Bunny business

The other day when we were at the playpark I came across a large branch that had fallen off a tree, presumably during a snowfall.  It was rather a pretty shape, so I popped it in the back of the car, brought it home and stuck it in a plant-pot.  Very nice.

Then today when I was rootling through a closet looking for something else I came across a box of felt bunnies.  I bought them a couple of years ago in an "Ah, those'll come in handy" moment - you know, like you get sometimes (though probably not so much if you're a bloke).

The rest, of course, was inevitable.

I may get to collect more snow-felled branches to decorate rather soon.  We're expecting an all-day snowstorm tomorrow to mark the start of April.  No fooling.

Flower power

I mentioned back on Saturday that the Man and I had seen some rather memorable floral exhibits at the Flower and Garden Show...  If any readers are in touch with the organisers of Linton's Flower Festival and/or the annual Garden Show you might want to suggest the following as categories.

First this one in the category: "An arrangement featuring a national flag, in the colors thereof".  Oo, look at that!  A floral tribute to our home country!  Would have been even more authentic in a tea-cup...

And this: "An arrangement representing an international holiday".  Can you recognise this special day?

But the category that moved us most was (at a guess): "An arrangement featuring a man-eating creature and at least one creepy clown.  Flowers optional." 

Your challenge - write the Village Hall judge's notes for one or all of the above. 

Peace, protest

You've probably seen peace poles like this on your travels - they're in all sorts of places.  The centre of Woodstock was a very unsurprising location to find one.  But its message, May Peace Prevail on Earth, seemed to be lost on our crew on Sunday. 

The Boy had a half-day today and had a couple of friends round for the afternoon.  Fun.  The Girl had a six-hour school play rehearsal.  Also fun, by all accounts.  'Cause it wasn't all work, work, work - there were make-your-own ice-cream-sundaes, too.

Out of the frame

After our unscheduled visit to the lighthouse yesterday, we drove on towards Woodstock. 

Since we were passing Jolly's British Food Store anyway... we stopped in and restocked on such necessaries as Frank Cooper's Oxford Marmalade, Rowntrees Fruit Pastilles and Cadbury's (fairtrade!) Chocolate Buttons.  And you should have heard the Girl's whoop of delight when she set eyes on the Curlywurlies!

On to Woodstock, that colourful hippie, trippy town, where we enjoyed a good poke around the Tinker Toys Too toyshop, and the excellent little Golden Notebook bookstore.  The kids enjoyed this street art installation entitled "My 15 Minutes of Frame".

Then to round off the afternoon, a hike.  More of a cold, snowy scramble really.  The Kaaterskill Falls trail looked quite different from our last, summer, visit.  For one thing, most of the path was covered in ice or packed-down snow, making it quite treacherous.  But it was worth the slipping and sliding to see the mighty falls, part frozen and magnificent, at the end of the trail.

(Note Girl, added for scale.)

To the Lighthouse

Today, by a happy navigational error, we found ourselves at the trailhead to Saugerties Lighthouse on the Hudson River.  We'd been in the car for a while by then, so we decided to roll out and explore the half-mile nature preserve on a spit of land, with its route over boardwalks and bridges, which took us to the very charming lighthouse. 

Built in 1869, it looks much more like a regular house than the more familiar seaside tower lighthouses - a regular house with a big light on top, that is.  It was decommissioned in 1954 and stood vacant for many years until rescued and restored by local enthusiasts. We wandered around the outside of it (indoor tours won't begin until Memorial Day), congratulating ourselves on our discovery and admiring the views up and down the river.

We were excited to learn, from a sign, that it's possible to stay in the lighthouse as a B&B guest - a little bit on the lines of Landmark Trust properties in Britain.  But clearly we are not the only ones to think this is a very cool idea - the place is booked up until November.  Maybe we'll keep an eye on the website, in case of sudden cancellations.

The lighthouse was not the only stop on our afternoon out, but I'll save the rest for another day.

Going to seed

The Man and I dropped in on the Capital District Flower and Garden Show today, in the sports building of Hudson Valley Community College.

I'd always wondered what you could do with an ice-rink in the off-season.  Why, fill it with garden displays, of course!  Several landscaping companies had come in and packed the space with trees, shrubs, bulbs and a whole lot of mulch.  Our favourite, by some margin, was a recreation of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, with a very inviting natural garden around it.

Also on show were some memorable floral arrangements, a la Linton Flower Festival / Garden Show - but more on those another day.  What really caught my fancy was a stand in the trade hall.  It was an odd collection of stalls in there, to be honest - everything from cheese to double glazing, with a few plants thrown in - but I was very taken by the Hudson Valley Seed Library.

