LOTUS FARMS 3.6 LAKHS PER ACRE

This is the headline of the spam email I got this morning.  It's the first one I sort of start to wish was true...and meanwhile this was hitting the Brown grad student listserv:

 

Date:    Tue, 22 Oct 2013 10:44:44 -0400
From:   ***** [Although I have to tell you-- the name "Pavlov" is involved!!]

 Subject: Are you sacrificing rats this week?

Good morning,

I would like to ask if anyone is planning to sacrifice rats this week, I would like to obtain the rat/s post-mortem. I would appreciate it, if you let me know or anyone who may do so. Thank you.





Kind regards,

******
Mathiowitz Lab

Chatsworth Road

There's just a couple days left in the shared flat here on Chatsworth Road, Hackney.  I've really enjoyed my time up here and it will feel like a distinct demotion in cool to move to Bow.  But I'm trying to cheer myself up with the prospect not only of my own lovely place to myself, much cleaner and cozier and better furnished, but also with the prospect of learning all about Bow and becoming a real Cockney, within the sound of Bow Bells. The whole Mysterious East of London has been a slow revelation for me-- since so much of history is written by the rich, my historical appreciation of London has (so far) largely been restricted to the center and west end of the city. Plus of course the disreputable Bankside of Shakespeare's day, which is still a haunt for people out for a good time, only it's pretty pricey, everything is dwarfed by huge office buildings, and it's a decidedly more elevated fun than in centuries past.

Anyway, now I'm an East Ender and I'm about to leave Hackney, but I've enjoyed Hackney.  I wanted to give you a tour of my London landing pad.  It is … a real London experience. There are three working addresses for this place:
1. 12a Chatsworth Rd, London, etc
2. Flat Above Shop, 12 Chatsworth Rd, London, etc
3. Above African Video Centre, 12 Chatsworth Rd, London, etc

I admit I have not taken nearly enough advantage of those second two addresses. Why oh why did I squander my 6 weeks here without once arranging for mail to be sent to Michelle Carriger, Above African Video Centre, 12 Chatsworth Road? Now there are only three days left and it's too late. Flat Above African Video Centre was on the market before I moved in, and has now been sold so the new owners will take possession sometime after the end of October when the last of the flatmates moves out.  So now is the time to give you a little tour of the first part of my East Enders odyssey:

 Here's where I've been living. Above AFRICAN VIDEO CENTRE. The windows with the red and white "Sold" real estate sign are the common room. My window faces the back. That's good, because it's quiet. You can also see at the corner of the building, from the side, the minicab sign. That sign flashes until late at night so that everytime I walk past the front windows in the dark I think there are cops out front or construction until I remember that it's the flashing light on the minicab sign.