I tried another random street shot while walking home from work yesterday afternoon -- this time on Finchley Road, which has got to be the ugliest street for miles around. It's a busy six-lanes of stop-and-go traffic, overseen in this location by an electronic billboard advertising "The Kardashians" for Disney+. (The Kardashians don't seem very Disney, do they? What would Uncle Walt say?)
I blogged that white building on the right not quite a year ago. It still looks decrepit.
I don't have to walk on Finchley. There are two alternate routes to work, via Priory and Abbey roads or Fairhazel Gardens and Loudoun Road, that are much more pleasant. But Finchley Road is the shortest and most direct route, so I often walk it for the sake of expediency. Sometimes I get a bubble tea to make up for the visual brutality.
I called the vet yesterday and made an appointment for Olga's shots. They can't see her until Oct. 17, which is bewildering. Usually we get right in. Based on what the receptionist said, it seems they've started setting aside a certain proportion of their appointments for vaccinations and those fill up more quickly. Who knows what practice management technique is behind that decision. I'm sure it's economic!
Yesterday I mentioned one of my mom's favorite expressions, that everything has to be done at least twice.
That reminded me of an old t-shirt she used to have in the '70s with a different (but similar-sounding) phrase on it: "I'll try anything once...maybe twice."
My mom thought that shirt was hilarious. As a little kid I didn't understand it, and even now the vaguely risqué humor seems pretty subtle. She wore it for years.
Later on she had a much less subtle t-shirt from a furniture rental company that said, "I lease by the piece!"
That street doesn't look too ugly to me. More busy and interesting. I hope Olga doesn't suffer while waiting the extra time.
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't even recognize that road as a place in London. Your mother had an interesting sense of humor when it came to her shirts. Do you know if the first T-shirt was factual or is that TMI?
ReplyDeleteOn of my favorite shirts says, "I just haven't been the same since that house fell on my sister."
ReplyDeleteLOL ... love this!
DeleteI can see what the vets are doing, but..They haven't got it quite right yet.
ReplyDeleteIt wouldn't take a lot to clean up...or give a fresh coat of paint..to the white building. But I suppose that is the sort of thing that gets left out of budgets nowadays
It is disappointing that Finchley Road is so ugly, and I can see it is. It is such a well known road, but I expect for motorists.
ReplyDeleteI love the tee shirt slogan. To it I might add, 'maybe twice just to make sure I don't like it'. Your mother sounds rather cool.
"I lease by the piece."
ReplyDeleteI could use that!
i don't think that street is so bad, though it could use some trees to make it nice. I kinda like all the activity.
There's a lot going on in that street! At least it's not boring.
ReplyDeleteI love that those shirts made your mom happy. That's a very cool memory.
I don't know, Steve, I think that looks like a pretty typical downtown street ... maybe a side street, if not the main street. Kind of looks like Main Street in Canon City, Colorado.
ReplyDeleteI live in a nice part of town that is beautiful to walk in... but there isn't a single sidewalk so I must walk on the streets. As one might expect, seasons and weather dictate when that is safe/sane to do. I would like to walk downtown but between me and there, is a huge slum part of town, that while they have sidewalks, is not pleasant to walk through at all. The indirect route through better neighborhoods is very time consuming and so I don't often walk downtown.
ReplyDeleteI actually think that street scene makes a very interesting picture. Your mom's shirt has me singing Stevie Nicks - ha!
ReplyDeleteI find your street scenes fascinating. Please keep posting them. And your mom seems to have had a slightly randy sense of humor. Love her.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure I see what makes Finchley Road ugly. It just looks like a bustling city street to me. I need comparison photos of beautiful city streets.
ReplyDeleteI love the photo of your mom in that t-shirt. Now I'm wondering what she did try.
Your mother was ahead of her time:)
ReplyDeleteSounds like your mother had a good sense of humor.
ReplyDeleteyour mom's saying reminded me of my own back before we retired and had a studio...if it was easy, you did it wrong.
ReplyDeleteYour mother had a great sense of humor and wasn't afraid to show it! I don't think that road is ugly--perhaps for London, but not for much of the U.S.
ReplyDeleteYour Mom sounds like she had a good sense of humor!
ReplyDeleteThat streets not so bad - just busy.
I wonder if that road also smells mean. That makes a difference to our perception. The leafy areas are much more pleasant to walk in, air feels cleaner or something.
ReplyDeleteI've often wanted a t-shirt with my uncle George's comment on it: this food is awful. I'll be glad when I've had enough!
Hahahawhat Boud said. That street looks like loads of streets , you are lucky you have a prettier route!
ReplyDeleteYour vet practice may be experiencing the same thing mine is - overwhelming demand, fuelled by the covid epidemic when so many people got pets and by the resulting burnout of vets. Plus almost all of our small, privately owned vet practices have been taken over by a U.S. mega-practice, which does lead to different approaches to the first problems (and I agree with your economic factor comment). Vaccinations are lower on the triage scale than, say, bleeding or lameness. I was told that in order to get an appointment here, I'd have to call first thing on Monday morning to be triaged for the week. I called with several concerns for one of my elderly cats and was given a date three weeks out (which wasn't what I expected but at least I don't have to keep calling each Monday morning). I'm not impressed, but to get in earlier I would have to find a new vet - and the closest taking new clients is an hour away by car. It is absolutely crazy, and I'm sure it's probably leading to poor outcomes in some cases.
ReplyDeleteShots In A Month - Lets Just Spoiler Her A Little More Until Then
ReplyDeleteYahooo000000
The vet we use started changing their practices several years ago and now it's as frustrating (if not more so) than trying to deal with our own doctor's office. Nothing seems to be simple and personal anymore.
ReplyDeleteI love fun t-shirts AND your mother's sense of humor.
I've been on Finchley road! (But not that far down, I don't think. Closer to Finchley Rd. metro, which on Google looks quite a ways. I'm lucky to have a visiting vet who came yesterday. Lizzie donned her Cloak of Invisibility and we had to hunt for her -- not easy, given that all the doors to her normal hiding places were closed. I don't know how she can get her big bottom into tiny places -- but she does!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lovely photo of her mom. Sounds like she had a good sense of humour.
It sounds as though your mother had an off-beat sense of humour. Whenever I think of Finchley Road I think of Thatcher who was of course the M.P. for Finchley. The ugliness of the street is most fitting.
ReplyDeleteOnce I had a T-shirt specially printed. It was light blue and on it I had them put six black letters: T-SHIRT.
I used to visit Camden Art Centre in Arkwright Road NW3 and approach it from Finchley Road. I was surprised at how Finchley Road was so busy the first time I visited. The gallery is a leading one in the contemporary arts.
ReplyDelete