this is from an essay David Sedaris wrote for The New Yorker recently, and has popped up on a number of blogs I read since then.
on undecided voters:
“I look at these people and can't quite believe that they exist. Are they professional actors? I wonder. Or are they simply laymen who want a lot of attention? To put them in perspective, I think of being on an airplane. The flight attendant comes down the aisle with her food cart and, eventually, parks it beside my seat. "Can I interest you in the chicken?" she asks. "Or would you prefer the platter of shit with bits of broken glass in it? To be undecided in this election is to pause for a moment and then ask how the chicken is cooked."
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Some Good/Bad News
So I've been trying to convince Dave that our family should endure the 24 hour flight home to spend time with our family and friends over Christmas, and to introduce the smallest Ligertwood to them. And whilst he has been receptive to it, we both agree it comes rather hot on the tail of a holiday to San Francisco and it's not the optimal timing to break up the miserable London winter. Plus we discovered that due to Fred now requiring his own seat, the cost would be somewhere in the vicinity of a small car. Blah, blah blah. Bottom line is that we're not going to be there for the Christmas and NY period as I would have so dearly liked. Because there's nothing like being with family and friends at this time of year, nothing like the wonderful way in which people become relaxed and have bbqs and drink beer.
BUT the good news is that we probably will come a bit later in summer. Maybe sometime in the month of February we are thinking. Which is terribly exciting as it would guarantee that I'm going to be able to meet the newest Monaghan, which is just about the most exciting upcoming event on the Heather Radar.
Anyhoo. That's the news. Love it or love it.
BUT the good news is that we probably will come a bit later in summer. Maybe sometime in the month of February we are thinking. Which is terribly exciting as it would guarantee that I'm going to be able to meet the newest Monaghan, which is just about the most exciting upcoming event on the Heather Radar.
Anyhoo. That's the news. Love it or love it.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Nail. Head. On.
I'm sure most of you have seen this, or if you haven't you don't really care. But it's my blog and I'll blog what I want to.
Friday, October 10, 2008
its peckham, innit?
It has come to my attention (thanks mum) that I have not yet put up any pics of the area or house we moved into a few months ago. So I went trawling through my photos, only to find the ones I took of the house mysteriously gone. I doubt I deleted them, but suspect that they are probably hidden away in some random folder, to act as an example of what breastfeeding hormones do to your brain. Oh well. But what I do have is some photos of Peckham Rye Lane. The main street 100 yards away.
Perhaps I should explain better. Back in ye olde England times (16th century), Peckham was a relatively wealthy and influential area of london and by the 18th century Rye Lane was considered one of the major commercial roads of London, housing London's largest department store of hte day. However by the last century it had become an area synonomous with the cockney working class of london, some might remember it from that fine example of british comedy :Only Fools and Horses.
In the latter part of the 20th century, areas of Peckham were considered some of the worst residential areas in Europe. Urban decay, vandalism, graffiti, arson attacks, robberies and muggings were commonplace, and the area became an archetypal London sink estate. As a result, the area was earmarked for total regeneration in the late 1990s funded by the European Union.
Its a pretty interesting area of London to live. Definately what one would call a melting pot. On the one hand you have a large population of the traditional cockney english (now known as chavs), a HUGE population of Nigerians and Asian and an increasing population of relatively well-off people like Dave and myself who want affordable proper housing in central London (read: 3 bedrooms and a backyard). And it's all prettymuch divided up by the pretty amazing Peckham Rye Lane. On one side of lane you have all the estates nad 'affordable housing' and on the other side you have beautiful georgian and elizabethan terraced houses. Our house is about 100 metres from Rye Lane and although it is a disconcerting street where you feel like you might be in Nigeria rather than England - I absolutely love it cos there is a cinema, a library, a proper big supermarket, a train nad bus station and every type of store you could possibly need (from an Argos to a Primark to a Boots to a Woolworths). However if you head away from the lane towards the affluent suburbs of Dulwich and East Dulwich, you have yummy mummies pushing their prams to the organic store on Bellenden Road.
Below are some photos from Rye Lane. I'll take some of the other (much nicer) direction sometime soon. Oh - and you can't tell, but those snails were as big as my fist.
Perhaps I should explain better. Back in ye olde England times (16th century), Peckham was a relatively wealthy and influential area of london and by the 18th century Rye Lane was considered one of the major commercial roads of London, housing London's largest department store of hte day. However by the last century it had become an area synonomous with the cockney working class of london, some might remember it from that fine example of british comedy :Only Fools and Horses.
In the latter part of the 20th century, areas of Peckham were considered some of the worst residential areas in Europe. Urban decay, vandalism, graffiti, arson attacks, robberies and muggings were commonplace, and the area became an archetypal London sink estate. As a result, the area was earmarked for total regeneration in the late 1990s funded by the European Union.
Its a pretty interesting area of London to live. Definately what one would call a melting pot. On the one hand you have a large population of the traditional cockney english (now known as chavs), a HUGE population of Nigerians and Asian and an increasing population of relatively well-off people like Dave and myself who want affordable proper housing in central London (read: 3 bedrooms and a backyard). And it's all prettymuch divided up by the pretty amazing Peckham Rye Lane. On one side of lane you have all the estates nad 'affordable housing' and on the other side you have beautiful georgian and elizabethan terraced houses. Our house is about 100 metres from Rye Lane and although it is a disconcerting street where you feel like you might be in Nigeria rather than England - I absolutely love it cos there is a cinema, a library, a proper big supermarket, a train nad bus station and every type of store you could possibly need (from an Argos to a Primark to a Boots to a Woolworths). However if you head away from the lane towards the affluent suburbs of Dulwich and East Dulwich, you have yummy mummies pushing their prams to the organic store on Bellenden Road.
Below are some photos from Rye Lane. I'll take some of the other (much nicer) direction sometime soon. Oh - and you can't tell, but those snails were as big as my fist.
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