Portrait of drunk wee friends: Daniel C.
I've had enough cups of tea today to keep me going for a little while here, so let’s get started. I’ve got the new Rancid acoustic album on the mini-speakers tonight, and have also cracked into a screw-cap bottle of Chat-eu-Oeuf, which has made some friends curious. Hopefully that will help to make things a little more creative this evening. Just kidding – lots to talk about....
Another long week at work had me craving a glass of wine - a rare delicacy of late. In the supermarket at the closing hour I decided to pick something out to help me celebrate by myself tonight, having completing my ninth week at work; only four to go. Wow. It was nice to leave my desk at 17:01 knowing I could enjoy the weekend off, running and exploring as I always do, having tied up all the loose ends of a week, in the same breathe having completed - only moments before - my wellington boot feature for another page 3 spread in the Sunday national.
Expect to see me byline in major Sunday newspapers each week for many years to come. Hopefully the stories and features will cover more exciting things than wellington boots, although I do love boots – especially with shorts. Thanks Kate Moss.
Actually I'm starting a story tomorrow on international cyber-crime which should be a 'belter'. Send over any ideas if you have them. I'm probably getting hacked as we speak. Side note: They’re holding a raffle for tickets to MJ’s memorial? Brutal.
This Syrah/Grenache blend I'm trying to enjoy has surprisingly soft tannins, but the strange tasting note of sour blackberries topped with cracked black pepper - which actually pairs nicely with my canned tuna and saucer of milk. Well, with the Welsh goat's cheese anyways.
Thoughts and findings:
A- The run of the flying-Scot is over, which can only mean it will be another year before tennis is shown on television here. I was devastated to see Andy Murray bow out of Wimbledon tonight, as the atmosphere in the city is great when the young Scots’ matches are on the telly. We had all the televisions in the newsroom showing the match this evening, which everyone in the office was glued to. Quite the atmoshpere - one of those moments where you'll always remember where you were.
Would have been better if Murray could actually win two games or break points in a row, however. Thee papers are saying more people would take the day of work today than any other day in the year. Tennis eh? I was meant to work on the sports desk again next week, but with no football (soccer), and now no Brit singles at Wimbledon, it will no doubt be a slow wee for the sports pages.
Andy Murray's face has been on both the front and back pages of every newspaper in the country for the past few weeks (news front to back, sport, back-front in the UK). I'm glad I was given the chance to write my first tennis story last week, complete with the tacky analogies and clichés the sports pages of this nation are famous for. The sports market is huge here, and depending how good the back cover is on a day, it can make or break the sales of the paper. Side note: Chat-ou-Oeuf is starting to get a hint of dried apricot. Actually it may just be dry I'm getting. Water please.
B- New brews for Canada. With a Scottish twist that is. Canada's first Prime Minister was a drunk Scotsman you know....
C - And so the question was posed to the public on a Friday afternoon.....If you could go anywhere in the world....... As for my answer to that question you ask? I can't make up my mind - today it would be the Black Sea coast of Romania. Tomorrow it could be Goa, maybe Tunis, or perhaps Nepal. Two of my colleagues from the Mount Royal J program are actually in Nepal – or so they are meant to be – for internships. Cool, although Nepal has nothing on Scotland, right?
Actually, my answer today would be anywhere no one else I know has been - Belize was a start - sp I can document the things I see and feel to share a corner of the world with friends and family. When I went to Morocco and Turkey, the only person I knew that had been to either, and both, was my uncle John. Actually, he has been more places than anyone I will probably ever meet. Little do you know Uncle John, but I’ll slowly continue to explore this world, and will perhaps one day be the one ‘bagged’ the most passport stamps?
Actually, it’s not a game. The good thing about the way I have chosen to travel is I hate to just pass through anywhere. I just like to get lost on the streets, or in out in endless fields. I think it’s good to go back places more than once; more than twice. I never saw the point of going a place just once. To return to a place you once knew, or thought you know, is a great way to measure yourself, while at the same time examine how much you have changed along with the place and surroundings on the pin in the map where you find standing once again – if that makes sense. Shall we continue; a few more stories for you.
