Everywhere I go

We had a look at a few apartments in the Alameda area this morning after a hearty breakfast with Liz. The Oakland ones are pretty depressing to be honest. We put in an application for a nice house there, good area, one bedroom and a dark room for developing photos but decided against it because of the lack of “hook-ups” which is Americanese for places to put a washing machine and tumble drier. Also the Schipperke would not be welcome… All important factors. Still, this is the time of year when places suddenly become vacant apparently so there’s no rush and there’s also the other buy-a-house possibility that fills me with existential dread but might be a better idea in the long run.

I’m going pseudo-vegetarian to try to offset my pork/beef/lamb footprint from the last two years. My favourite meat dishes are more expensive here and there certainly aren’t plentiful cheap tacos nor donner kebabs just around the corner, but anyway the plan is to not eat animal flesh more than once a week so that I won’t be a burden if we go round someone’s house and they’re cooking for us. Otherwise, it’ll be cheese sandwiches, potatoes, and Branston pickle all the way. Also, all bets are off if I cross any international borders.

I’m applying for web design gigs off of craigslist.org and generally kicking my CV into shape. I’ve a few on the boil, but open to offers, anyone fancy a website?

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A post shared by Gwyn Fisher (@gwynfisher) on Dec 21, 2018 at 7:40am PST

They weren’t there again today. Sod it. I’m going to organise my own club, that can be my new year’s resolution. I’ll be 32 next year and if that’s not the age when one should settle down and start thinking about organised Scrabble, when is the right time?

Got my guitar back from “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly” workshop downtown. It’s sounding fine again. I bought a high E string in San Juan de Dios and promptly broke it after trying to tune the guitar too high. They gave me another and threw in a polishing for nowt. Took a couple of photos of the shop, which looks the part. I’d not trust them with one of my more expensive guitars, mind…

 

And I bet it’s the .4444444° that makes all the difference… Luckily there’s an air-conditioned cinema nearby so we’ve been watching all kinds of nonsense. Pineapple Express, has its moments but is still nowhere near as good as Knocked Up. Tropic Thunder last night cracked me up a fair few times. Mark Kermode says if a comedy makes you laugh five times or more, it’s a success and thus it definitely qualifies and is worth watching for the panda scene alone. Hellboy II is an option for this afternoon…

There are all kinds of small, independant cinemas dotted around Portland, our nearest however was showing Mamma Mia for 3 weeks and has now moved on to The Sisterhood of the Traveling (sic) Pants II, so we’ll have to go a little further afield.

We also found a Fred Meyer down the road, a huge, air-conditioned superstore stocking everything from cider to sweetcorn holders to trees. If they let you take your dog in it would be perfect. As it is ‘Cus and me just head down to the park at the bottom of the street, stick to the shade and paddle in the river. Even the basement’s starting to heat up. Righty, I’m off to shut the windows and blinds. We’re adopting Andalucian living habits. Siestas included. Hasta pronto…

Please note ironic use of Papyrus font… Photos are from the coast north of Wilder Ranch, but south of Davenport… I have a new photography techinique which involves tying a dog to your arm and having him pull at you erratically while you try and frame your shots. If you like the collage (above) pic, it was made with Picasa 2, free from Google. Thoroughly recommended little app, that one.