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.