Managing My Media

We have a determined rose that's doing its best to bloom out there, matching its deep red color to the yellows and russets of the fallen leaves. I'm not sure how far that rose is going to get, though. We're supposed to have barely freezing temperatures Monday and Wednesday, and below freezing a few days after that. I should probably cut the rose bud and bring it in, along with the pelargoniums and the citrus tree. We're probably going to cover the avocado too, though I doubt it will get cold enough for long enough to do it harm.

I was just buried in media yesterday. Photos, videos, blog-reading, news-reading, book-reading, you name it!

For one thing, I went through the Australia album and scanned all the photos that I want to put on Flickr. I scanned a total of 66 pictures, and I hope to have them all posted within a day or two. I identified a few more locations and made a few more connections between the images themselves, so that project is coming together.

I also made some headway in "The Old Curiosity Shop," and hope to make more today. And in between I did two loads of laundry and some cleaning, blah blah blah.

I also downloaded the wildlife cam. We had a lot of videos this week -- more than 150! But most of them were disposable clips of pigeons and squirrels, and after skimming them all I managed to condense the good stuff into just four minutes. There were a few clips of two foxes together, which is pretty exciting. I almost never see multiple foxes at once.

The video starts out with Q-Tip and Guy Fox separately trotting back and forth. Twice, they're carrying something in their mouths, but I can't see what it is. I suppose they've been hunting. I'd assume pigeons, but it's at night and I don't think pigeons are generally on the ground when it's dark. Maybe rats, but you'd think a tail would be visible.
-- At 0:44, Pale Cat strolls casually across the lawn, then runs back in a full feline freak-out and leaps into a tree. A bird flies out of the tree. Was he trying to catch the bird? Who knows.
-- At 1:10, one of the foxes trots by on a very misty/rainy morning. Eventually all you can see in the fog is its glowing eyes! Very Halloween.
-- There's some more fox back-and-forth, and then, at 1:50, we get footage of Q-Tip and Guy Fox exploring the back of the garden together.
-- At 2:32, a squirrel freaks out.
-- At 2:42, pigeons march in regimental formation.
-- At 2:51, Q-Tip trots by with his mouth open, which is odd. It's like he's panting. He goes over the fence, and then we see him trot by at night, still with an open mouth. I wonder if he injured his mouth somehow.
-- At 3:36, Blackie casually strolls across the grass. I haven't seen Blackie in several weeks.
-- At 3:50, Tabby runs under the garden bench. Again, I haven't seen this cat in a while. Meanwhile, Bell the Bengal was among the missing this week. The cats, they come and go.

A Post From Thin Air

Another very Novemberish photo. That is exactly what it looks like out there right now.

I pass these garages on my walks to work and I always wonder who they belong to -- common sense says the houses adjacent on either side, or perhaps opposite. I wonder if occupants pay extra for a garage? It's kind of a weird configuration. I'd be afraid I'd forget which one's mine, though I guess if I could always find my locker at school I could manage this.

Yesterday was just a blur of a day. I had so much to do -- shifting one book display, creating a second one, two stints working in the Lower School, a big stack of books to cover and plenty of re-shelving. No reading time for me! Maybe my boss read my blog and was determined to keep me busy. Well, you know what they say -- don't put anything online that you wouldn't want the whole world to know.

I built this display on Thursday, using pennants rescued from the college counseling office. (We have a huge stack of them -- many more than this.) It's focused on "Dark Academia," a sub-genre of fiction involving academic settings like colleges or boarding schools where nefarious things happen. I was happy to be able to include my mom's alma mater, Goucher, up at the top. We don't have pennants for any of the big state schools that my dad or Dave or I attended, sadly.

We've started watching "The Beast In Me," with Claire Danes, on Netflix. It's very good. And we just finished "The Feud," a British show that was both compelling and fairly ridiculous at the same time, featuring the unbearably sexy Rupert Penry-Jones. It was one of those family dramas taking place on a supposedly typical suburban street, yet by the end there are not one but two murders and potentially another dead body in a backyard. Not like any typical suburb I ever saw!

