Dear Lord it's hot. Summer here can be quite relentless once it sets in and I feel it may have indeed set in.An Indian man in the Nature House told me yesterday that he knew I was English because I said, 'indeed.' His brother had been educated at and subsequently settled in Oxford. The man had noticed that whereas he himself said,
'Thanks a lot,' his brother (and by extension myself) would say,
'Thank-you very much indeed.'
'Indeed,' said I. Always useful to know. Later a Chinese woman informed me that I was English,
'Indeed?' I said again for emphasis,
'Yes, my sister live in England,' she said.
'Whereabouts?' I asked,
'I don't know,' she said, 'that place with Buckingham Palace.'
'Ah, indeed.'
I drove to downtown Vancouver in the heat of the midday sun. Well, not entirely, it was more like 14.00 hrs. I had given myself as much time as possible to get stuck in traffic, find the elusive parking and then to find the place.
My plan was to drive past the place and then circle around and around, ever widening until I found either a multi-storey or somewhere on a side-street.
But it turned out that Hornby Street was the one road that has multitudinous parking meters. I was able to park virtually opposite the address I had to go to.
I had also left enough time to be kicking my heels for a couple of hours inside the place. I had taken reading material and water. And I had taken every piece of paper we had that proved anything about Laurence since number four on the list of documents you MUST BRING was his driver's licence.
We were out of the building five minutes before the scheduled time of our appointment and driver's licences were not mentioned.
Now I have to shower and go back to work for an evening meeting. In order to do this I have to miss pub night with Kevin's co-workers and the visiting Dutchmen.
Yes.
Anyway, I noticed this piece from a British Muslim, Asim Siddiqui who says what needs to be said. The thing that always astounds me with the Guardian's 'comment is free' articles is the sheer twattery that comes from some of the commentators. Just some mind, most seem .... not insane.
Well, must go back to work. What is an evening for after all?
To my Americans, the ones I love that is, not the nitwit in charge, I hope you enjoy your Independence Day, even those of you who have to work.
6 comments:
And Independence Day it is. After the Charles City (IA) parade this morning, our timing was such that we were on the highway and awestruck by the approaching lengthy cavalcade of identical intimidating black vehicles escorted by a number of state highway patrol cars with lights flashing. Funeral? No. Drug bust? No. Secret Service? Yes. Ah, yes, presidential candidates were to be in the state for the holiday, we concluded. Watching tonight's news brought confirmation--it was the Clintons. You know them, Bill and Hillary. What a day! Dawn
Cool! Pity you didn't get to see them, but nice to know they were there and see them on the news.
Glad you had a great day.
Speaking of being English, here's a piece of good English humour ... and kind of apropos of a topic we hashed earlier.
A London editor writes to fire his resident astrologist, and the letter begins with thus,
Dear X,
As you no doubt will have foreseen ...
Gotta love that.
Another. I watched a documentary the other night on BBC2 about the life of lexicographer, Samuel Johnson. When he had finished his dictionary, a group of ladies came to congratulate him on his fine work. They added that he exercised very good taste in omitting all the vile and nasty words. Johnson replied,
Why, thank you, ladies, and it's refreshing to know that you knew exactly which words were omitted.
Hahaha, I love both those quotes. Surely there must be something nasty about Webster though. That would make me very happy indeed. The man was a butcher.
"Iowa? Oh yes, I contributed to the hole in the ozone layer there once..." Sen. Clinton in the future.
Hopefully that'll be President Clinton in the future.
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