aaj mausam bada beimaan hai
So I am back in NYC, and it is raining, and I have got a nasty English cold. (I that in heill wes and gladnes/am trublit now with gret seiknes/and feblit with infirmitie...well not really, but if I'm going to be achy and miserable and sudafed-hazed in June, I'm damn well going to console myself by whining about it in Middle Scots, via Dunbar.) It has been something of a running joke for years now that Oxford makes me ill--I was never sickly before going there, then spent three winters in a row plagued by severe colds and chest infections and the like. Wasn't the damp climate: I'm from Seattle. Various doctors blamed rowing, flying too much in the vac, and a weakened immune system due to parasites acquired in the places I was flying to & from. But I remained suspicious, and upon my return this year, spent the winter crowing about my renewed good health; now England has had its revenge.
Anyway, the day after I returned I moved most of my books and winter clothes to SF's apartment, and hauled myself, the rest of my belongings, and my bike to the East Village, where I am living for the rest of the month. Moving via subway sucks--why oh why no elevators?; moving via subway in New York summer humidity (which devilishly kicked in during my week away) is hellish. But having failed to check the forecast, I headed off to work that evening with no umbrella and wearing a very thin white india-cotton blouse. I didn't realise that the monsoon had not only arrived in Bombay, but was about to gate-crash Manhattan as well. In any case, the person with whom I was meant to have dinner that night didn't see me looking like a cross between a drowned cat & a wet T-shirt contest, as the plane upon which he was meant to be arriving was diverted to Pennsylvania due to the storm. And it rained with a sort of Biblical fury for the next two days--we don't have this kind of rain where I come from--our rain is a gentler, incessant, background phenomenon. This reminded me of Rangoon, or of those sudden Istanbul storms that swallow up the Bosphorus and drench the dusty city in early August.
As a result of the sudafed and stormclouds and no internet access of my own in the apartment, blogging has been somewhat suspended--in the meantime, I have been indulging in novels and hot drinks involving whiskey and ginger, while waiting for all my sodden shoes to dry out. But I promise the Hatay tale will continue to unfold later this week, and in the meantime, will provide some reading recommendations. And a recipe.
Anyway, the day after I returned I moved most of my books and winter clothes to SF's apartment, and hauled myself, the rest of my belongings, and my bike to the East Village, where I am living for the rest of the month. Moving via subway sucks--why oh why no elevators?; moving via subway in New York summer humidity (which devilishly kicked in during my week away) is hellish. But having failed to check the forecast, I headed off to work that evening with no umbrella and wearing a very thin white india-cotton blouse. I didn't realise that the monsoon had not only arrived in Bombay, but was about to gate-crash Manhattan as well. In any case, the person with whom I was meant to have dinner that night didn't see me looking like a cross between a drowned cat & a wet T-shirt contest, as the plane upon which he was meant to be arriving was diverted to Pennsylvania due to the storm. And it rained with a sort of Biblical fury for the next two days--we don't have this kind of rain where I come from--our rain is a gentler, incessant, background phenomenon. This reminded me of Rangoon, or of those sudden Istanbul storms that swallow up the Bosphorus and drench the dusty city in early August.
As a result of the sudafed and stormclouds and no internet access of my own in the apartment, blogging has been somewhat suspended--in the meantime, I have been indulging in novels and hot drinks involving whiskey and ginger, while waiting for all my sodden shoes to dry out. But I promise the Hatay tale will continue to unfold later this week, and in the meantime, will provide some reading recommendations. And a recipe.
posted by kitabet at 5:54 PM
1 Comments:
hello my dear. thought i'd leave u a message dear. after a weekend of running around both BA and Harvard have screwed me over. Harvard didn't process my thingie on time (they were waiting for my Generals...duh) and now I'm not 'walking'. So no graduation for me. And BA is being such an arse. Long story. Gah gah gah. Ok, off to bed.
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