Reading Update

OK, back to real life today -- even though I'm not sure I have much to tell you about the past few days. We'll return to the story of our Australia heroines when I post more of the pictures to Flickr, but for now, let's let them recuperate from their travels.

The day before yesterday I was walking to work when I saw a flash of bright color across Finchley Road -- a busy six-lane traffic artery that carries lots of cars and buses down into Marylebone and Westminster. I wanted to look more closely, but Finchley is not a road that anyone can readily cross because of all the congestion. So I walked to an underpass -- here known as a "subway," not to be confused with the subway in New York City, which is a train -- and used that to cross under the street.

And here's what I found, sitting on the windowsill of a closed shop. Dropped from a baby stroller, perhaps? Anyway it disappeared by the time I walked home so either its owner found it again or someone adopted it.

I have made virtually no headway in "The Old Curiosity Shop," which is so far rather plotless, and I'm about 250 pages in. I just haven't had the time to pick up a book and read. I used to read at my desk when I had downtime, which seemed especially justifiable if I was reading a library book, but my current supervisor has put a stop to that. So much for modeling the behavior we'd like to see in our students.

I should do it anyway. What are they going to do, fire me?

"Plotless" may be too strong a word -- "Curiosity Shop" has a plot, but directionless is a better way to describe it. It's just Little Nell and her gambling-addicted grandfather wandering, encountering various characters, pursued by the malevolent Quilp. I'm making it sound like there's more dramatic tension than there actually is, though I'd probably feel it more if I could read it more regularly. I think I'll have time this weekend.

I won't be reading these, that's for sure! I saw this book display in the window of a shop on Finchley Road. Three for £7.50! A bargain, if you don't mind the nightmares.

Another thing I haven't been able to read lately is The New Yorker. It's partly because of time, but I've also temporarily lost the will. Maybe it's because with Trump president, I find any political news so soul-sucking. I usually pass on my New Yorkers to a guy at work, and he asked me the other day why the flow had stopped. I confessed that they're all stacked up on my end table and I can't quite bring myself to pick them up. I took them all to him yesterday, unread by me.

To Australia, Part 2

We continue the story of our mysterious travelers, having left them in Perth. It's hard to tell exactly what happens next. There are photos of another ship, and no photos of any overland travel through Australia, so I'm guessing at least some of them boarded another vessel and headed eastward.

Google tells me another photo of an old building was taken in Mount Barker, which is outside Adelaide. So it's possible they docked in that region. But I'm not convinced Google is right, and the Mount Barker photos aren't that good -- blurry and lopsided. The first real clue we get about location comes from the photo above.

When I saw the word Bendigo on that bus, I figured it had to be a neighborhood or some other locality in Australia. Turns out, it's a whole city, north of Melbourne in Victoria.

And here we are, in Bendigo. There are quite a few photos from this area, so I'm thinking this is where at least one of our travelers was based.

The photos include several great street scenes of the town. Here's a modern view of this same streetscape. As you can see, many of the buildings remain today, including the Shamrock Hotel, the structure with the fancy roof in the background.

Another view of Bendigo. Here's the same row of buildings today. Astonishingly, that Myers store still exists, though they seem to have dropped the "S" off the name at some point.

And here's the street looking the other direction, during what appears to be a Remembrance Day or ANZAC Day parade. You can see the Hotel Shamrock in the background. The two-level structure between that and the Myers store, which I believe was called the Hotel Australia, is gone now. Here's the modern view.

And here's the old Bendigo post office, which is now used as a tourist information center.

There are other photos of Bendigo, too -- in the nearby public gardens and outside the adjacent law courts. So, as I said, it seems like our travelers spent quite a bit of time there. Or at least took a lot of photos.

There are also visits to the countryside, though -- perhaps I should call it the "bush" -- including a series of pictures of these men employing a scary-looking saw to cut down trees. I'd have been hiding in the long grass, too!

After all that, it's time for a cuppa.

There are photos of some of the women with livestock and/or on a farm. Perhaps this was a visit to relatives, because the travelers seem a bit unaccustomed to being around cows.

