Two weeks ago we'd just about got home, three weeks ago we were there, in New Orleans (and this time next week I'll be heading north from Glasgow, en route to Invergarry)
So - lots of memories, lots of writing - mostly to go into the HoW book which I am extremely eager to see since if everyone is as greedy for space as I've been it should be a well-packed book of wonderful memories.
Lots of photographs too - I've finally found how to upload photos onto Isabelle's HoWNow site and looked with pleasure at those from Mike and Michael - hope everyone else puts theirs up there soon.
And talk already - we were talking a fortnight ago - of the next one - and where and when and who we most urgently want to see (another frequently-occurring topic of conversation)
It'll be something to look forward to for sure.
Sunday, September 26
Tuesday, September 7
The big easy
the girls in the
blues club I suppose
must be legal,
just.
they wear lampshades
for dresses,
belted under breasts.
they dance for
the band, for
the singer to notice.
the blonde tries
out sultry, she
must have
picked it up
off daytime telly.
anything but easy
her chin tucked
into her chest and
her shoulders
twitching, arms
flopping like
sausage links.
the singer he
notices alright,
but it is a slow night
blues club I suppose
must be legal,
just.
they wear lampshades
for dresses,
belted under breasts.
they dance for
the band, for
the singer to notice.
the blonde tries
out sultry, she
must have
picked it up
off daytime telly.
anything but easy
her chin tucked
into her chest and
her shoulders
twitching, arms
flopping like
sausage links.
the singer he
notices alright,
but it is a slow night
Polychromatic...
It rained today after everyone had left...
I felt like all the colours of New Orleans were getting to me earlier, this morning I "suffered" from a strange bodily reaction to something that I presumably ate or drank. Shauna mentioned earlier in the weekend how she had an allergy to shellfish combined with strong spirits, and in true writerly fashion I decided to come out in sympathy, take her experience, embellish it a little and make it my own ;)
At least, I can't think of a better reason other than a strange allergy why my shit started out grass green this morning, and gradually worked it's way to a turquoise/jade colour before (touch wood) returning to normal.
I knew you would love it that I shared that with you all... I'm now searching for one more scatological experience I can write about (to add to the Chocolate/Struggle piece that was my first at SSF) and I can have a shit triptych...
I felt like all the colours of New Orleans were getting to me earlier, this morning I "suffered" from a strange bodily reaction to something that I presumably ate or drank. Shauna mentioned earlier in the weekend how she had an allergy to shellfish combined with strong spirits, and in true writerly fashion I decided to come out in sympathy, take her experience, embellish it a little and make it my own ;)
At least, I can't think of a better reason other than a strange allergy why my shit started out grass green this morning, and gradually worked it's way to a turquoise/jade colour before (touch wood) returning to normal.
I knew you would love it that I shared that with you all... I'm now searching for one more scatological experience I can write about (to add to the Chocolate/Struggle piece that was my first at SSF) and I can have a shit triptych...
Monday, September 6
I don't like Mondays..
Not because of having to go to school/work etc, but simply because the group has to split up and go their separate ways today. Michael is already in the air above our heads. I note another bright morning sunrise slightly resentfully due to a mild headache and sore throat, but pick up the computer even though it is only 6:30am. Reading aloud posts and comments from friends on 6S to Mum, and exclaiming over a bunch of trite comments. My excuse is that "writers" (and how sweet to call myself that from the glow of a writers convention) have to be observant and pick up on the absurd to fuel their creative engines; but the truth is, I just like bitching at times, most times ;)
Yesterday afternoon was spent in the bar downstairs, because it is the best place to meet and chat, paper tumblerfuls of whisky, showing purchases (books, what else), Mike photographs Michael for a future art piece, we write bon mots into each others notebooks, and above all, chat. The afternoon draws into evening as we head out again, food and wine and conversation swirling around the table; and then we swirl into the crowds on Bourbon Street. The muted colours of daytime are a different place, noise and neon are the themes now. Drink and flesh on display everywhere, booming club music replacing the gentler (but somehow more alive) Jazz. We drank from our paper cups and observed the good natured revelry, and then retired to a room for refills and more talk into the night...
Dulled tired eyes above
the laptop screen, the boozy
night gets its revenge.
