Milton and John

Well, it's starting to look like Milton will strike to the south of Tampa, instead of head-on, which is perhaps slightly better news. It's still a big scary storm and no doubt Tampa will be affected, but it looks like Sarasota may take the brunt of it. Remember how I wrote about that condo where my family stayed on our beach vacations, and how it survived Helene? Milton is aiming straight for it.

I lived in Sarasota and Venice for six years, so my thoughts are with all my friends there. In 1999 I bought a condo there that was surrounded on three sides by water, in a relatively low-lying area, and although I loved it, let me just say I am very glad I sold it the following year when I moved up north.

I also wonder how Dave's parents' mobile home, in a park on Sarasota Bay, will fare. Fortunately they're up in Michigan at the moment so they are not personally in danger, but their laundry room flooded during Helene so they've already had storm damage.

Coincidentally, I'm supposed to have dinner tonight with friends who are visiting London from Tampa -- someone who also worked in Sarasota with me. I bet they're happy not to be home, but we'll no doubt have one eye on the news the whole night.

Thanks for all your concern about Dave's eye problem, which I mentioned in yesterday's post. The specialist he saw yesterday doesn't want to do anything immediately. He told Dave to wait four weeks and see if the problem resolves itself, which is apparently a possibility. I pointed out that there's still the underlying question of the abnormal blood vessels, but I guess even those may heal. It sounds to me like they're convinced this is some kind of injury, but I SWEAR I am not punching Dave in the face in the middle of the night. (You'd be surprised how many people have suggested that I am!)

Last night Dave and I went to a movie premiere where I actually got to sit in the VIP section AND I have my name in the film credits! I can't think of any other time I've been mentioned in the credits of a movie. (Can I have an IMDB page now?)

The movie is called "The Writing's on the Wall," a documentary about a public art project that arose in West Hampstead following the deaths of local community fixtures John and his dog Sugar. You may remember that some murals went up including portraits of John and Sugar, and those murals -- meant to raise awareness about homelessness -- wound up being quite controversial and were eventually painted over after a few months. The film tells the backstory of the project and the evolution of the controversy, and the producers used some of my photos of John in the film, which is why I got credit. It was very interesting and it was cool to have been involved, even tangentially. It made me feel part of the cultural fabric of my community and of London.

Dave went too, but he had to sit behind me, not being a VIP himself. Ha!

Anyway, I have no idea what the availability of this movie will be but if I ever hear that it's online for public viewing I'll let you know!

(Photos: Leaves found on my walk to work yesterday morning.)