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Fall
2004 Issue 9 |
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| Michael Hart's Road Notes: 1 2 3 4 5 Michael Hart’s Notes From The Road #2: Random thoughts while being amused at the BBC reports of the heat wave in parts of the country: It's going to be in the 80's, Pet! Then again, it's all relative I suppose. The occasional sheets of ice on Houston's roads make for some pretty amazing stunt driving. I'm in Wales, halfway between Cardiff and Swansea. Let's see, shall we go to Worm's Head or The Mumbles? Oh, let's chuck it all and just take in The Vale of Glamorgan, whad'ya think?
I can't help but feel that most of the place names in the UK were really developed in anticipation of American tourism, they all sound something like Wompole-under-Scrubwood, or Wigglesworth-near-Diddley. I know, not quite the cachet of Old Dime Box or Cut-and-Shoot, but.. "Dear, let's go to Bromsgrove-by-Phlemborough; with a name like that, it's got to be quaint!" By the way, I'm picking up tips, what with being at designer outlet malls, you know. This summer, it's all about accessorizing. Don't say I didn't alert you! The hotel I'm staying in is a small, family run establishment, restored from the original 1550 building in the 80's... see attached photos. It was originally a gift from Queen Elizabeth 1 to the Earl of Leicester (pronounced: Le-ster) and he used it as a hunting lodge. Amazing. And in Houston, we tear things down when they get to be 50 years old. On the practical side, there is no Internet access (what a surprise!), so this dispatch will have to wait until I get to my next stop, and the ubiquitous Holiday Inn. From the sublime to, well, never mind.
As I feared, I'm already overdosing on food courts and the requisite screaming children. I'm feeling more and more like Rodney Dangerfield in Caddyshack ("Lovely child, lovely child. Now I know why tigers eat their young.") Yes, dear friends, the gene pool is very deep... and wide. As I tell my assistants, you can always use me as a bad example, Case in point: I discovered that I neglected to pack my battery charger for the 10D, it being a different unit than the one for the 1Ds. While I'm using the 1Ds for most everything, the aspect ratio of the 10D comes in handy for long lens shots, since I didn't have the capability of bringing my 300mm; the 200mm setting on the zoom becomes a 320mm. Anyway, Calumet does not have one in stock in the country, so, since I could use a second one anyway (the battery grip on the 10D takes two batteries, and the charger only does one at a time), rather than have someone pack mine up and ship it over, Calumet in Chicago is FedExing one to me. So let this be a lesson...should have used my checklist more precisely, or at least have someone double-check me. I'll chalk it up to too much to do before I left, and quite possibly also add it to my increasing list of senior moments. Well, my file backup is done, so once more into the breach, and another round of people coming up to me and asking, "What are you doing?" "Photos." "Oh, will I be on the telly????" "No, afraid not." "Are you an American then?" "No, I'm a Texan..."
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