Yesterday afternoon was spent in the bar downstairs, because it is the best place to meet and chat, paper tumblerfuls of whisky, showing purchases (books, what else), Mike photographs Michael for a future art piece, we write bon mots into each others notebooks, and above all, chat. The afternoon draws into evening as we head out again, food and wine and conversation swirling around the table; and then we swirl into the crowds on Bourbon Street. The muted colours of daytime are a different place, noise and neon are the themes now. Drink and flesh on display everywhere, booming club music replacing the gentler (but somehow more alive) Jazz. We drank from our paper cups and observed the good natured revelry, and then retired to a room for refills and more talk into the night...
Dulled tired eyes above
the laptop screen, the boozy
night gets its revenge.
Sunday, September 5
a selection box
The colours of New Orleans are both vibrant and muted; bright but not flashy, like there is a silty undertone from the Mississippi taking the sharp edge off everything... I can't really describe them in a way to do them justice so here's a few snapshots...
Saturday, September 4
Contrasts
This morning, a guided tour of New Orleans, by "car", or at least what is a car here but a mini-bus in Europe. Out through the Vieux Carre, picking up history, myth, mythical history on the way; and on over the canal to see the "levee" that burst 5 years ago, and the Lower 9th district. For levee read wall, and I'm not talking about a big wall, nothing like the Berlin Wall, or the walls separating districts in Dublin or Belfast. It's not that there is no sign of tragedy; the memorial cleverly representing the height of the water is poignant, especially as from the car the height of the pole is roof height on all the dwellings I can see.
Before I came here I had absorbed media stories about how neglected this area was, how the residents had been simply left to sink or swim in the years since, how more was needed for those who had lost everything. But it was difficult to see this, I guess without an understanding of how things were before to contrast with. The houses that we saw were new, and well cared for, displaying invention in decoration, and yet an overall unity with the place and the community they were still in. The empty lots, mostly grassed over, they did not scream of emptiness to me, but cycles of fallow, seeding and harvest. The remaining ruins were not overwhelming, they also reminded me of Ireland, where planning permission is not needed to build the flashest of new houses as long as there was an old cottage on the land, and often the old cottage was kept there as a reminder. The impression overall to me seemed to be one of "Shit happens, get over it"; exemplified by the "FIDO" comment of the driver - "Forget it, drive on." Recovery seems to have a political element, with celebrity endorsed projects; projects for musicians - so as not to lose the "soul" of New Orleans, or at any rate the tourist dollars.
And then we drove to the cemeteries, where a plot and vault could be had for over $1million. Way, way more than a new house in the district we had just come out of. Given the population of the city of the living (~400,000 people I'm told), and the population of the city of the dead, well, the money seems to be flowing to the wrong places; as Mum said, you obviously can take it with you when you go.
It would be trite and an oversimplification to say I was speechless about this contrast; I don't really know what to think. I guess so far that New Orleans had felt like a cohesive vibrant, relaxed community; and I was suddenly aware of the divisions under the surface. There was a discusion last night on how to sum up the place in one word... I'm still searching for that word though.
Before I came here I had absorbed media stories about how neglected this area was, how the residents had been simply left to sink or swim in the years since, how more was needed for those who had lost everything. But it was difficult to see this, I guess without an understanding of how things were before to contrast with. The houses that we saw were new, and well cared for, displaying invention in decoration, and yet an overall unity with the place and the community they were still in. The empty lots, mostly grassed over, they did not scream of emptiness to me, but cycles of fallow, seeding and harvest. The remaining ruins were not overwhelming, they also reminded me of Ireland, where planning permission is not needed to build the flashest of new houses as long as there was an old cottage on the land, and often the old cottage was kept there as a reminder. The impression overall to me seemed to be one of "Shit happens, get over it"; exemplified by the "FIDO" comment of the driver - "Forget it, drive on." Recovery seems to have a political element, with celebrity endorsed projects; projects for musicians - so as not to lose the "soul" of New Orleans, or at any rate the tourist dollars.
And then we drove to the cemeteries, where a plot and vault could be had for over $1million. Way, way more than a new house in the district we had just come out of. Given the population of the city of the living (~400,000 people I'm told), and the population of the city of the dead, well, the money seems to be flowing to the wrong places; as Mum said, you obviously can take it with you when you go.
It would be trite and an oversimplification to say I was speechless about this contrast; I don't really know what to think. I guess so far that New Orleans had felt like a cohesive vibrant, relaxed community; and I was suddenly aware of the divisions under the surface. There was a discusion last night on how to sum up the place in one word... I'm still searching for that word though.
