Look what arrived in the mail recently! Purchased from Mr. Typewriter in Florissant, MO., I got six brand new ribbons for my Royal Futura 800. You pop the top open here… … pressing the Red Royal button (Thanks Portable Typewriter Forum!) Of course, I spent about 20 minutes trying and failing to figure out how…
Category: The Details
In which the smallest particles bring meaning to the universe.
In a Crowded Room
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Time holds only the shape you give it. This week, it was pressed thin, squashed against the wall, hot and heavy. It was pressing, but lovely all the same. I am not sure, exactly what I am supposed to do with the time I am given. I only know what when I am busy, the…
Tempus Fugit
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I am standing still on the platform, but time is whipping by me.There are thousands of minutes left in this week, but not that many days remain. I am thinking about loss of time, because 1) I am losing it, 2) it is being eaten away, 3) it abandoned me and never asked if it…
London Morning Light
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I leave for work at nearly 8 a.m. The light is falling lower and lower on the horizon. It lives below the equator now. My shadow stretches long and tall behind me. I cannot see, but I don’t care. The sun is on my face and I would rather be nowhere. The only thing, really,…
Different
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One Afghani mini-cab driver said in Time Out this week that what surprised him the most when he arrived in London was that “so many people here aren’t white. “I thought that all the men going to work would have the round hat and a stick. (Londoners) have learnt certain attitudes, that have a certain…
Under My Feet
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One thing that you lose, when you live a life with a car, is your connection with your feet. I miss my Mazda Protégé. I miss it a lot. I don’t love my life in London, and in lots of ways I can’t wait to be able to just hop in a car again—preferably a…
How Britain Made Me a Patriot
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Nothing about former Attorney General John Ashcroft’s snarling smile, his closed mind, and his Patriot Act could make me proud to be an American. Nothing about our President/Commander-in-chief waving on the side of an aircraft carrier could make me proud to be an American. Nothing about the pathetic two-party system, or the state of our…
The World Should Be Flat
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I recently had my first proxy visitor to London. She came in the post. Here name was “Flat Stacey” and she was a friend of my niece Grace. Grace is one of many school kids involved in the Flat Stanley project. It’s an international literacy and communications project based on a kids book about a…
Colours of Spring
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Rhubarb… A naturally occuring pink food, found growing underneath enormous green leaves. Good in pies. Why do I like this image? Note the top left… In this market (Borough Market, South London) there is a “Turnip” aisle. Oddball pub in the heart of Soho. Serves Italian food but reminds me, with the oil can ads…
A Walk ’round Bayswater
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It isn’t possible that I have been more relaxed lately? How is that possible? Colin and I went a-walkin’ again this weekend. It is getting warmer these days, so we are getting off our butts. This excursions took us west from our flat, generally in the direction of Notting Hill, though we really only made…
A long-played note
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One day it rains. And then you walk by a tree and you see this. The winter in London is a long played note. Yet, there are reasons to love it here. Three are: 1. Green grass, no matter how little rainfall 2. Yummy Chinese food 3. Live music everyday, even in the Tube stations…
Hobby
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“I have an idea!” I think. And so it starts. I begin something new. Learning guitar Is the latest, That dust collector in the corner. Yoga practice, once a week, once a month, Or sometimes only in my mind. For about two days one February On the steps of the Nelson Art Gallery It was…
London Style
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We live not according to reason, but according to fashion. –Seneca From the beginning, one of the things I liked about London is one simple fact: You can wear anything here! And when I say anything, I mean it. Gone are the polished days of London Fog trenchcoats, black bowlers and Burberry plaids. (Well, the…
Counting Backward from 1000
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It’s black and dull in the room, but my mind shoots through with lights, flashes of bodies, voices shouting, tipping and wheeling around. I roll over and feel the body, warm and snoozing, next to me. I huff and sigh, my eyes following the crack on the ceiling. I could read. I could get up,…
Let the Sun Shine!
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For those of you ooohhing and aahhing over the excitement of life in London, I can tell you that there is one downside: the season they call “winter.”This isn’t really a “season” or anything like “winter” (except that Christmas takes place during it); no, it is just a VERY long extension of the worst possible…
