Thursday Thoughts # 57
from Carved in Bone, a Body Farm novel by Jefferson Bass
"I picked up the hunting knife with my left hand and tested its heft, then shifted it to my right hand to compare. Golfing and batting, I'm a lefty, but I grade papers and dial phone numbers with my right. The knife felt more at home there, too. Okay, I thought, add 'stabbing' to the list of right-handed activities."
"Couldn't you have just put it in an autoclave, wrapped in some paper towels?"
"Sure. But where's the fun in that? It's not every guy who gets to play with fire on the job."
"Are you never going to grow up?"
"I sure hope not. My childlike immaturity's the only thing standing between me and a major mid-life crisis."
Today's Thoughts:
We all know I like to look at the Real Estate pages, although lately I look at some of those homes and wonder just how "real" these estates are.
I like to look at the big$$$ homes, see how the other half lives. There's been quite a few recently that are so big my entire flat could fit into the dining area alone.
Sigh. So much space.
Then I think about the cleaning of all those giant windows and miles of floors and turn the page.
but last Saturday, this one description caught my eye:
"Upon entry from the front porch is a living room, which has two bedrooms....."
Huh.
Would you buy a house that has two bedrooms in the living room?
Not me either.
Last week, I'd been somewhere away from home and was waiting at the bus stop to get back to the city, to catch the next bus to my suburb. While I waited, a police car with red and blue flashing lights sped past, followed a few minutes later by another one, then an unmarked station wagon, also with (interior) red and blue lights flashing, a few minutes later another police car, the regular black and white kind again. A helicopter was circling above, clearly following something or somebody and just before the bus came, another unmarked sedan, flashing interior red and blue lights came up the road towards us, then hooked a u-turn and went back the other way. The first batch of cars had turned right at the intersection and gone around the block, coming back onto the road I was waiting on and then turned left into a side street and sped off that way.
I decided to watch the news that evening to see what the heck was going on.
I began with the early news at 4pm, followed up with the not-so-early news at 5pm, then the regular news programs at 6pm. by now I was getting tired of watching all this news without learning anything, so stopped paying close attention.
Finally I heard the words "stolen car" and "high-speed car chase in ...." and that was all I learned.
So much action, yet barely a mention on all news programs. Disappointing :(
Once back in the city, waiting to cross the road with several dozen other people, a short woman right next to me, in the middle of the crowd, lit up a cigarette and blew smoke everywhere!
Who does that these days?? How inconsiderate!!
I got a lung full, and was coughing badly by the time I got home.
So, what's been happening with you?
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The western suburbs here are being invaded by the arse end of the latte set, low on dough but striving for the badge. They do everything required: jog the streets, ride bikes, and support refugees. Ect and ect. The women are pimly-faced and sweating, the males are grey-haired and bewildered. On Saturday they're propped in the brand new latte citadel in Mason street. Like corpses. So beat that; new kitchens and they cross the road for their corn flakes. They're distressed by many things, but dog shit gets then hysterical, they want police cars and a helicopter overhead. Light up a smoke and they'll lynch you, cough cough cough. Well darlings I was never a drinker, like my daddy, which in terms of collateral damage causes human misery beyond calculation. Tobacco smoke might kill you, the fall-out from booze destroys generations.
ReplyDeleteIt is so annoying when you see something that seems significant but it is not reported on the news.
ReplyDeleteR.H. seems to me that latte set could use a little less striving and a little more relaxing.
ReplyDeleteAndrew; it was disappointing, but on the other hand, I was pleased it wasn't something awful like a terrorist home invasion.
Sometimes I think the police chases, particularly for stolen cars, are overkill. No-one wants their car stolen, but in the scale of things it is only property. Or at least until the chase goes wrong it is only property.
ReplyDeleteSorry, I think I am in grump mode today.
I am glad that no-one was hurt in that chase.
And I am snickering at the bedrooms in the living room.
I think about those huge new houses in the new estates. Who needs such big homes?
ReplyDeleteBut, we are marketed to, sold to and told "we" need a room for each child and a parents retreat to run away to.
I see first home owners aspiring to houses two, three times bigger than our humble abode.
And, they sadly have little to no backyard and certainly no room for the good old hills hoist or (horrors) the backyard shed anymore.
I look at homes on TV shows and in the papers and all I can think of is how much vacuuming, dusting etc they require. I'm lazy - rather be creating mess and art in my studio :)
And I shudder at the mere thought of a pristine McMansion to clean.
As we think on our next move, hubby and I are turning our thoughts to a small home with fewer rooms and "considered" spaces.
I agree with EC, stolen car chases can lead to disaster - wrong place, wrong time scenarios. And, I'm also glad that no one was hurt.
At least it helped pass the time while you waited for the bus.
That woman was rudeness personified. I would have no trouble coughing her smoke right back in her face...
You'd think that with what we pay real estate agents, they would be a little more accurate and adventurous in their sales technique! I've done the same with the news, but usually left to wonder what all the fuss was about.
ReplyDeleteI rather like my insular little non-news watching life (actually, just no news on the television) in my cosy wee insular house, insulated from all the grim acquisitiveness and rudeness by the love of four frolicsome pups, a really Great Scot, and assorted children.
ReplyDeleteElephant's Child; I was surprised it was only a car chase when I remembered how many police vehicles and a helicopter were involved. I'm wondering if the whole thing was "edited" so as not to cause public alarm.
ReplyDeleteVicki; I used to want a really big home, but in my defence, I still had four kids at home back then. Now I just want enough space to move without constantly coming up against a wall :( One more room than what I have would be about right. And a bigger kitchen.
Car chases so often end with the stolen vehicle crashing into a house through a window. Around here anyway.
Craig, what's really ironic is in the same real estate section, first page, there was an article about poorly edited presentations.
Jac; I almost never watch the news, only on that day to see what all the police vehicles were out for.
I often look at homes for sale too.. Silly add :)
ReplyDeleteThat's must have been annoying watching 3 news's and not finding out more details..I have great trouble with cigarette smoke myself, causes me great grief...some people have no consideration!
whiteangel; cigarette smoke was a huge problem for me when I worked checkout. not freshly lit cigarettes so much, but the stale stench that permeated the clothes and shopping bags of people who smoked all winter wearing the same jacket, or perhaps smoked inside their houses and the shopping bags would collect the smoke. I'd go home daily and cough until I threw up.
ReplyDeleteI, like you, River...am always looking at the real estate sections in the newspapers and on line. Some of the houses...most of them...are massive! I'd hate to be a slave to them...keeping them cleaned, dusted, polished etc., etc., all the time. A think a permanent housekeeper would be the order of the day! lol
ReplyDeleteThankfully,no car chases or ignorant smokers in my days, at least not yet.
ReplyDeleteWe will start house shopping as my husband's retirement gets closer. Simple house, easy care...no wasted space...no yard care...if we ever find such a place in So. California, will let you know.