Well met
After a whisky tinted afternoon, the HoW'ers finally all get together around a table in Lafitte's at the Doubletree... En route to the hotel Shauna & Kevin have found a book, just lying in the street. An 18th century French dictionary, well, part of one at least, from T to Z.
Looking suitably literary, coffee cups (with their "secret" Irish ingredient) and beer mugs clutter the table. A further battered 3 volumes were also lying to be found, but too big, too heavy, too battered to be of use they were left behind. I should be able to think of a story to tell about those books, and if I can't, one of us here should... but I suppose that the "true story" of how they came to be there would be weirder, more mythic than I could imagine.
Friday, September 3
update ;)
We got to the magic number - 6x 6er's in one room drinking Irish/Scotch/US whiskey/whisky/bourbon.
Shauna is here somewhere and Michael & Teresa are en route...
Just going to line the stomach ;)
Shauna is here somewhere and Michael & Teresa are en route...
Just going to line the stomach ;)
Breakfast
Not at Tiffany's but at Stanley's. Piles of pancakes, strong coffee and grey marble topped tables. The cafe on the corner of Jackson Square has long tall windows, views of red painted building and scrollwork balcony out of one side; the other looking at the square with it's tarot card readers, people on a wheeled "walking tour, bobbing forwards and backwards to speed or slow.
Wood and glass and marble reflections; the height of the room making all the people stick to the lowest quartile of available space. Portions and proportions, we are not dwarfed by the space, New Orleans seems to be built on a more human scale, the ubiquitous skyscrapers away from this part of town.
I like it.
I like it.
Day 1
The Mississippi, unsuspected from the night before
Seen grey and opalescent from our eleventh floor
Hard-edged bright orange circle of the sun
It's cloud-cut rising at the start of HoW day one.
Seen grey and opalescent from our eleventh floor
Hard-edged bright orange circle of the sun
It's cloud-cut rising at the start of HoW day one.
we're here!
and pretty awake considering we were travelling and awake for 24hrs "yesterday"... The sun is just rising over the river and we are having a coffee & getting our heads together and planning (ok, deciding to mooch) for the day to get oriented and perusing maps...
Chatting over who was arriving when, we discovered that unfortunately Grey may not be able to join us; which is a great shame as we were looking forward to meeting her; along with all the people who willl be arriving later today!
Sandra is busily writing in her notebooks, and I am brain dead wrt writing at the moment; since we flew Delta airlines via Memphis I have the "Ohrwurm" of the song "walking in Memphis" cycling around my head. Not even the beer in the airport bar, charmingly accompanied by an Elvis impersonator crooning behind us, has managed to drive this song out of my head... I suspect it's there for the duration...
see you later!
Joe/Dwight predicted the time we would arrive at the hotel last night, and gave us a great welcome, rising from his perch on the bar stool in Lafitte's, where we later joined him for a quick beer and some appetisers before going our separate ways; us to bed to (hopefully) reduce our zombified demeanor, and Joe to try his luck at the casino across the road. The free drinks for ladies offer at Harah's was tempting, but I wasn't sure I was capable of passing for a "lady" at that time ;)
Sandra is busily writing in her notebooks, and I am brain dead wrt writing at the moment; since we flew Delta airlines via Memphis I have the "Ohrwurm" of the song "walking in Memphis" cycling around my head. Not even the beer in the airport bar, charmingly accompanied by an Elvis impersonator crooning behind us, has managed to drive this song out of my head... I suspect it's there for the duration...
see you later!
Thursday, September 2
Wednesday, September 1
Tuesday, August 31
En Route...
Well I hope Joe's flight gets there OK, 36hrs and I'll be at the airport... too early and pacing no doubt but I'll be there... wondering what I forgot to pack.
Browsing the supermarket after work today for something "typically German" to bring, I saw a pile of Kinder 'chocolates' - I use the word loosely as I'm not sure they've seen cocoa solids in their lives, but I digress; I did think about throwing a load of these "Happy Hippo's" in my suitcase to share... but then thought again... Do I want to be known as the Hippo girl?
By the way, if anyone actually likes Jagermeister let me know - I've a couple of bottles in the cupboard, one of which has never been opened and that I certainly won't drink...