Finally, there are some scenes of travel within southern Australia. I thought the Buffalo View Hotel was a curious name until I realized they weren't talking about the animal -- Mount Buffalo is a place, and is now a national park. This hotel used to be in the nearby town of Porepunkah.

And here's the Mount Buffalo Chalet, a historic structure that still stands, but endured a long period of disuse in recent years. Apparently it is set to reopen (or perhaps already has). You can see the snow on the hedges -- there are several pictures of our travelers cavorting in snow and building a snowman. I had no idea it ever snowed in Australia, so this was eye-opening for me.

The snowy scenes are the last images in the album, which has several more blank pages before the end. For whatever reason, the person who kept it didn't take any more pictures. Did they remain in Australia, or come back to England? It's hard to tell.

Perhaps one clue is that luggage tag I mentioned yesterday. If you're in southern Australia and you're traveling to Darwin, in the far north, that seems to suggest you may be headed back to Europe. My suspicion is that our traveler went home again. It must have been after a period of at least several months, given that the photos of their outgoing voyage seem to have been taken in winter (remember the coats in Italy?) and they experienced a wintry season in Australia, as well. But who knows?

I will eventually upload all these photos to Flickr, along with more from the album. Once I've done that I'll post a link so you can check out the rest. Thank you, C., for prompting this fascinating exploration!

To Australia, Part 1

I've spent some time combing through the photo album that was kindly sent to me by a blog reader. As best I can tell, it follows the journey of a group of women from England to Australia aboard the RMS Otranto. I would guess the year to be about 1950.

It's hard to tell who our traveler is. There's a luggage tag in the name of "M. Oliver," and the woman at left above appears in many of the photos and is referred to on the back of one as "Mary." She may be the owner of the album, or perhaps a friend or relative.

The Otranto, which was built in Barrow-in-Furness in 1925, had a 32-year career as a passenger liner. It served as a troop transport during World War II. It was eventually scrapped in 1957.

It's possible to roughly trace the route of the ship based on the photos. First it stopped in Italy, near Naples. The women visited Pompeii (above), which I identified by uploading a photo of the distinctive ruins into Google Image Search...

...and they also visited some lush gardens in Sorrento. (Fortunately someone wrote "Sorrento" on the back of this photo.) It must have been chilly. Look at those coats!

From there the ship passed through the Suez Canal. The top photo was taken on the Suez, according to a note on the back, which I suppose is why the women were all wearing Fez-style hats. As blogger Gwynneth pointed out in a comment on yesterday's post, that also explains the Egyptian motif of the album itself -- it was probably purchased en route.

I was amused by the photo above, which I believe was taken in the canal, because Dave and I experienced this same phenomenon on the Nile when we went to Egypt several years ago. Vendors would pull small boats aside our passenger vessel to sell items to the travelers. In the boats above I see produce and what looks like luggage, among other things.

Shipboard shenanigans! These are clearly men in drag. Someone wrote on the back, "Note the beauty looking on!" I'm guessing it was a "beauty contest" and our traveler, or one of her friends, was captured in the background at left, looking over the shoulder of one of the male "beauties."

After passing through the Red Sea, the ship stopped in Aden, a port city on the southern tip of the Arabian Peninsula and a British colony at the time. (It's now part of Yemen.) Our traveler took several photos of the street life. (Again, "Aden" is written on the back of some of the prints, which helped with locations.)

Then it was off to Colombo, in what was then known as Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). To figure out the location I had to put this photo into Google Image Search, which immediately identified that building as the Jami-ul-Alfar Mosque.

Eventually, our travelers arrived in Perth, in Western Australia. There are photos of black swans, a symbol of Western Australia, as well as the building above, Winthrop Hall at the University of Western Australia. (Thanks to Google Image Search once again!) I assume this is an indication that the ship docked in Perth.

From there, our traveler(s) made their way across Australia...and we will continue their journey tomorrow!

The Bowl, and a Surprise

Is this a Novemberish picture or what? I came across this scene while walking to work yesterday morning. It seems like all the leaves in the city plummeted to the ground over the weekend. The street sweepers have a lot to keep up with.

