Saturday, June 5, 2010
A rainy day on de island, mon
Saturday 5 June 2010: The rain is intense, and there is lightning. The street outside is flowing like a river. The SUV that just went by had the lower half of its wheels underwater. Or as the locals call it...summer. I though that I was back in Sarasota where we are criticized for our intense rain, lightning and streets running like rivers. These criticisms are usually from northerners who would never tolerate this "up north." Well, so much for that. No man is an island, perhaps, but an island is an island is an island. We may be off the coast of Taxachusetts and the population may be mostly WASPS named Muffy and Biff but the lifestyle is very island. There are no big-box stores, few traffic lights, and lots of muddy roads. To add a little color, Jamaicans walk by our window on the way to their summer jobs at The White Elephant Hotel which is just around the corner. Their voices bring us back to our summers in Jamaica where the patois and the smells of coconut oil filled the air. It is only a few days into our summer walkabout and I am already stocking up on Appleton Rum and spices. A person could get used to this. Our TV gets three channels and we might just keep it that way. Why would we want to spoil all of this by finding out about the rest of the world. I have all of you out there to do that. I hope all my friends contribute to this BLOG. I will use it to talk about our days up here in Nantucket.
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This is thrilling! Thank you for chronicling your adventures on the island. I want to see you sporting some Nantucket Red pantalones soon...
ReplyDeleteFor all of you out there who are not familiar with NOTABLENIBBLER it is a blog by a major FOODIE who reviews restaurants, their menus, and their service. The woman who publishes this is an amazing writer who knows of what she speaks vis a vis food from all over the world. If your restaurant sucks she will not be afraid to say so. On the other hand, if you want to know where the best Jerk Chicken or Pad Thai or anything else can be found.. and see a picture of it... go nowhere else but her BLOG. Maybe she will post her web address in a future comment.
ReplyDeleteI love your blog, Dad! Don't forget to write about our adventure yesterday at Jetties Beach, that great cheeseburger at The Tavern, or the little Thai take-out place we discovered at the Nantucket Ice Rink. Also, what does Island Oracle think about the stringent recycling rules on this island? Personally, I have never put so much thought into throwing out a plasticized paper milk carton. Where is my rule book?
ReplyDeleteI think that the snack bar/Thai take out place at the Ice Rink is excellent. I will have their food at least once a week without hesitation. Recycling is a horse of a different color. I feel kind of dumb sorting out plastic containers while a billion gallons of crude oil flows into the Gulf of Mexico. Being the 60s hippie that i am at heart, this whole rule thing is a bummer. Any way these are the rules: Throw all plastic and metal cans in the same clear plastic bag unless they have designer labels like Dean and DeLuca in which case they don't go to Madaket Mall they have to be put on a ferry and taken to Hyannisport, along with certain cans...nothing that could rust, only stainless steel or brass cans go on the ferry the rest can be picked up by Santos or the other guy. Everything else except the New York Times and the Boston Globe go with the trash in one bag. Take those "SPECIAL" papers and send them by FedEx back to the publishers. All other paper, coffee grounds, wet wipes, food waste, especially if your landlord did not provide a garbage disposal, go together in one clear plastic bag. Then you take out a home equity loan and hire one of the two co-monopolies to cart your stuff away. Unless, you want to go to the dump yourself and watch millionaires cart their own garbage there... sort of like when Steven Speilberg drives a Prius. If you do go to Madaket Mall aka "the Dump" you may find more to bring home than you brought there. That's the word on the street...Main Street.
ReplyDeleteNow that you've bought an eyephone, your life has gone to hell. It's amazing you have time for your blog, in between your time on twitter, facebook, linkden, and flickr. If you try to 'friend' us, we'll have to kill you. Nonetheless, you've touched on many of the serious issues of our time. I just wish to hell I knew which ones they were.
ReplyDeleteGene from Zolfo Springs
Social networking is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get. Sometimes some yahoo from a small cow-town in Florida says something really profound and other times you just get some particle physicist expounding on his recent nobel la-di-da prize.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your blog. About social networking I found that getting the paper on Main St. was great for networking, early morn. Real island people who have been visiting or living there for years. Have you bought a bike yet?
ReplyDeleteTo Stan: No bike yet but I guess I will look tomorrow. Deciding whether to be the intellectual artiste of the rugged outdoorsman. Travelled to Madaket and to Sconset today by car and saw the great bike paths that were insulted from the road. One needs a really good excuse not to bike. I enjoyed biking around cambridge winter and summer so I know what is is like to bike in Massachusetts. (WTF?)
ReplyDelete