Browsing the supermarket after work today for something "typically German" to bring, I saw a pile of Kinder 'chocolates' - I use the word loosely as I'm not sure they've seen cocoa solids in their lives, but I digress; I did think about throwing a load of these "Happy Hippo's" in my suitcase to share... but then thought again... Do I want to be known as the Hippo girl?
By the way, if anyone actually likes Jagermeister let me know - I've a couple of bottles in the cupboard, one of which has never been opened and that I certainly won't drink...
HoW Quotes: 14
HoW many ages hence
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
William Shakespeare
Shall this our lofty scene be acted over
In states unborn and accents yet unknown!
William Shakespeare
Monday, August 30
HoW Quotes: 13
It's none of their business that you have to learn HoW to write. Let them think you were born that way.
Ernest Hemingway
(a nice literary and writerly one for number 13)
Ernest Hemingway
(a nice literary and writerly one for number 13)
Sunday, August 29
HoW Quotes: 12
HoW far that little candle throws its beams! So shines a good deed in a naughty world.
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
right...
...I've played around on the computer, loaded the dishwasher, am boiling the kettle for a second cup of coffee or maybe I will try the chilli & cocoa tea I bought yesterday...
Then I will finally get down to it! To writing a list for the things I need to get down to over the next 4 days... and maybe get some things on the list ticked off too today, nothing like ticking off things to feel like progress.
4 days!!! HoW exciting ;)
Then I will finally get down to it! To writing a list for the things I need to get down to over the next 4 days... and maybe get some things on the list ticked off too today, nothing like ticking off things to feel like progress.
4 days!!! HoW exciting ;)
Saturday, August 28
HoW Wonderful
Bad news reversed and Michael will be there after all - what better reason for a glass (or two) of wine?
Bad news...
Damn Mexicana!
Michael we hope you can come up with some other plan so we can meet you in the flesh
Michael we hope you can come up with some other plan so we can meet you in the flesh
Friday, August 27
HoW to play the Dictionary/Fictionary game
I'm not saying we have to, but suggesting that we might, and it would be an idea to come prepared ... the Dictionary / Fictionary game is similar but simpler/speedier to the Ex Libris game that Gita mentioned. It's just a matter of choosing an obscure but interesting word from a dictionary and asking for definitions - I can guarantee that hysterical giggling will emanate from me and Gita, with or without alcoholic lubrication.
So, Be Prepared by making a list of half a dozen words in advance.
My all time, and partially appropriate for this event, favourite was 'mallemaroking'
There were several interesting possible meaning put forward for this by the then participants, and no-one guessed that its true meaning was 'the carousing of seamen in icebound ships'
So, Be Prepared by making a list of half a dozen words in advance.
My all time, and partially appropriate for this event, favourite was 'mallemaroking'
There were several interesting possible meaning put forward for this by the then participants, and no-one guessed that its true meaning was 'the carousing of seamen in icebound ships'
How Quotes: 10
HoW marriage ruins a man! It is as demoralizing as cigarettes, and far more expensive.
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde
Thursday, August 26
HoW Quotes: 09
We must believe in luck. For HoW else can we explain the success of those we don't like?
Jean Cocteau
Jean Cocteau
HoW good - a week today ...
Season of mist and mellow fruitfulness without a doubt today - more duck egg in the blue of the sky, the neighbour's Virginia creeper now red-edged and the pavements littered with the orange dots of rowan berries. Later today - 'after one o'clock' - I go to Yarm to collect our dollars, and later still, on television tonight, is a programme on Katrina - an amateur video account of its unfolding.
Hotel life...
Murder trail left on
white hotel pillows and towels,
red brick hair dye bleeds.
the maid HoWls?
white hotel pillows and towels,
red brick hair dye bleeds.
the maid HoWls?
Wednesday, August 25
HoW rude?
Just checked into the hotel for the night and dammit had to pay for internet access to feed my blogging addiction and blow me if in the "package" you don't get free access to adult movies... hence the question, how rude? Kinky College Girls; Dirty Asian Girls; MILF Magic 3 etc etc... Oh well, it's only temptation & we all know how good I am at resisting that ;)
I'm going to succumb to the urge for a good curry instead! Maybe keep my mind ticking over with a haiku on the situation...
I'm going to succumb to the urge for a good curry instead! Maybe keep my mind ticking over with a haiku on the situation...
HoW Quotes: 07
Every child is an artist. The problem is HoW to remain an artist once we grow up.
Pablo Picasso
Pablo Picasso
Tuesday, August 24
Odour pong
After three weeks of combine harvester drone we now have muck spreading. Just hope the pervasive reek fades before next week.
