Archive for July 19th, 2007

19 Jul 2007 Random Thoughts on Transit
Author: Gail |  Category: Europe, Urban Life  | Leave a Comment

Paris metro
Paris metro

To get to work, I take a streetcar, subway, and bus for short times (average 10 minutes each) for a one-way trip of about 35 minutes. I take my iPod and sometimes a book, but because of the short segments and connections I usually just listen, watch, and think:

  • Should I wake up those people snoozing on the subway to see if they missed their stop?
  • Did that person kiss their loved one/s goodbye this morning or just walk out the door like any other day?
  • How many items has she knit on the streetcar? (What wonderfully productive trips.)
  • What did I forget to do before I left the house?
  • Is that older guy taking his son to school on his second family or first? (I love seeing fathers take their kids on transit every day. I find it especially touching, for some reason. Also, men in the grocery store with kidlets in the shopping cart.)
  • What song is he/she listening to?
  • Did she look in the mirror before she left the house??? I don’t think so!!
  • Do I have toothpaste in my hair?
  • How many years has that conductor worked for the TTC (Toronto Transit Commission)? Is he counting the days before his retirement?
  • How many people on this bus also work for the Ontario government? Are they counting the days/months/years before their retirement?
  • Will *I* live long enough to make it to anything resembling retirement?
  • Is his hair real or fake?

Oops, time to stop daydreaming and get off this thing…

Iris taking a breather
Iris taking a breather in Paris

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19 Jul 2007 It’s a Flickr Baby!
Author: Gail |  Category: Flickr, Other Photogs  | Leave a Comment

Sonnet Beatrice Butterfield
Sonnet Beatrice Butterfield by caterina

Stewart Butterfield and Caterina Fake, founders of Flickr, had a baby girl!

Sonnet Beatrice Butterfield
Born July 10, 2007, 6 lbs. 1 oz.

Congratulations!


Life with Sonnet by caterina

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19 Jul 2007 In Need of a Scrub-Down
Author: Gail |  Category: Blah Blah Blah, Europe  | Leave a Comment

in need of a scrub-down

Behind Palais de Tokyo and Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris. You might remember when the movie Amelie came out in late 2001 that the film crew had to clean up the parts of the city they were shooting. Paris (like many large cities) has a lot of graffiti.

I’m feeling in need of an internal scrub-down: I slept 10 hours last night to try and get some relief from the dry, hacking cough I picked up after all the heavy-duty cleaning and work I did around the apartment last weekend. I’ve been ingesting a dose of American ginseng derivative every day (a recommendation from someone at work — ColdFX? never tried it before) and sucking on Ricola to try and keep the coughing down and not drive my colleagues up the wall. I bought a small bottle of Benylin DM and take a couple of swigs of that as per prescribed schedule. Thankfully it hasn’t progressed beyond the coughing stage into a full-blown cold — yet — but I’m keeping to the regimen until the coast is clear.