I hadn't heard of this organisation before.  I gather it started as a sort of community scheme to preserve heirloom plant varieties.  Now it supplies beautifully packaged seeds grown on small sustainable farms.  I do like seed packets at the best of times, but these were extra lovely, especially a series called "Art Packs" - each package designed by a different artist, and made to be unfolded and framed once the seeds are planted.  Bourgeois nonsense really, I suppose, but you know - useful and beautiful, William Morris would have approved.  I was tempted into buying several packets, which I may give as gifts but may just as likely keep for myself.

Thoroughly Pottered

I had to pop down to the library at the last minute last night, in an effort to avoid yet more fines.  It was about to close, but there was just time to check the audiobooks section as the Boy had specially requested.

A mild-mannered librarian asked if she could help me find anything.  "Harry Potter," I found myself half-snarling - sounding not unlike Snape, now I come to think of it.  "Audiobooks.  But you don't have any today.  And frankly it's a relief because in our house we have to listen to them all the time."

"Oh, ok, I see.  Err, I won't offer to look for them then..."  said the librarian smiling nervously as she backed away from me. 

I went home empty-handed.  And listened to some Harry Potter which the Boy had out already.

The Losing of Wisdom - part 1

I've been having a bit of toothache lately, and today the dentist told me what she plans to do about it.  I have a cracked tooth which needs crowning, and to do that properly I'll need to have the wisdom tooth next to it removed.

Oh joy.

The dentist was very reassuring, as she always is, and told me how much better my bite will be without the pesky wisdom tooth etc etc.  When I queried the evolutionary necessity of wisdom teeth (which seem to be nothing but trouble), she went into great detail about nut-loving Neanderthals, and elephants losing their teeth by the age of sixty and dying of starvation. I rather lost the thread, but was left with the distinct impression that, unless I follow her treatment plan, I'm doomed.

The dental assistant was also gaily reassuring.  "Oh, people will tell you horror stories about having their wisdom teeth out" she said, "But don't you listen - that's not going to be your experience."  In fact she painted such a rosy picture of the extraction process that I expect by the end of it I'll be clamouring to have more teeth out.  But maybe not.  I'll let you know...

Tongue twisters

The Science Fair is something of a staple in American public (trans. not private) schools.  Tonight we got to experience one for ourselves.

Children across all grades had the option to take part - though I hadn't been entirely aware of this until tonight.  Anyway, the Boy had opted not to take part.  The Girl teamed up with her two favourite classmates to do a poster and presentation on genetic traits.  They explained about dominant traits (such as Robert Mitchum's cleft chin) and recessive traits (such as the Girl's inability to roll her tongue).  They offered a hands-on, or rather tongue-on, taste test with little strips of paper (supplied by the science-teacher-mom of one of the girls).  You could either taste bitter, or nothing.  Man, Girl and I tasted nothing, but the Boy had to rush off, yukking violently, to look for a drink of water. In theory this puts his paternity in question, but (even if I didn't know better anyway) I've known him gag on tasting the "wrong" kind of rice krispie, so I'm not too concerned.

There were hundreds of other projects to look at, and some very able young presenters.  A first grader gave me a detailed tour of the planets.  One of the Boy's friends showed us how to make a lava lamp using oil, water and alkaseltzer.  One child topically looked at the pros and cons of nuclear energy.  There was a mini maglev train, and toothbrush robots.  And who could resist "GERMS ARE EVERYWHERE", with a range of petri dishes demonstrating exactly why you never want a dog to lick your face. 

All in all an impressive experience.  Oh, and yesterday's challenge, the thing only eighteen North Americans can do?  That's tying a knot in a cherry stem using only tongue and teeth.  Go on, give it a try...

A busted flush; our numbers up

Apart from enjoying the lovely Spring weather (of fond memory) on Sunday, we also managed a little DIY. 

I've moaned before about toilets in this country (from about day two of being here) and we had more cause for complaint this weekend when the tank lever in the downstairs loo suddenly snapped, completely disabling the flush. 

So, a little trip to Lowes for the Man and me, to buy the replacement plastic part which should by all rights have cost 50c but which, as I correctly predicted, actually cost $3.98.  While we were in the store we also finally (after more than three years) got round to buying some house numbers to stick on the mailbox.

They are reflective numbers, very clever:  firefighters should be able to read them even at night, but readers of this "anonymous" blog cannot...