HoW Quotes: 06
HoW much more grievous are the consequences of anger than the causes of it.
Marcus Aurelius
Marcus Aurelius
And not to be sexist - King of New Orleans
A pretty successful secondspin punt this: Better Than Ezra
arghh
it is early. i have my passport. i have not had more than twenty minutes of consecutive sleep all night. in the five hours that i tried. waiting for the hot water to warm up while you are in the shower because no-one else in the block is up yet can go into Dante's modern circles of hell.
HoW Quotes: 05
Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love. HoW on earth can you explain in terms of chemistry and physics so important a biological phenomenon as first love? Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
Monday, August 23
weather - tisn't nobler, for sure
Pitch dark and pissing it down here now. Sky TV, seen while at the gym, showed flooded campsites in gale-stricken Norfolk, which is where elder son, wife and daughters age 2 and 4 are headed today, for a week - I wonder whether or not they went?
I DID get as far as clearing the spare bed to pile things on, and selected four books, as well as notebooks ... that's a start, at least.
And in the meantime I am distracted by the delicious odour of curry, as my DBS cooks tea downstairs
I DID get as far as clearing the spare bed to pile things on, and selected four books, as well as notebooks ... that's a start, at least.
And in the meantime I am distracted by the delicious odour of curry, as my DBS cooks tea downstairs
HoW to: The Art of Procrastination
Ok, where the fuck is my passport. I know I saw it to take a picture of it only yesterday, or no, it was Saturday already. And I need it to travel for work tomorrow... grr... the thing has grown legs and walked! Taken one look at the drear grey vertical wet stripes that is all the weather has to offer today, a liquid chain-mail curtain, and it's decided to burrow like the cat into a cushioned and cosy corner somewhere...
Perhaps it too has an aversion to packing. I have to be at work for a lift to the airport at 5am, which is a little early even for me. It means I can't pack in the morning. So I am procrastinating. Of course I had to update the TomTom with the latest maps etc. Because I will be on driving duty as we are travelling to a land where they drive 'an der anderen Seite'; or, what I still call home.
I probably didn't have to download the Dalek voice to give me driving instructions, but I just pissed myself laughing when it said "Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate... human" and it makes me smile each time I imagine the reaction of my colleague/travelling companion.
I didn't have to come in and sit straight down to log on at the computer - I mean it had been twenty whole minutes since I logged off at work. I did remember to get the washing out of the machine and turn on the huge towel rail/radiator in my bathroom & drape my wet clothes over it in an effort to dry at least one pair of jeans for the trip.
And I had to check that e-mail again, the one where I was cyber-dumped. Weird. Maybe with cyber naughties out of the way we can be cyber friends...? Too weird if virtual relationships start following the same dumb pattern as my real ones.
Normally if the cat is hiding somewhere, opening a nice meat-stinky packet of cat food will get him to come running. I wonder what works on passports? I'll have my tea and maybe play a facebook game or two while I think about that one.
Perhaps it too has an aversion to packing. I have to be at work for a lift to the airport at 5am, which is a little early even for me. It means I can't pack in the morning. So I am procrastinating. Of course I had to update the TomTom with the latest maps etc. Because I will be on driving duty as we are travelling to a land where they drive 'an der anderen Seite'; or, what I still call home.
I probably didn't have to download the Dalek voice to give me driving instructions, but I just pissed myself laughing when it said "Exterminate, exterminate, exterminate... human" and it makes me smile each time I imagine the reaction of my colleague/travelling companion.
I didn't have to come in and sit straight down to log on at the computer - I mean it had been twenty whole minutes since I logged off at work. I did remember to get the washing out of the machine and turn on the huge towel rail/radiator in my bathroom & drape my wet clothes over it in an effort to dry at least one pair of jeans for the trip.
And I had to check that e-mail again, the one where I was cyber-dumped. Weird. Maybe with cyber naughties out of the way we can be cyber friends...? Too weird if virtual relationships start following the same dumb pattern as my real ones.
Normally if the cat is hiding somewhere, opening a nice meat-stinky packet of cat food will get him to come running. I wonder what works on passports? I'll have my tea and maybe play a facebook game or two while I think about that one.