Some of you asked for a closer look at all the items in the bowl on my desk -- as well as the bowl itself. I did this once before, back in 2021, but some of the objects were different then! So yesterday I laid everything out on a piece of blue posterboard -- I'm sure the kids were wondering what the heck I was up to -- and took a photo.

As you can see, there are random game pieces, bits of jewelry, guitar picks, coins from Hungary and Romania, some friendship bracelets and one of those interlocking puzzles, among other things. The glass "candy" came from my previous boss, who brought it from Prague. When I leave next April, I'll keep that, as well as the plastic bee, which I found years ago while walking Olga on the high street.

I may save a few other items for my bowls of miscellany here at home -- that silver bird-shaped earring at the top, above the unicorn, is very cool and clearly handmade, and was also found on the street near our flat. (It wound up on my desk because I was walking to work at the time.) Everything else, including the bowl, will be passed on to my successor, in all likelihood.

Out of the blue, a mysterious package arrived for me yesterday. It had no return address and when I opened it I found this elaborate leather-bound album with an Egyptian motif. Inside were black-and-white photos and a card:

Dear Mr. Reed,
     I hope that all is well with you? Please find enclosed a photograph album that was rescued from a skip. There was a plan to research the photographs! As you are a patient man with vast knowledge and keenness, I thought you might be interested. If not, please feel free to recycle them as you wish. Your blog is a pleasure to read. Thank you. Regards, C.

Well, this is the BEST THING that has happened to me for a long time! Thank you, C., whoever you are, for passing along this treasure. I can't believe someone threw away such a beautiful old album full of memories. You greatly overestimate my knowledge and patience, but maybe not my keenness, and I will do my best to deliver some information about the contents in a future post. (Maybe as soon as tomorrow, if I manage to promptly scan the pictures.) Just glancing through, I can tell already that they involve travel to Australia -- so readers Down Under may be particularly interested. More to come!

Guy Fox Night

A pretty quiet day around the house yesterday. I got almost no reading done, once again, because I was too busy raking leaves in the garden and doing a million other little things. I swear I'm not going to finish this book until Christmas.

Yes, I did rake the leaves. I debated just leaving them on the lawn but they were quite thick and I didn't want the grass to suffer. I piled them in the back of the garden so they can break down, and maybe we can mulch with them in a month or two. I also cut down the rest of the dahlias and put them in the shed -- job done until next spring.

At lunchtime I had to walk up to Waitrose to buy some bread, and a woman and two stone-faced little boys were selling poppies outside the store for Remembrance Day. I asked if I could use a card and the woman said yes, but then when I pulled out the card she said, "Oh, not like that. It needs to be on your phone." (I had to scan a QR code.) The little boys remained expressionless. I said, "Leave it to me. I'll figure something out."

I picked up my bread and soup for lunch, and at the till I asked the cashier to charge me a pound extra and then give me a pound coin, if possible. She said she could only do that in ten-pound increments, so I said, "Fine, I'll take £10, and then give me a fiver and five pounds in coins, please."

Thus armed with cash, I re-emerged from the store and bought a poppy. I gave them £3, which I thought was pretty generous, but the boys still looked stone-faced, if not slightly belligerent. I never saw them crack a smile. Maybe it's part of their sales tactic? I'm sure they would rather be playing Nintendo, or whatever kids play nowadays.

Here's the latest garden-cam wildlife video. It's a short one this week -- I'm trying to spare you too many clips of cats aimlessly walking back and forth. But there's good footage of one of the foxes on Bonfire Night.

First, a squirrel portrait.
At 0:05, Q-Tip trots past, followed at 0:15 by Brownie (actually several hours apart).
At 0:20, Pale Cat comes right toward us.
At 0:37, Brownie goes the other way, followed later by Pale Cat, who stops for some quick grooming and to sniff some smells.
The best clip is at 1:10, when we see one of the foxes (behind some plants in the center of the screen) reacting to neighborhood fireworks on Bonfire Night. If you've ever wondered whether or not fireworks bother wild animals, this will show you! I think this is Brownie, who I'm debating renaming "Guy Fox."
At 1:28 we see two clips of Bell the Bengal, the only times he/she turned up on the camera this week.

(Top photo: An autumnal scene in South Hampstead, on Saturday.)