Tomorrow, I shall be finding out about something that (according to the Girl) only eighteen people in the whole of North America can do.  Any guesses?

The first day of Spring

Yup - we woke up to snow again, even though it's the first day of Spring.  Still, it's not like we hadn't been warned - this video was doing the rounds even before we moved out here (you need to watch about twenty seconds of it).  NB If the link here doesn't take you to the right place in the video, try and start 5 minutes and 16 seconds in...

Whale-way engine

Remember this dude?  He and some other homemade Pokemon pals had fun racing the Boy down our drive this morning in assorted vehicles (this engine, plus various dumper trucks, scooters and skateboards). 

We've flown a kite, played badminton and ball games in the yard, in the street and down at the town park, and generally enjoyed our Sunday.  The Man and I also got up to Thacher Park to see this waterfall - all but the central spout is still frozen, like an ice-palace.  Can you spot the Man somewhere in the picture?

It was great to be outside today - blue skies and sunshine and a real feeling of Spring in the air.  As it should feel on the first day of Spring (the vernal equinox occured here at 7:21pm).  So just guess what's in the forecast for tomorrow...

Supermoon

 Friends alerted us to the fact that tonight we have a supermoon, closer to the Earth than it has been since December 2008, or will be again until November 2016.  The Girl and I saw it in its glory as I drove her round to her friend's house this evening, and the Man has been wandering the local streets in search of a good view (though a point-and-shoot camera cannot do it justice).

I spent the morning creating a posterboard for Friends of Five Rivers.  The kids, the Girl in particular, helped me out with the artwork, so that was fun.  This afternoon I took it down to the nature centre and sat at a membership table during the annual Maples Open House.  Didn't manage to enlist any new members, though several people took leaflets and you never know, one or two may eventually sign up.  A couple of people mentioned that they'd been coming to Five Rivers for years but weren't even aware of the Friends - which makes me think it's high time we cranked our PR machine up a gear or two.

The rest of the afternoon was spent far from nature - at the shops, buying the many assorted things the Girl needs for her role in the school Musical.

Warm up exercise

Yesterday was so warm, around 60F, that for the first time this year I was able to open windows all over the house and not feel chilly at all.  Today has been much the same.

The warmer weather is making short work of the snow, which is disappearing rapidly - though there are still sad heaps of it in shadier corners, looking rumpled and discarded, not unlike the piles of clothes to be found scattered around a certain Girl's bedroom.

I spent a merry couple of hours at the local Methodist Church this afternoon (we're planning a fair trade market together), and got my fresh-air-and-exercise by walking there and back, and some more by almost retracing my steps a couple of hours later as I went to collect the Boy from a playdate.  Walking is always worthwhile: on my travels today I managed to run into a friend, and also rescued a stray dog - yes, another one.

Get your green on

Well, to be sure now, 'tis St. Patrick's Day again, is it not?  And as you may remember, St Patrick's Day is a big deal around here.  Needless to say we'd forgotten all about it in our household.  The children went to school as normal, and the Boy turned out to be the only kid in his class not wearing green - but being a resourceful sort of fellow he found a marker pen and coloured his arms green instead. 

There was still plenty of green being sported at a choral event we attended this evening.  Held at the High School, it featured 5th Graders (including our Girl) from all six of the district's elementary schools - a choir of 500 or so in total.  They sang some songs by themselves, and others alongside the much older High Schoolers, and it was all very lovely in quite a traditional sort of way.  It featured one song commissioned just for this event - the composer (Nick Page) conducted, and the poet who'd written the lyrics was also present.  Our daughter performed in a premier, no less.

As soon as the elementary students' part in the concert ended, we were all respectfully invited to leave as quickly as possible so that Middle Schoolers and their parents could arrive and find parking spaces before the show continued.  The Girl stayed behind to watch her Middle School buddy performing, while the rest of us came home for dinner.  Still failing to mark the day, the Man and I didn't eat so much as a potato, never mind the ubiquitous corned beef and cabbage dinner.  We had pizza.

Albaniana and the Chamber of Secrets

Last night we finished watching one of the Harry Potter movies on DVD.  There were the usual endless scenes of Harry and pals wandering about in gloomy forbidden corridors at Hogwarts, encountering who-knows-what appalling terrors.

Today it was my turn!  With another mom I got to explore the dark and dingy dungeons basement storage area at the Middle School.  Though we weren't hunting trolls or dragons, we did come across some pirates and skeletons... 