Guest write: 'Eau d'Joe' with thanks to Joe Gensle
I’m breaking a man-rule by admitting that, sometimes, there are those occasions that I enjoy shopping for clothing for myself. Those occasions are so rare that it’s usually a $300USD day without buying any shoes, accessories, or what I’d call ‘fancy’ clothes. ‘Fancy’ means slacks that need tailoring to finish the cuffs, shirts made for neckties I own but no longer need, and suits or blazers which I love but for which I have no need.
I read the shopping blog, here, and had already made my strategic mission into the mazes of sale racks of men’s shops and department stores. The mission was simple, really. Find clothing that’s impervious to gallon-per-hour perspiration, rain, and splashed drinks. Too, there’s the unique-to-New Orleans Café du Monde syndrome, namely, a ‘house’ custom of blowing one’s powdered sugar from atop the beignet.
We fat people are a sweaty lot, anyway. But blow powdered sugar on me when I’m completely perspired, and in one of my new easy-breathing shirts, and I’m going to be imperiled. I become subject to attack by relentless waves of dive-bombing mosquitoes. I stick to nearly anything that’s dry against which I’ve merely brushed a limb or affected article of clothing. Hell, I might even be mistaken for some colossal dessert by a Southern Decadencer, and you know my size and infirm leg do not the aerodynamic sprinter, make.
So I bought some nice shirts. I already have a share-sized golf-style umbrella that’s somewhat compact. I’m okay in the walking shorts department. I have more T-shirts than fans at a country music festival. Shoes? Well, my black ‘combat’ tennis, i.e. black New Balance shoes will sport fresh stings.
The other clothing needs are adequately covered for the trip.
But I was really short of one indulgence. Whether traveling or not, I like men’s cologne, and am verrrry picky about the fragrances I wear. Lagerfeld was made for my body chemistry, I’ve worn it more than 20 years, and recently ran out. ‘Aw hell,’ I thought, I’ll call my friend, Luv.
Luv works at a local drugstore’s cosmetic counter. So I asked her, “Do you have any of the nicer men’s fragrances at disaster-closeout prices?” and she assured me she did.
Although it seemed a bit sweet, there was something about the fragrance as I sniffed the box. Since she didn’t have a tester, she opened the box and produced a small square of index card-like material, and was ready to shoot. “Wait, Luv-- I need to know what it smells like on my skin.” And it was sweet, but there was also some subtlety to it, and it was mindful of something else of which I couldn’t think at that moment.
I’m the proud owner of a 3.4 ounce bottle of Tommy Bahama cologne. I wore it to work the other day and caught a whiff of myself on the commute. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. I smelt of a fucking tropical coconutsy pineappely drink. It was so spot-on, that when I got out of the car, I had the urge to look around to my massive bum to see if a paper umbrella had sprouted from my arse.
Please don’t blow your beignet sugar on me because I think this cologne is going to give me all the looks, comments and bugs I can handle. Or not handle, causing me to flee to my room and shower, clothing and all.
HoW soon - another song
The good news is that the countdown is short and it's NEXT WEEK - so HoW soon?, as Martha Wainwright sings, is now very soon ...
HoW Quotes: 03
HoW vain it is to sit down to write when you have not stood up to live.
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Sunday, August 22
Educating Julia
Well, having earlier finished my voracious gulping down of one of my latest sci-fi/fantasy novel purchases (Above The Snow Line: Steph Swainston) I now have to choose a new book to go to bed with, so I have picked "Me talk pretty one day" since several sixers have mentioned their admiration for David Sedaris.
Humour is a strange thing and often doesn't cross boundaries well, so I am interested to see how much I get out of this book. I'm not sure how many American comedians/comediennes I could name/enjoy. Apart from Bill Hicks, obviously ;)
According to Kate Fox (anthropologist & author of the fantastic book Watching the English) the "rules" of English humour are anti-earnestness, irony, understatement & self-deprecation; and the "rule" of English comedy is embarrassment. Think 'The Office' & 'Fawlty Towers'; Alan Partridge if he crossed the water. To quote from her book:-
In other cultures, there is 'a time and a place' for humour; it is a special, separate kind of talk. In English conversation, there is always an undercurrent of humour. We can barely manage to say 'hello' or comment on the weather without somehow contriving to make a bit of a joke out of it, and most English conversations will involve at least some degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humourous self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. Humour is our 'default mode'
Of course, this is not to say the English are "better" at humour, just that we are always looking to lighten a potentially awkward social situation by being a bit silly... forgive us in advance?
