Nothing 2 Declare: Fun

Showing posts with label Fun. Show all posts

Remember That Girl You Had The Hots For?

... but she didn't for you! The pains of youth, eh? :)

Native American Indians first bloggers?

Whilst looking for the vid of the Mustang in my recent story l found the temporary gaming licence l had to have when working in the Indian casinos. Bloggers have strange and wonderful names but when it's your real name would you use anything else?

John Wayne, Clint Eastwood, Meryl Streep, Smoking Police and V8 Mustang

I'd been driving since late afternoon down the I-35 South from Minneapolis, Minnesota in a rented 4.6L V8 red Mustang GT Convertible (it had only 900 miles on clock). lt was mid-summer and l had the hood down until dusk came and the temperature dropped. Until then it had been blazing sunshine and hot. Lynryd Skynryd's greatest hits was blasting out ever since l bought it (along with some wrap around biker shades) at a truck stop and l'd had the hammer down as they say in the States. I was also wearing a bandana to protect my shaven head from the sun (good way too cool down, just soak the bandana in water) Large coffee in the cup holder, a few cans of Coca Cola, pack of Marlboro ... life didn't get much better than this! Perfection would've been a babe in the passenger seat ... but hey, l wasn't complaining.
Some will accuse me of posing ... damn right l was!

As l continued driving through the night, hurtling past the trucks lit up like Christmas trees, l began to get tired. lt was about 1.30 am and l was deep into Iowa so l decided to look for somewhere to stay. A few miles further down the road l began to see signs for Winterset, Iowa ...Birthplace of John Wayne. . It brought back fond memories of watching John Wayne movies with my late father so l decided then and there to go to Winterset. l pulled off the freeway and a few miles later arrived in Winterset and drove down John Wayne Drive. l'd expected a larger town but it was small ... population 4764 and was to find later predominately white. Even now it only has 13 Asians, 7 Native Americans and 3 Blacks. Crime is almost zero and they've had just 4 traffic fatalities in over 10 years or more ... and they were all down to drunk drivers.

Winterset at 2.00am in the morning is a ghost town and there was a distinct lack of motels. l then spotted a car ahead of me stopped at the traffic lights. lt was a police black and white. Pulling along side of it, the policeman turned to look at me as l powered my window down. l thought he was alone but suddenly a German Shepherd dog reared up from his back seat. lt didn't bark at me ... it just stared. The policeman also powered his window down. l realised later that what l was doing was not particularly the thing to do. l'm sure the American police are very wary of such things. His face showed no emotion and he probably had already reached for his gun.

His stern look disappeared when he heard my accent as l asked if he knew anywhere l could stay the night. 'Are you British?' he asked, l said yes. He grinned and then directed me to park up in the adjacent shopping mall parking lot. We both pulled over and l got out of the Mustang as he did his police car. l greeted him and reached for my Marlboros, lit up and then offered him one. He muttered he shouldn't really but accepted my offering.

He told me there were not many motels in the area but said if l waited a while he'd make a call and see what he could do. He called the police station on his radio. He told his friend Mac that he had a guy from England looking for a place to stay the night so would he call Jimmy to see what he could do. l had no idea who Jimmy was but l did know it was past 2.00am in the morning and the police were just about to wake him up.

We continued chatting about where l was from, the usual associations Americans have with England ... WW2 and so on. Whilst we were doing this he got the other participant out to meet me ... Duke, his dog. l kid you not, it had to be Duke didn't it? His radio then burst into life, it was Mac and he said that Jimmy did have room for me. The policeman, or l should say Cole as we were on first name terms now, started giving me directions but then changed his mind and said to follow him.

The motel was just outside of town and we were met by Jimmy. l thanked Cole and then remembered l was running out of Marlboros so l asked him where l could get some. He said the cheapest place by far was the Indian Tobacco Shop but they were closed now. He then reached into his car and produced a pack of Marlboros and gave them to me. l asked him how much and he said $3 but when l looked in my wallet l had only $20 bills. Cole had no change and neither did Jimmy. Cole then said it was no problem and to just drop it off tomorrow at the Northside Cafe in town. l asked wherabouts it was and they both laughed. lt was another of Winterset's attractions, it was where Clint Eastwood used in his Bridges of Madison County film with Meryl Streep. Not only that but other locations too and all the bridges round the town. I laughed and apologised for not knowing and promised to drop off his $3 the next day. With that Cole said bye and drove off. Jimmy checked me in and l crashed out.

