There’s a race of men that don’t fit in, A race that can’t stay still; So they break the hearts of kith and kin, And they roam the world at will. They range the field and they rove the flood, And they climb the mountain’s crest; Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood, And they don’t know how to… Read more →
Tag: the road
Marco Polo, Nativity, Divine Fire, and blindspots in the mind
So I spent some time today–when I probably should have been doing something else–reading some of the Travels Of Marco Polo. Oddly, I don’t have a print copy of this in my library–an omission I shall have to correct at some point–but that wasn’t a problem since Project Gutenberg has a decent translation. I wasn’t reading for any particular purpose,… Read more →
Aside
While I’m mildly interested in the medical issues surrounding tire dust and latex allergies that Peter Montague raises in his piece “Tire Dust“, I’m much more interested in the history of automotive cabals explicitly destroying electric public transit, as that’s something I was previously unfamiliar with (and frankly, from this one source I don’t have enough to know if it’s something that can be tarred with the “conspiracy theory” brush, despite having footnotes
What I Did On My Summer Vacation, By Chris McLaren, Age 36
I’ve been away from the Internet, and this blog specifically, a bit lately, and so I thought I’d give you a little photographic taste of what I’ve been up to. (Click on through if you’re interested.) Read more →
Sic Transit Gloria Mundi
One of my favourite possessions is my Tilley. Yes, I know that most people who wear them are at least a generation older than I am. Yes, I know they’re hardly fashionable. I could care less–I am quite fond of my khaki/olive T5. Here’s the thing: it fits–no small thing for a man who was laughed out of a hat… Read more →
April Whinging: Near-death experiences and complaint letters
OK, so… April. Yeah, that wasn’t a party. First there were the two weeks in a four week period that I was on the road for work–that’s more being away from home than I like. Then there was the massive and literally stunning workload–I don’t want to go into detail about my job here, but the scope of my responsibility… Read more →
The Blagger’s Guide, et. al.
I had almost 12 hours in the car yesterday, and for most of that time I listening to various things on my iPod. Obviously there was some music–you can’t road trip without music–but these days I spend a lot more time on non-music content. I finished listening to a kids’ book I had been listening to with my daughterHey, I… Read more →
Aside
I’m glad I wasn’t trying to drive home last week. Especially since my normal routing takes me through the Cobequid Pass at night. On the up side, I missed the normal post-snow power outage (which the girl apparently weathered with no trouble), which means I also skipped the several hours of impotent rage and ranting about privatization that usually accompanies that.
Post-Storm Scenery
For no special reason, here’s a photo of my second favourite vista on the “backwoods Maine” segment of my drive to Boston: Check out that sky. Oh, and the favourite vista on Route 9? There’s not really a safe place to stop and take a picture. Besides, I kind of like it being this ephemeral thing I have to grab… Read more →
Road Trip?
In theory I’m driving down to Boston tomorrow. My route will look something like this: The tiny eight ball there indicates roughly where I expect to be at around 2PM local time. Why 2PM? Hold that thought. Normally I take the southern route, going through Saint John, and crossing into Maine much closer to the ocean, but for reasons that… Read more →
Commonplaces
Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. —Edgar Allen Poe Reading furnishes the mind only with material for knowledge; it is thinking that makes what we read ours. —John Locke, Of Reading Why shouldn’t things be largely absurd, futile, and transitory? They are so, and we are so, and… Read more →
Their great chicken-bone and moonshine empire will rise again
I know you’re already seen this, but it’s just too good to let go by. My favourite bit references the hobo signs stuff we were looking at earlier this month: And they devised a secret language of signs and scrawls used to alert their passing brethren to danger or opportunity. A crucifix chalked on the side of a house meant… Read more →
A moment of hobo appreciation
I passed a lovely bit of time today reading The American Hobo by Colin Beesley, a British academic paper about a quintessentially American phenomenonThe paper is hosted by northbankfred.com, a site dedicated to trains and the hobo experience. Be sure to browse around and check out some of the other articles, photographs, or if you’re really hard-core, the stories!. I’ve… Read more →
Say That I Was Foolish, Say That I Was Blind…
…NEVER say that I got left behind. I have not been here, because I have been driving ridiculous distances around North America to visit friends and to see the Oysterband live (third time!) I think I had an idiot grin on my face for about six hours after the show. I will be discussing this at length at some later… Read more →
The use of time
Sunday: 3 hours of packing. 1 hour of back-and-forth. 11 hours of driving (5 hours of music, 6 hours of radio plays.) 3 hours of reading. Monday: 9 hours actually in the office. 7.5 hours of meetings.I normally have several hours a day of tele-meetings. Attending a meeting is much less onerous when it can be done with continuous partial… Read more →