Humour is a strange thing and often doesn't cross boundaries well, so I am interested to see how much I get out of this book. I'm not sure how many American comedians/comediennes I could name/enjoy. Apart from Bill Hicks, obviously ;)
According to Kate Fox (anthropologist & author of the fantastic book Watching the English) the "rules" of English humour are anti-earnestness, irony, understatement & self-deprecation; and the "rule" of English comedy is embarrassment. Think 'The Office' & 'Fawlty Towers'; Alan Partridge if he crossed the water. To quote from her book:-
In other cultures, there is 'a time and a place' for humour; it is a special, separate kind of talk. In English conversation, there is always an undercurrent of humour. We can barely manage to say 'hello' or comment on the weather without somehow contriving to make a bit of a joke out of it, and most English conversations will involve at least some degree of banter, teasing, irony, understatement, humourous self-deprecation, mockery or just silliness. Humour is our 'default mode'
Of course, this is not to say the English are "better" at humour, just that we are always looking to lighten a potentially awkward social situation by being a bit silly... forgive us in advance?
HoW I spent my afternoon
HoW the...
It's just gone dark at 3:30pm, as a summer storm hits my little town of Siegburg. There are hailstones exactly the size of peanut M&M's (I know, I have just comfort eaten half a packet) battering my fuschias, and poor little Seville, never the bravest of cats is cowering under the kitchen table as the forked lightning appears in the strangely colourless sky...
It is August... it is summer for crying out loud!
It does match the rather torrid day I have had so far, but I am struggling to imagine HoW hot & humid it is half a world away...
It is August... it is summer for crying out loud!
It does match the rather torrid day I have had so far, but I am struggling to imagine HoW hot & humid it is half a world away...
HoW Quotes: 02
HoW sharper than a serpent's tooth it is to have a thankless child!
William Shakespeare
(I picked this one especially for you, Sandra!)
William Shakespeare
(I picked this one especially for you, Sandra!)
HoW Quotes: 01
HoW many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.
Coco Chanel
Coco Chanel
Saturday, August 21
HoW much!!!???
The Access bill arrived today. Gulp. And nearly everything on it was bought on the 10th August when, in the company of my daughter, I went to York for a day's shopping. Clothes shopping.
Now, anyone who knows me will know I don't do clothes: I am a natural-born scruff and wear nothing but jeans 95% of the time (daytime that is - I wear nothing at all at night), so this Access bill, with its list of purchases from M&S, Ecco, Debenhams, H&M and Long Tall Sally is a rarity. And in fact, although I thought I'd be buying clothes to try and look as thought I was someone who made an effort when visiting friends, many of them were not at all suitable for a visit to New Orleans. Some of the books might be, probably will be, and on other dates the haircut was essential, as was the battery for my car.
But it's a bloody big bill.
And it was also a highly enjoyable day
Now, anyone who knows me will know I don't do clothes: I am a natural-born scruff and wear nothing but jeans 95% of the time (daytime that is - I wear nothing at all at night), so this Access bill, with its list of purchases from M&S, Ecco, Debenhams, H&M and Long Tall Sally is a rarity. And in fact, although I thought I'd be buying clothes to try and look as thought I was someone who made an effort when visiting friends, many of them were not at all suitable for a visit to New Orleans. Some of the books might be, probably will be, and on other dates the haircut was essential, as was the battery for my car.
But it's a bloody big bill.
And it was also a highly enjoyable day
HoW Pile
Of course, the pile of packing so far is basically books, and I'm getting slightly anxious, as some of them look awfully thin... What if I read them all in the first couple of days? It's going to be a long trip there, three flights & fifteen hours flying... I'm wondering if I should stick the old faithful, battered and bent copy of Lord of the Rings in, that's always good for 3-4 days...
I did choose these books as a selection of American fiction, although not necessarily typical of Louisiana or New Orleans itself. I have recently read Anne Rice's "Feast of All Saints" but wasn't all that impressed, found it a little slow until around 75% of the way in, and the characters basically not particularly sympathetic or interesting. If anyone else has read this I would be interested in hearing your opinion. I just finished James Lee Burke's "Black Cherry Blues" which suited me far better, the characters jumped off the page at you, and the descriptive parts added mood and didn't slow the pace.
