Tag: Travels and Other Places

Pictures from the Paralegal Front

My neighbour across the big river, our correspondent and 10th Mountain Division paralegal in Iraq, Brian, has created a photo gallery confirming that the occupation law is perhaps a little less dynamic than the TV shows would let you think. Despite that, it is an example for me of one of the most interesting things about the US and how it treats its soldiers – it allows them to have blogs and talk about themselves without any censorship other than the good sense of each soldier and no doubt the fear of paralegal Brian’s prosecutorial powers should any breach of good order break out.

Things insteresting to note:

  • His laptop’s screen saver appears to be about Guinness leading me to ask if the goodly black beverage is available and whether Brian would like to post an article on the Guinness of Baghdad on the beer blog.
  • Standard issue US desert fatigues blend in very well in the colour schemes chosen for their homes by former dictatorial tyrant murderers.
  • You still have to wear a visitor’s pass even if you bring your own machine gun.

Looking forward to more glimpses into a world I will never know.

Ship’s Blog

My interest in canals has been stoked this week with the delivery of Carol Sheriff’s book The Artificial River, about the socio-economic effects of the building and rebuilding Erie Canal from 1817 to 1862. Under a search for “canal blog” I found this wonderful site, Ship’s Blog.

There is something quite heartening knowing I can walk out the door here, get on a boat and sail to Ithaca or Burlington, Vt. I think I am going to have to undertake some canal based explorations of western New York next summer…all, of course, a blatant fraud, a front for the hunting out of micro brewers in the company of the little people but these are the skills that keep you going.

Polish Union Flags 1991

In the fall of 1991 I was teaching in a city on the Baltic Coast of Poland, a few hours on the train from Gdansk. In early November, there was what was then described as the first Polish national holiday our from under the yoke of some other power or another. These working lads – no doubt pals of Lech’s – were waiting in the line up for the parade in Gdansk.

I am still hunting for the photos I have of the gates of the Lenin shipyards.

Digger Dance

The last thing we stuck around the New York State Fair yesterday afternoon for was the JCB digger dance. Basically, six heavy construction vehicles are run around a parking lot to music doing a sort of Ed Sullivan era pop ballet. Here are some short short movies:

Here are a whack of photos:

Danger Room

The trip from Montreal to Moncton started at 6:45 pm and ended at 1:15 pm the next day looping 1350 km down the St. Lawrence to the beginning of the Gaspe and down to the south east of New Brunswick. I was nicely located in a deluxe double bedroom to myself. Something like living in a walk-in closet by yourself for 20 hour but with a shower attached to it. Too bad it got me to Moncton. The warning signs started freakin’ me out by mid-morning.

The little shower man, third from the left, is my favorite as I think it really looks like a guy singing in spotlight. Some short short films of the trip:

Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania

John of Argghhh asked about the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania in Strasburg, PA so here are the pictures. Right across the street from the steam railway, it is a perfect counterpoint, a cool dark place full of giants after the scorching outdoors full of kids’s squeals. But then there is that sneaky feeling that you are in a Counter Strike setting and Garrity has you in the scope.

There are about 50 engines and cars in the museum and about as many outside getting restored. Lots of the ubiquitous nice retired persons to assist you. I really enjoy transportation museums like Halifax’s Maritime Museum of the Atlantic, Ottawa’s National Aviation Museum or Glasgow’s Museum of Transport.