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.

So far so

I'm moving into my "real" flat on the 16th of October. Until then, I've managed to work out the deal where I stay in Hackney in the room of a friend of a friend. There's all kinds of wacky things about the place though-- not least that the flat was on the market and has apparently been sold, so sooner or later everyone was going to have to move out anyway. It works out great for me, because I got the last month, then I'm going to get to extend it by two weeks quite easily and then just disappear midmonth.

But then yesterday one of the other flatmates moved out... and unbeknownst to me, she owned the wireless and took it with her.  Which is really showing up my internet addiction. I just sort of stand around in one spot, swaying, not sure what to do with myself or my time. So this morning I went to the French bakery across the street, bought my free wireless (for the price of two coffees and a full English breakfast) and looked at my options (as well as the internet).

I have concluded that my best option is not to buy any internet until I get to my new place in almost 3 weeks. Which means a reduction in hours I can use it and no more surfing in bed, but may also spell a healthy detox period.  And I'm not really too disconnected anyway, since there are cafes with free wireless all over, and I now have the magic iBrick that will check my email and all, and there's internet on QM's campus.

So I'm going to spend some time doing offline stuff. Which (ironically?) also includes things like prepping a nice big blog update about the Hackney flat and other things that will also show up online eventually.

Isn't it funny how computers and the internet are now synonymous in our heads? Or at least in mind. SOmetimes it takes me a minute to separate out what is proper to a computer and what is proper to the internet only.  It's a Venn diagram type thing.

yeah.

LON

Well, it's day 5 or so, and I put a deposit down on a flat about an hour ago.  Now I'm killing a little time catching up on things in a very very cute coffee shop before going to introduce myself at Queen Mary for the first time. I suppose this means things are coming together. Fewer and fewer obstacles stand between myself and needing to get this syllabus finalized.  And it OUGHT to be fun to put together, but because it's also hard and new to me, it's been slow going.  I'm hoping to have an office and library access though by the end of the day, so that could help.

I've been walking walking walking all over east London.  Here's things that I've come across:

QM law school...

A few days later, the caption had been augmented.

awaiting the right wing anti-immigrant march in Whitechapel.

Waiting for the right-wingers by the Islamic Bank of Britain...

Pop up party at a dentist office.

Another beginning

It seems that I live in London now.

I arrived this morning about 7am, and I was through immigration and customs by 8. They put a big black regular stamp on my beautiful $815 embossed sticker visa.
Then my driver was 20 minutes late to pick me up. We wended our way all the way across London from west to east, through South Ken (my old stomping grounds!), through Pimlico, crawling along Cheyne Walk and Chelsea Embankment. The driver was very frustrated and kept turning down side streets to speed, then getting stuck in the scrum again. He does though know London exceptionally well I thought. Either that or we went to crazy places zigzagging over town and I didn't realize. But the fare was recalculated, so he didn't make any money on that. Then we passed the Houses of Parliament and Westminster Abbey, then Old Street. I saw the Book Arts Book Shop where I sold some copies of Birkensnake back in 2010.  Then we finally arrived in Clapton, and John was on the street corner and let me in to the place.  He'd also been cleaning it before I arrived, which is super sweet.  it's not a luxurious place.

I fell asleep for a little while-maybe two hours at the most- the only sleep I've had in about 30 hours. Then when I woke up around 2pm, I decided it was time to go out in the world and try to figure some things out.  I couldn't take a shower because even though I brilliantly decided to bring two towels, I stupidly packed them in the boxes that won't come for at least 2 weeks. Same with my duvet cover and pillowcases. SO although I have a bottom sheet, left for me at my short term place, and a pillow, I have nothing else and had to go buy it.  I also want a phone immediately, but the smart phone research was what put me to sleep in the first place, and I realized after I'd gone out that I needed to do some more research before I could just buy one. Honestly, all the figuring (and realizing how expensive it is) makes me want to just forget it. Please reassure me that smart phones are worth it in the end.

So, I decided just to dead reckon toward the nearest Three Mobile phone storefront which happens to be in an area I know, right next to where John works.  But I didn't go too straight, I just walked along looking for a decent lunch, a place to sell me water and an A to Z, a towel and a pillowcase.  I ended up zigzagging down south, then up across London Fields. As I was walking down a residential street with a tall apartment building on one side, I heard this sweet little girlish voice cry "hello!" and I looked around to see nothing until I looked up and saw a  little Black toddler wearing just a white diaper (nappy, I suppose) clutching the balcony bars above me who broke into a huge smile when I finally found him and waved to me.  I waved back and he seemed very happy.
I passed by what I think is an abandoned church.  It was sunny and got very warm today.
I would have been posting pictures of these things online, but I don't own a smart phone yet, so I can't.
I had a shrimp po'boy sandwich eventually after passing many cafes that seemed nice and cheap in their own ways, and that I realized I was just passing because I didn't really want to talk to anyone yet and walking was a way to avoid interaction.
I topped up my oyster card and rode the train back and then walked home from Homerton station.  I haven't met yet the other people who live here, but when anyone opens another door or other drafts happen, my door crackles a bit, shaking in its frame. I'm finding it hard to put down a novel that's getting to the conclusion and I just want to finish it so I can get on with things. I didn't even mean to bring it to the UK with me originally.
My room is quite empty, with a bed left behind for me in one corner next to a roof-view window (open), and my three suitcases laid open in another corner. I've started lining up my shoes along the remaining wall. I had that sandwich late, and I've only had two not-really-toasted crumpets and a yogurt for diner. I'll sleep by ten instead.
For about 10 minutes a man screamed and screamed out in the street. I can't see the street from my window, but eventually I thought I also heard a woman or girl's voice yelling, and then it stopped. There are lots of shops that cater to people who want to send money to various countries in Africa around.

Tomorrow I am formulating a plan that involves getting a phone and seeing apartments in Mile End. Maybe I'll stop into my new place of employment? Maybe something else will happen?

Providence-->Boston-->London

On my way to London!  Traveling heavy as usual.  It's hard to imagine what will happen next, but I'll try to keep you updated.

茶時 in the shadow of the paulownia

AT LONG LAST: AN ACCOUNT OF MY SHOGO CHAJI.


On Thursday June 27 I was the teishu of a shogo chaji at Toinseki, a full scale tea room complex built in 1929 at the base of the Hokokubyo, the location of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's grave site. Toinseki was designed by Ennosai but construction was carried out by Tantansai, funded by a group of tea enthusiasts called the Toinkai.

Shogo chaji is the "full" chaji with a meal, two charcoal layings, thick tea and thin tea, with one "intermission" in the middle called nakadachi-- "middle standing."  (Standing up is a big deal when you spend all the rest of that time kneeling! Plus it's bathroom break time.)

My guests were the seven ichi-a students and the kaiseki meal was planned and coordinated by Paivi with Sarah and Damian helping in the kitchen.  I was on the tea-and-service end of things with Sugitani - sensei, Hamana-sensei, and Midorikai-alumni and my friend from Boston, Cone, as the hanto.

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