The next morning l woke up and had coffee and a smoke whilst l read all the tourist literature on Winterset. l decided to stay for another night so l could have a look about. l went down to the town centre and there was Northside Cafe in the town square .. you couldn't miss it. l went in, ordered a coffee and sat at the bar where Eastwood sat in the film. l asked the waitress if she could give Cole the policeman the $3 l had for him. She said there was no necessity to as he was in the backroom of the cafe.

l was just expecting to see Cole in the backroom but he was far from alone, it was some sort of town meeting. l apologised and turned to go back out. They wouldn't let me, Cole introduced me along with the story of the Mustang and the Brit pulling up alongside of him. l stayed with them, having coffees brought me, smoking and talking about my country and theirs.After about an hour l finally left Northside Cafe accompanied by Cole and Duke (who l hadn't noticed until we left). l asked Cole where the lndian Tobacco Shop was but he said there was no need. He took me over to his black and white and took a carton of Marlboros out the back. He said he'd been that morning for himself and if l wanted a carton he'd let me have them or he'd split them if l preferred. l paid him $30 for the carton, thanked him, said farewell and left.

I had a truly great day in the glorious sunshine driving around in the Mustang. l visited John Waynes House, the bridges, the farmhouse used as Streep's home in the film (well the remains of, because an arsonist had set fire to it in 2003), other bridges and sites that weren't in the film and met and talked to many friendly people along the way. As evening approached l pulled into the parking lot of the motel. After freshening up l ventured into the bar next to the motel, had something to eat ... a steak! ... a real steak that only Americans can do! Liberal amounts of JD and beer chasers turned into copious amounts and last thing l remembered about the bar was playing 8 ball pool with the locals.

The next morning after coffee and a smoke or l should say coffees and smokes, l loaded up the Mustang, dropped the hood, fired up the beast, turned the sounds up and set off to McCalester Oklahoma. Sadly in Missouri my relationship with the Mustang was to become the beginning of a premature end. l hit a pothole on the freeway (a freeway! not some poxy road ... a freeway!) near Kansas City interchange to St Louis and smashed the front alloy wheel beyond repair. l had to change to the stupid emergency wheel that's not much better than a bicycle wheel and limp on to McCalester. lt was early hours of the morning when l got there. The next morning revealed the rear tyre had now gone down too.

The rental company was ok but because it was McCalester Oklahoma they didn't stock Mustangs or anything like it. All they had were saloons, nice saloons but no fun. Then l had a brainwave .... a pickup. So l ended up with a 5.7 L Dodge Ram, fully-loaded ... a beast of a different sort but a beast none the less. Fun too, a different sort of fun but still fun.

Winterset wasn't planned, it was off the cuff but it will remain one of the most cherished memories of my life.

l hope that you too will enjoy such an experience in your life or have experienced such already ... and with that l'll leave you with the actual 4.6Litre V8 Mustang GT Convertible .... and Freebird!

Halcyon Days!

Celebrity joins The Resistance

Now where's Keith Richards?

Carry a Samuria 'sword' and be invisible to Police

I purchased a samurai umbrella as mentioned here. Last weekend l had the opportunity to road test it. On Sunday l got a taxi to the train station. I was dressed casual in jeans and had a small rucksack and carried the umbrella in my hand. l stopped outside the train station for a cig and a member of the public who was also smoking advised me to carry the 'sword' in a bag. l told him it was an umbrella and he laughed ... then asked where l got it from.

Inside the train station there were 3 policeman stood together so l walked right in front of them and to go to WH Smiths. There was no reaction from them so when l came back l walked past them again ... still no reaction. Boarded the train and put the umbrella next to me so it was clearly visible. No reaction from the train staff.

Arrived Kings Cross station and had to wait an hour and a half for my daughter arriving. There were a number of police there as is always the case. l strolled about, drank coffee, went outside for a cig (twice) ... no reaction from police or train station staff. 2 members of public did comment like the one at the train station where l set off from.

Daughter arrived and went to take tube to Earls Court, passed 2 policemen at entrance ... no reaction. A passenger on tube train did comment about it. Left Earls Court past station staff ... no reaction. Got picked up by my brother and that was the end of the day.

Next day l went walkng around London all day with the umbrella ... Oxford Circus, Covent Garden, Embankment, Kings Road, Westminster. Result was same as previous day, despite passing many policemen and security staff ... no reaction. However quite a few members of the public did comment on how l shouldn't carry a samurai sword in public, when l explained it was an umbrella they all wanted to know where l got it from.