We were borrowing costumes for the 5th Grade musical - the Middle School has a whole roomful and we had free range.  After an hour or more of rummaging in boxes, we came out lugging half a dozen bin-bags stuffed with Victorian dresses, extravagant hats and natty waistcoats ("vests", if you must).  The kids are going to look the perfect picture of 1890s elegance.

Then we legged it out of there, before the gnarly old janitor with the oil lamp and the mangy cat could catch us...

Ice cream for fair trade

I renewed my acquaintance with the dentist today, or at least with the hygienist.  We had a nice chat about winter sports, then she hacked away at my teeth and gums with her implements of torture.  Next time I see her we'll be discussing how the summer vacation has gone.

As an antidote to the dental care, I visited an ice cream exhibit in the afternoon.  Well, sort of.  The local High School has started serving Ben & Jerry's fair trade ice cream in its cafeteria, and some students have made posters explaining what FT is all about.  They've put together a big display in the students' foyer, and I'd been invited to take a look.

It matters a lot to me that local kids are picking up the fair trade banner.  I was really happy to see their work and how they are embracing this movement. One had summed things up perfectly, writing "[Fair trade] goes to the heart of our values...the sense of right and wrong."

Tall and short of it

I finally managed to resolve my poster printing problems of a couple of days ago.  The posters look good, and I've started putting them up around the place. 

In the show advertised on the posters, the Girl plays the key role of "Lady #4" and sings songs about being a suffragette.   The same role is played by her best friend in a later scene - but they can't share a costume on account of the friend being two heads taller.  Which tends to be the way with most of her friends, it must be said.

If you are enjoying the challenge of yesterday's Korean quiz photo, here are a couple more to keep you busy. What is the purpose of this channel (seen on the Seoul underground/subway)?

And what is this the master control panel for?

Glorious Twelfth

The Man had to go into work this morning, which was a shame but it happens sometimes.  By the time he got home, the Boy had been whisked off for a roller skating outing at Guptills with his buddy. He tells us he did 31 laps or more of (you'll remember) the world's biggest roller skating rink.  The rest of us decided to go swimming, and followed that up with a few turns around the ice-rink - even the Man, though of course he lacks the intensively tutored grace on ice of the Girl and - ahem - me.  Then what with a library visit and a trip to the supermarket, the short-by-an-hour day had pretty much been filled.

If you're puzzled by the title, I do know it's not the 12th today (and far be it from me to encourage you to go and shoot a grouse, anyway).  But it is our twelfth wedding anniversary - glory be.

On the subject of enduring lurve, who can guess what this - seen in Seoul - is all about?

March forward

Signs of Spring in the UK this time of year are, as far as I can remember, lovely things like nodding daffodils and green leaves unfurling everywhere you look.  Round here we have to be content with patches of mud and crushed grass finally emerging from under the melting snow.  It might be another month before we see fresh leaves and flowers.

The Man and I took a stroll round the Five Rivers Beaver Tree trail this afternoon - though it was more of a skid and a scramble.  The path was as icey as we've ever known it - where there was a path at all. 

We weren't the only ones out and about.  There were Canada geese, just back from their winter down south, crossing the thawing pond.  Another sure sign of Spring!

And a couple more indications that winter is nearly over:  the last skating lesson of the season was today.  And the clocks go forward tonight.

Nightmare

I've had a frustrating day attempting to get some posters printed for school.  Who'd have thought it would be such an insurmountable task?  One printer wanted to charge an exorbitant price; the next had a great price...but not enough of the right kind of paper; the next... oh, it just went on and on.  What a nightmare!

No, not a nightmare.  Of course not.  Finally home, still posterless, at the end of the afternoon I sat quietly for a minute with a cup of tea, and thought about a real nightmare - the news I'd heard on the radio in the small hours:  a massive earthquake in Japan, a deadly tsunami. 

I have many friends in Japan.  Most live south of Tokyo and most likely will not have been directly affected by today's events.  But I'm sure that whole nation will be feeling grief and fear - and we can all share those feelings.  We forget, day to day, that our ordinary lives are so frail, and that Nature can be an all-powerful force.  It's scary to think of all the lives swept away in a moment by that terrifying wave; almost scarier to think of the countless more lives that now must carry on, changed forever.

So yes, I had a rather fruitless and frustrating day - and I don't much mind.  In fact I'm thankful for it, and for the chance of another day tomorrow.  My heart goes out to Japan.

Shorts story

Relentless drizzle all day today.  I trudged damply round to school this evening for a meeting about costumes for the 5th Grade Musical.