D - The state of democracy - tonight’s comparative history lesson.
E - Snapping Frames in Iran. Okay, no more writing, but maybe a little more cat on egg and reading late into the night; all the best to you and goodnight. Happy Stampede Calgarians. Goodnight.
- Daniel C.
3 comments:
Bonjour Daniel, zut alors Chat-eu-Ouef (as it appeared on the page in your writing at dusk) has had more than an apricot effect on you and the Bear with the BottleCapHat. Tu va bien? Being a travelling linguist, your Chat-En-Oeuf made me laugh because of the direct translation of cat on egg, as well as reminding me of the time when I designed a 'Canada Eh?' ring with a poached egg (the egg was a orange cabachon). Good for you to splurge on value wines with creative labels.
Your piece, anywhere in the world, interesting responses from young Glaswegians about culture east and west of their lives. Culture shock. I once thought about this - is it when you're IN a new place or more about when you've returned home? For moi, it's when I'm back home, feeling displaced in the Safeways, the Deerfoots, or just Western society. Just a musing.
Hey FINALLY someone like you says it's just fine to return to a place more than once. Well said, monsieur. Thank you. And you mentioned not liking 'just passing through' a place. Somehow I see you and your camera, including your worn out journals and leaky pens never guilty of this tactical error. You seem to stumble happily upon new experiences, different people - all to make passing through an improbability.
Yes! miss those tabloid formats when it comes to the reporting of sports in the UK - couldn't get enough of the photos, the daily writeups during Wimbledon with way back then McEnroe, Borg, Agassi. I once took the train out there just to see if strawberries and cream tasted as great as great as it seemed in print.
Calgary is summer. And summer is aphids. Check this out: said inhabitant of household out in back yard basking in sun. Falling leaves through glints of sunlight. Lovely notion. Except if the leaves land on you, they stick. Aphid juice.
Seriously. The city is infested. With Stampedians and Aphids.
Okay, have to sign off, work this weekend at Deville, I mean INFLUX and next week. Have a great 4 weeks spinning those lines and planning the next blogspot in another part of the world where no one you know has been. Try fishing up in Northern BC - I know a lake.
Ciao and see you on a flight one day.
haha. haha. chat-en-oeuf. I'm still laughing. That's a label-keeper for sure. Clever, clever.
Hurray! Bottle of ‘Chat-eu-Oeuf’ is now finally gone. It actually says “purrrfect “ on the reverse label; absolutely buying that wee gem again.
"C-e-O is a wine of quality and character," claims the reverse label. "Try it with a hearty meat dish [no thanks], cheeses or simply lap it up all on its lonesome."
Adds the intriguing and curious label in English on a French bottle - which should not often be trusted - : "If only nine lives extended to you and me, we too could enjoy a glass or three over and over again....Purrrfect..."
I've already bought a bottle for you Louise. £5 gem.
Yes, I'm quite sure I would return to any city or town where I've once rested my case for another spin around - perhaps not Carlyle, Saskatchewan, however. Not sure if I care to pass through that town of 362 again. Beautiful landscape, don’t get me wrong, if you like endless wheat fields and tumble-weeds.
Many restaurants, museums and city corners I think it's safe to say I have a different take on. Example: The Louvre - not sure if I would like to be among the herding of throngs in that gallery again. d'Orsay is a more inspiring space anyways - would go back there a hundred times to wander amongst the masterpieces of the Expressionists.
I absolutely love fishing, but am weary of having too many beers on the open water. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health/fishing-the-cause-of-more-drowning-deaths/article1134962/
I will fish anytime.
I miss Deville more than anything. Thanks you so much for the beans by the way – made.my.day.
Happy stampeding ladies. Not sure if I miss that.
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