Tales of Home

{{ This weekend should be the Cowal Highland gathering. Sadly this year there isnt one.
So instead they are having virtual events. }}

Lame. Our county fair would be happening this next weekend, but it's cancelled as well of course.

Besides, I think part of the fairground is still serving as a fire evacuee center.

In similar news, it's been overcast and orange the last couple days, today more than ever. All the smoke from the fire in the mountains near my brother's cabin, I imagine. It's not smoke at low elevation, but everything is bathed in this strange orange light: like a sunset through thick fog.

Oh, to be clear, it's my brother's vacation cabin, and it has fire insurance. Still, all their various off-road vehicles--jeeps and such--are up there right now, and taken altogether it would be pretty shitty if it all went up. The area has been evacuated and the fire was near the nearby town, so the cabin may be gone now. I don't know.

that sounds terrible Forest I hope the cabin is saved.

Even if rebuilt from insurance money it would take over a decade for the trees to get close to feeling like a forest again. I hope the area is spared.

We shall see!

Sorry I can't post any pictures. It's very strange this afternoon. Kind of like tornado-weather, if you know what I mean.

{{ Hope its all ok in the forest, Forest- weird world out there at moment. Hope the flames spared your brothers cabin. }}

Here's some pictures from San Francisco.  Pretty wild.

https://twitter.com/jachristian/status/1303773681986932737

I haven't been up there so I don't know if that colour is authentic. It's not as dark orange down here, but perhaps the smoke is just much thicker up there.

Are you saying your area is darker orange? That suggests thicker smoke where you are. I do demos of this type of thing for students, and getting the balance between enough stuff to show the color effects and too much so that it doesn't darken is quite a challenge. I do have to wonder if those San Fran pics have been enhanced.

Those pics Halfy are frightning. I hope your brothers cabin is spared Forest ! Take care !

Thanks Az!

No Halfy it's lighter down here, although still orangey. The brightest the sun got today I could still look at it. After two days of this our solar batteries ran down and I had to run the generator.

{{ Was directed to this via a Facebook group, a very early Emma Thompson short (its an hour long) called 'Tin Fish', set around the US Navy Base in 1989 (I was 18 at the time) in my home patch.
Odd to watch now, apart from bringing back some memories its weird as to the geography, it switches often between one side of the loch and the other, but making it seem like all one side, sort of, and in a few scenes they drive in one direction and end up arriving somewhere thats in the opposite!
But I wonder if this was when Emma Thompson fell in love with this area (she has had a house here for ages). }}

Quickly scanned through that: they all have the same haircut! male, female, black white it's all the same hair spilling over the top and halfway down the neck in back. Didn't recognize Emma Thompson at first on account of the haircut.

{{ One of two flims centered around the Navy Base, the year before the above, in 1988 Harvey Kietel starred in Down Where the Buffalo Go - but seems almost impossible to get hold of- can only find this one 5 minute clip that has no dialogue in it! Can get it on Amazon but its 25 notes!}}

The writer guy sounds like he has the same accent as you Petty.

{{ Its not bad at all for our local accent, the actor is from Glasgow so west coast still, but the Glasgow accent is harsher, our accents here a lot softer- to such a degree than when I moved to Glasgow in my early 20's a guy in a pub nearly started a fight with me as he thought I was taking the piss with my accent. Emma Thompsons accent is, a bit off. Being generous. }}

Why does that clip start with nearly 20 seconds of a dark van driving down a dark road? There is nothing the slightest bit interesting until we see the black leather glove. Waste of cellulose.

{{ Maybe its meant to imply the law slowly but inexorably coming to get the guy who has gone awol. The uniforms look pretty accurate for Shore Patrol from what I remember, with the SP arm bands and all, but the vans wrong.
Also most of this one is actually set  on the other side of the Clyde- as it really follows some women from Gourock who come over to date American sailors (that clip is in Gourock).

Reality was much more interesting. There was a hotel back then, aptly named The Harmony, and weekends especially, literally boat loads of women would turn up in town, most of them charging and it was favoured place to go.
But as a 14-17 year old I worked at a bus garage on Sunday mornings as a bus cleaner, and it was located inbetween the hotel and the ferries. So all the prossies would be heading down for the first ferry to get back, we got to know a few of them pretty well and used to sit having a cup of tea with them at the bus garage before we started work.
Obviously this was rather, interesting, for a young lad given they were dressed like prostitutes and consisted mainly of legs and cleavage. Ah happy memories!   }}

oooh that brings back memories for me too. This film was made partly in my home town, a small Northern village with still cobbled streets. I remember me and my mum went along to filming to see if we could catch a glimpse of Richard Gere, we went to the movie theatre afterwards to watch it and I remember squirming with embarrassment at the one quite graphic sex scene. The whole town was buzzing for months.

I can't recall Richard Gere without a touch of grey in his hair. He was already famous before Pretty Woman?

Not as famous obviously, but he was American film actor and that was enough for us. The movies coming to our small, grim, rainy, town was a huge deal.

I remember that film I wanted a "Richard Gere" to sweep me off my feet, ( any bloody Richard would have done ) Time has revealed differently.

Most people who get swept off their feet when young end up broken hearted.  I think we're still capable of the feeling as we get older but we instantly get suspicious and stomp it back down.

If somebody tried sweeping me off my feet now I would feel really irritated. I don't mind watching other people do it on telly or in books, but it's not for me. Been there, done that, totally overrated pain in the arse.

{{ I never get swept off my feet, fall off them drunk often I have been rolled away in my barrel though, does that count? }}