I did choose these books as a selection of American fiction, although not necessarily typical of Louisiana or New Orleans itself. I have recently read Anne Rice's "Feast of All Saints" but wasn't all that impressed, found it a little slow until around 75% of the way in, and the characters basically not particularly sympathetic or interesting. If anyone else has read this I would be interested in hearing your opinion. I just finished James Lee Burke's "Black Cherry Blues" which suited me far better, the characters jumped off the page at you, and the descriptive parts added mood and didn't slow the pace.
Of course, I could just interact with everyone instead of reading ;) But I'm guessing there will be bookshops in New Orleans in case of emergency... so here goes with the first HoW haiku:-
Pages like cloudy
veils, hiding my lack of words
with others' writing.
HoW Packing
Don't get me wrong, I am getting pretty excited about the trip, but there is one thing looming in the way of me enjoying the anticipation... Apart from my work wondering if I can fly to Detroit for a meeting on 30/31 August, come back to Germany on 1st, and then I would have to turn around & fly back over the Atlantic the following day.
No, it's not that that frets me, it's packing. I hate packing. Ideally I would just pick up the things below (maybe for this trip, my camera & laptop too, and a few essential books for the journey, stuff them in my hand luggage, and when I arrived at the hotel, magically, the things I would want to wear would be in the wardrobe (whether I possess them now or not!), and favourite and familiar toiletries would be in the bathroom.
I guess I don't like depriving myself of things by putting them in the suitcase too early. I might want to wear that t-shirt one more time before I go. My organisation ahead of trips is usually just about sufficient enough to ensure that all the clothes I might want are washed by the night before so they are mostly dry by the time I shut the case. And even more deprivation with books, not being able to pick up and read that one, because it is in "the pile". I have planned well this time though, with my recent trip to the UK I have around ten unread ones, not counting the four I plan to take with me.
And my "last minute things" bag which is basically toiletries... but now I am wondering... should I put nail varnish in?
HoWling limericks
We arrive after dark at the Doubletree
And partake of a nightcap with double D
He says he’ll be shaven
And we’ll be behavin’
Too knackered to down more than two or three.
Next day J and I will explore
Return for a drink about four
Unpack all our notebooks
Refurbish our good looks (!)
And go down to watch near the door.
I’m sure we’ll both recognise Gita
(So much have been longing to meet her)
No doubt she’ll be coming with Mike
Who, fuck knows, I’ll probably like
(Tho’ my language might be more discreeter)
Michael DJ Brown, in his thinking Rodin pose
Borrowed shirt of yellow, blue .. or rose?
I wonder will his visage sometimes frown?
I don’t believe he’ll really put us down
Just astound with the perfection of his prose.
Her email says “You’ll find me at the bar”
And I’m sure none of us’ll have to look too far
But it might be hard to seize her
Though we’ve seen pics of Teresa
‘Cos everyone will be there, that’s for sure.
Shauna says she isn’t socially aware
And never knows exactly what to wear
I suspect we are all equally cussed:
But what we’ll have between us all is trust
And we wouldn’t do a deed that isn’t fair
Grey says she’ll waft in, like mist
(I hope that by then I’m not pissed)
We’ll none of us talk like we write
(That we might would sure fill me with fright!)
But this How meet is not to be missed.
And partake of a nightcap with double D
He says he’ll be shaven
And we’ll be behavin’
Too knackered to down more than two or three.
Next day J and I will explore
Return for a drink about four
Unpack all our notebooks
Refurbish our good looks (!)
And go down to watch near the door.
I’m sure we’ll both recognise Gita
(So much have been longing to meet her)
No doubt she’ll be coming with Mike
Who, fuck knows, I’ll probably like
(Tho’ my language might be more discreeter)
Michael DJ Brown, in his thinking Rodin pose
Borrowed shirt of yellow, blue .. or rose?
I wonder will his visage sometimes frown?
I don’t believe he’ll really put us down
Just astound with the perfection of his prose.
Her email says “You’ll find me at the bar”
And I’m sure none of us’ll have to look too far
But it might be hard to seize her
Though we’ve seen pics of Teresa
‘Cos everyone will be there, that’s for sure.
Shauna says she isn’t socially aware
And never knows exactly what to wear
I suspect we are all equally cussed:
But what we’ll have between us all is trust
And we wouldn’t do a deed that isn’t fair
Grey says she’ll waft in, like mist
(I hope that by then I’m not pissed)
We’ll none of us talk like we write
(That we might would sure fill me with fright!)
But this How meet is not to be missed.
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