Next day took daughter to Stansted Airport via tube and train. Waited till she'd checked in and then returned by train and tube to Kings Cross station. Waited 2 hours for my brother as he was catching same train back home with me as his week 'on' working in London had finished. Arrive home station where me and my brother parted. l decided to walk to my daughters where my car was. l walked through the busy shopping centre and right through a group of 7 security staff and proceeded to carry on walkng to the busy main road to my daughters house.

Through all of this, never once was l stopped and asked about the samurai 'sword' by anyone in a uniform ... not once! lt's as though l was invisbile to them and cctv although not to members of the public. As l said previously, l was dressed very casually and was even wearing my Palestinian scarf. l made no effort to conceal the umbrella at anytime ... it was clearly visible. l lost count of the number of police etc l passed, some within touching distance

Maybe the police, PCSO's and security have x-ray eyes that can tell it's an umbrella and not a samurai sword? ... although one member of the public who stopped me in Covent Garden saw it as a samurai sword and he was a martial arts expert and collected samurias!

Next time l go l'm taking a table leg in a`plastic bag!

Think l've changed my mind about new airport security measures.

Old Airport Security

New Airport Security

Someone told me Obo was dead but l just knew it wasn't true because he was here .....

No, not that. There was no clown funeral afterall, although after the Annual Clown Crawl MMX there were a lot of dead looking ones. Never knew there were such things as Clown Babes either ... he kept that secret!

Clown Crawl MMX

If Carling did holidays

Ok, well not Carling but a company called Olialia which is pronounced "ooh-la-la"
This is a Lithuanian Company that intendes to open a resort in the Maldives staffed by blonde women only (not necessarily natural blonde). The airline will also be staffed by blondes ... including the pilots.

Resort is planned for 2015 although the righteous will no doubt be up in arms about it.

Never been to Maldives .... wonder if Mrs SH will let me go?

Getting a new car? ... how about the new Batmobile now in production?

Go on ... you know you want to really :) link

John Windhmmm and Day of the Triprops

Pop over to Subrosa's place and read how blindness and insanity continue unabated with the continuing invasion of these aliens.

Smoky Drinky ... who was this guest?

The name keeps escaping me :)

Smoky Drinky Weekend

Yes the weekend ... all of it. This really is a wonderful place to be. Everyone calls down at sometime or another. They stay, go home or do what they want. No restrictions, no rules, just everyone mucks in together. The place has 5 bedrooms but more can be accommodated if you're not picky and nobody is. You do what you want and so do the others. Music is piped through the house with a system to die for. Amplifiers control the sound level to every part of the house including the garden and the selection of music is from 2000+ albums. All these are digital on the main computer but there are other computers throughout the house so if you prefer something different, say in the bedroom, you can access it. Don't get me wrong, these computers are not state of the art but are very functional ... and all are connected to the internet. There are TVs but they are very seldom used because everyone seems to prefer music.

Food and drink are supplied by everyone who comes ... not forgetting the smokes of course. Not everyone are smokers but there's none of this waffing of hands in front of the face, verbal indignation and the like. People are just socialising together how it used to be in pubs. There's also no limit to how long you can stay ... the house is commonly referred to as Hotel California.

In truth, it is akin to the concept of communes in my youth except everyone have there own homes to go to so l suppose in reality it could be termed a holiday commune ... like taking a time-machine in some respects.

Oh, l forgot to mention the library, there are 1000's of books and something for everyone ... fiction, non-fiction, sf .. the list goes on. lt's not a library as such, it's just built in bookcases scattered around the house. Even that cannot accommodate the owners full collection. He has the rest stored in a container.Want talking books? ... library of those too! Is the owner an eccentric? .... 100% but the most mild mannered laid back person you will ever meet ... and generous to a fault. He is also extremely well educated and very intelligent. lf science is your passion you would love it here. An example is the magazine New Scientist ... his collection goes back 20+ years ... all of them! Don't for a moment think that he's boring .... his other passions include music and women amongst others. Think it would be very apt here to say 'don't judge a book by it's cover'.

Must go now and join the crew downstairs ... long weekend ahead, smoking, drinking, talking, debating, laughing ... blah, blah. Not much blogging envisaged though others may and have.

Being alive is not enough, one has to live.

Stuff the righteous ... it won't say on my tombstone 'he died' it will say 'he lived' and right below the engraved skull and crossbones.

Which reminds me ... the flag is proudly flying outside. :)

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