Such Desperate Haste

There was so much not said

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 05:09:00 GMT

Looking back and considering what I could write about for my last post before my flight back to Boston and the US, it amazes me how many things are barely hinted at, or not mentioned at all, in the archives of this little travelogue.

There was the farm in Oxford, where the first thing we had to do was round up the pigs which had gotten out, and had eaten most of the marijuana plants in the polytunnel. It was the last straw for my poor, disorganized host, and afterwards she spent several hours telling me about her life, her divorce, [more ...]

Rembrandt van Rijn

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 10:20:00 GMT

[i]�The greatest painter of Holland, and one of the greatest painters who ever lived, was Rembrandt van Rijn (1606-69) ... Rembrandt did not write down his observations like Leonardo and Durer did; he was no admired genius as Michelangelo was, whose sayings were handed down to posterity; he was no diplomatic letter-writer like Rubens, who exchanged ideas with the leading scholars of his age. Yet we feel that we know Rembrandt perhaps more intimately than any of these great masters, because he left us an amazing record of his life in a series of self-portraits ranging from the time of his [more ...]

Rats

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 05:59:00 GMT

What I had thought
Was a rat
That sound
His white teeth
Gnawing
Through plaster
Wood
Behind the wall
For a week
As I lay
And hoped
It didn�t
Bite a hole
Through the wall
And
Gnaw
Bite
Eat
Me

What I had thought
Was only
An old
Piece of wallpaper
White
Flapping
Scraping
Above the heater
Which kept me warm
While I shivered
At night

To become a London bum

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Fri, 03 Feb 2006 08:09:00 GMT

Coming to London, I knew I wouldn�t be satisfied with the normal tourist experience, with window shopping at Harrods and throwing small rocks at the Buckingham Palace guards. I wanted to experience the London that Dickens talks about, that teams with masses of unwashed flesh, with Jacob Markelys and Mr Fagins. I wanted to go to the places where the city itself becomes a character, a breathing, mechanical Frankenstein, who sits much too close for comfort to you on the underground. I wanted to feel myself an insider in a foreign city, to learn the tricks and trade of survival there. [more ...]

Conversations with Bernie

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 05:17:00 GMT

Bernie, would you like some tea?

Where's your shoes?

I took them off, Bernie, they're by the entrance.

It's not proper.

Bernie, would -

It's not like an Englishman

- you like some tea?

Are you drunk?

What?

Are you drunk?

No, Bernie!

Oh, I see ... Just the occasional beer, then?

Bernie, I'm not drunk.

Well, I've got proper shoes on.

Yes, Bernie, they're very nice shoes.

The welfare lady gave them to me; I couldn't buy them myself.

Well, that was nice of her.

Because they took all my money.

Well, they're just keeping it for you, Bernie.

He, he, he.

Bernie.

Hm?

Would you like some tea?

Some what?

Some tea.

I can't hear properly; I'm going deaf in my old age, [more ...]

Playing with Fire, day 5 & 6

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 04:48:00 GMT

If new year�s day began with a sunrise, or the sun moving upwards at any point in the day, I wasn�t aware of it. After dancing until three in the morning, sleeping until twelve thirty seemed like an excellent idea, and one I gladly embraced. While I wasn�t the first to get up, I was also by no means the last, as people took to heart the schedule written the previous night on the whiteboard. �Slow morning,� it said, and then a little further down, with no apparent sense of irony, �Brisk walk to the Black Horse at 11:00.� The Black [more ...]

Playing with Fire, day 4

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 02:45:00 GMT

�They said I should plan on several days to make a huge and safe bonfire.� Cliff commented as we nailed scrap wood together into a frame.

�And how much time do we have?� I asked.

�Four hours,� he said cheerfully.

�Starting now,� I said.

�Starting a half hour ago, actually,� he replied. All the supplies, at least, were already there. We�d brought in seven or eight trailer loads of Yew brush that we�d been trimming from the hedges over the past few months, as well as five bails of scrap wood. Someone had also cut down a tree, dragged it over to the camping field [more ...]

Playing with Fire, day 3

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 02:45:00 GMT

�Who�s outside?� Elife asked.

�Lot�s of people,� someone replied from the small crowd that was gathered around the fire in the inner hall.

�No, who�s that outside,� Elife asked, and pointed out the window. Turning around on the couch where I�d been reading, I looked out. The weather had all the symptoms of a cold; clammy hands and sweating, general groaning in the form of thunder, a fitful sneezing of cold rain, and a generally nasty and depressed disposition. And in the middle of the field was a small figure, moving sometimes gracefully as she practiced a routine, sometimes ruefully, as she [more ...]

Playing with Fire, day 2

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Mon, 02 Jan 2006 02:43:00 GMT

It was difficult to wake up for breakfast. Sue had said the previous night that we didn�t have enough croissants, so we couldn�t have them the first morning or people would expect them every day. I would have gotten up for croissants. As it was, I stumbled out of bed at nine, and was downstairs drinking echinacea by half past. It is, I was told when someone handed it to me, good for one�s immune system. Well, I certainly don�t want to get sick on New Year�s. Most people had better success with getting up than I did, and the morning [more ...]

Playing with Fire, day 1

taitcha - webmaster@taitcha.net — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 04:30:00 GMT

It was hard, at first, to see how things would go. Part of it may have been that we had no idea what was actually going to happen during the weekend (�We made an intentional decision,� Cliff said on the subject, �not to decide. Instead we�ll be gauging interest at the Wednesday night meeting, and responding accordingly.�). Another part of it may have been that many of the participants hadn�t arrived yet, and we would all be meeting for the first time to see what this group looked like and how it functioned. Personally, I think it was because the electricity [more ...]