I knew I was in a foreign country when the person in charge announced that all the boys playing boys (as opposed to men) in the play should identify themselves by wearing...knickers?  And then another mom piped up, "Perhaps with suspenders, too?  That'd be cute!"

"Whaaaat?"

...I nearly yelped.  But I thought better of it.  I'd just have confused everyone, because of course they all knew that by "knickers" they meant long shorts, and by "suspenders" they meant braces.

"Tank tops" here are worn under your clothes, and "vests" are worn over your shirt.  A "jumper" is a kind of dress.  And let's not forget the ever-trusty "pants" (snigger).

Our common language continues to divide us.  But I just have to go with the flow.  Well, there's no point getting my knickers in a twist about it, is there?

Whale informed students

I had a "whale of a time" today visiting the 5th Graders' Whale Museum in the school cafeteria.  There were project books about whales, posters about whales, and many many models of whales, crafted from an astonishing variety of materials.  Cuddly whales, papier mache whales, cake whales, woolly whales, a Lego whale (very impressed by that one), what looked suspiciously like fully-glazed pottery whales...  The Girl's effort was crafted from junk, specifically plastic waste (to highlight the amount of plastic clogging the oceans and endangering sealife).  I think the resulting Right Whale is rather nice.

I fully admit there was an element of "parent project", at least in our house, and in quite a few others too, I imagine.  The Girl definitely did as much work on her whale as I did, though, and it was a nice mother-daughter bonding exercise...so that's ok then.  Isn't it?

My brilliant Korea

The Man writes...on Saturday, the Exile and I got up just before dawn to climb the hill behind the little house in the country where we were staying. It was a great way to start the last day of our Korean adventure. And a chance to get a little exercise.

We had arrived in Seoul late on Monday, specifically in the Myeongdong district, which presented an enjoyable assault on all the senses. Next morning we visited the extensive Gyeongbokgung Palace and took a cable car to the N'Seoul Tower to peer at the city through the snowy gloom. 

We hurried to the train which transported us at up to 300km/hour to our final destination: the city of Miryang. Miryang has a population of over 100,000, but it is in an agricultural area and currently off the international tourist map. Late in the week we ran into an actual American in a bank, who taught English in six of the local schools. He told us we had chanced upon one of only two ATMs in the whole city that took foreign cards. 

The cultural immersion was emphasised by our accommodation: described by our hosts as a traditional Korean guest house, it was a single dwelling in the middle of a farming village about five miles out of town. There was no furniture, no beds and, for the last night when the gas ran out, no heating and no hot water. Lacking anything else to do, we went to sleep early and got up to take wonderful walks at dawn.

There were few common cultural points of reference with our hosts, but they were enthusiastic about English soccer, particularly Manchester United. Asked if they knew any British rock stars, they offered 'The Beatles" and (less obviously perhaps) Victoria Beckham. On the final evening, after three days of meetings,  they persuaded us to join them in Karaoke - the type where you get a private sound-proofed room with your friends - where the Exile and I gave a version of the Righteous Brothers' "Unchained Melody" which will surely live long in their memories.

After our dawn walk on Saturday, we were taken to Pyochungsa: a fifteen hundred years old complex of wooden temples set among steep hills and bamboo forests. Peaceful and incredibly beautiful.

There was time for just one more lunch, as always taken sitting on the floor. There were more than thirty dishes on the table at the start -  mostly vegetarian, variously spicey, and all delicious - but more and more kept arriving over the next hour and a half. The whole time our bowls of makkolli (rice wine) were repeatably topped up to the brim, invariably with the earnest (and completely untruthful) promise: "No alcohol".

After lunch we said goodbye to our generous hosts and I took the train to Seoul, then another to the airport, endured a fourteen hour flight to Atlanta, a three hour layover, and then a two hour flight to Albany. After all this, it came as some surprise to realise it was still Saturday.

Another bloomin' snow day

A snow day in March, I ask you...

After dark fell yesterday the rain started freezing on every surface, and in the night the snow came.  It snowed until midday - about five inches in all, I think, though it was hard to measure as it was blowing about and drifting.  The school district first of all called for a two hour delay, but soon after decided to go the whole hog and gave everyone the day off.

Once I'd managed to peel the kids off the computer we had a rather enjoyable and creative day.  The Girl and I started another sewing project (a cat this time) and also opened a toys' hospital where we repaired various cuddly things that had been suffering from overdoses of love.  Meanwhile the Boy recreated Hogwarts Express with his train track in the basement.  Later the Girl joined him down there, and with the help of a couple of chairs began teaching herself "Chinese Jumprope" (what I grew up calling "elastics").

I couldn't persuade the children outside at all, even once the snow had stopped and the sky turned miraculously blue.  I took a walk around the block, admiring the fresh snow which lay as smooth as royal icing on a cake.  It was almost as hard as royal icing, too, when it came to shovelling the drive - the toughest snow to shift that I've experienced, and all sitting on top of a layer of gritty ice. 

To compensate for the back-breaking shovelling, all the trees looked absolutely beautiful today - covered in tiny icicles that glinted in the sun like a million diamonds.

March of the penguins?

The Man arrived home at 1am and slept pretty soundly until mid-morning - which was more sleep, by the sounds of it, than he'd had all week.  He has been regaling us today with tales of his Korean experiences, and he does seem to have had an interesting time.

I hosted a useful meeting at midday, discussing PR and membership-building strategies for Friends of Five Rivers.  Some exciting ideas were batted about and I foresee a busy time ahead.

Immediately after the meeting the Girl and I hurried out to attend a Girl Scout "Mother/Daughter Tea" at a local church hall.  Tables were elegantly bedecked and plates groaned with fruit and desserts.  We got to hang out and make bracelets, and the Girl earned a "tea party" badge to add to her collection.  I swear when I was a Brownie Guide it took more to earn a badge than filling your face with eclairs and cupcakes, but what do I know?  It was a nice occasion, anyway.

It has been raining all day and a lot of snow has melted - we've even seen odd patches of grass for the first time since Christmas.  However the temperature has now dropped and the rain is freezing, and we are warned to expect overnight snow.  I suppose we're still near enough the beginning of March for these to count as "in like a lion" conditions - so by all rights the end of the month should be lamblike and balmy...

Home time

It's been a day of some to-ing and fro-ing, and lots of making and doing.  The Boy invited himself round to his best buddy's house (aka his second home).  The Girl and I had our skating lesson (I was excited to be taught how to put some of the moves I've learnt together into a series) followed by lunch at one of our favourite cafes.

In the afternoon the Girl and I stayed in and worked on a project I'm helping her complete for school (more on that another day) and then we put our minds and a sewing machine to work creating a patchwork pooch.  I'll add a photo tomorrow [see - I have!] when we'll have the camera back because...

...the Man is on his way home!  Has been all day, poor thing.  Last I heard he was in Atlanta, waiting to fly back up here and expecting to arrive around midnight.  Perhaps he'll blog about his adventures sometime, when he's managed to sort out where he is and what day it is.

Temple tours

I've had a busy-ish day, but mostly working towards events and projects that might be more interesting to write about when they are further along.  So instead I'll share some more pictures the Man has sent home:

Hat trick

Yesterday brought another light dusting of snow.  Today we've been back into well-below-freezing temperatures.  But this morning, getting ready for school, the Boy explained to me that in view of the date he would not be wearing his balaclava anymore.   Once we're into March, apparently, a simple hat is sufficient - no matter how cold it gets.  That'll show this pesky season a thing or two!

Koreana

The Man has sent some more photos, taken rather early in the morning (that's jet lag for you).  He does seem to be staying in a beautiful setting. 

This is the luxury pad he and the Exile are sharing for the week.  Wish you were there? 

I do...

Internetless explorer

I found a brief - you could almost say terse - email from the Man this morning. I presume he sent it from his phone at some point:

Hi
No internet (or towels or sheets or beds) in our trad house in the
country.

He's in Korea, and, having already passed through Seoul (pictured), he's not staying in a big city - or even a small town by the sounds of it.  I once spent a few interesting weeks in Korea myself, and remember enjoying similarly spartan accommodation.  But at least twenty-one years ago lack of internet wasn't any kind of an issue - the internet pretty much just wasn't at all.  When it came to communicating with home, public phones and handwritten letters had to suffice.   I travelled for several months and picked up occasional mail addressed to me at poste restantes.  Always so exciting!  Do they even have poste restantes anymore, I wonder?

Now we take it for granted that we can connect with anyone, at the touch of a button, wherever we may happen to be in the world - most of you reading this are several thousand miles away from where I am, after all.  It's wonderful in so many ways, but it does take some of the adventure out of travelling.  Perhaps it isn't such a bad thing once in a while to feel as far away as you really are, and not to be virtually back home even when you're not.

Having said that, the Man's been at an office today and we managed to exchange skype messages - he's seems to be ok.  He was just heading out for some kimchi.