Geek day

 I've probably gone a bit too far with these slightly unconventional aircraft photos. You see an afternoon at the Florida Warbird museum and workshop can easily bring out the sleeping, inner geek. Two of my favourite planes were included in the display just to make things even better; those being a Chance Vaught F4U Corsair (arguably the greatest prop driven fighter ever) and a MiG17, (design icon and menace from the Korean and Cold War skies).  As it turned out to be a working workshop I had a good blether with the oh so cool mechanics all busy cutting and hammering things into place.  Who'd have thought that Rolls Royce Griffin engines and the contra-rotating props from the old RAF Shackletons were the mainstay of the power plants for the US aircraft racing fraternity? There was also loads of information and artefacts from Pearl Harbour, large and small weapons of all kinds and scrapped and unrestored aircraft and buggered up parts all across the hanger. They do proper flights also, up in old Harvards if you have the stomach but at $400 a pop I gave it a miss. Some other time maybe.

Getting under the skin a bit.

Must be either torque measures or tests for metal fatigue, forgot to ask.

A Shack' prop with the blades cut back, adds 60 mph to the top speed they tell me. Nuts.

No creature comforts in a MiG 17, you can't even see out, rough as a badger's bum.

Cockpit of the Corsair, a bit broken down at present but still able to fly. Superb.

Felix still figures here and there.

Big Head.

No longer here

I typed this title yesterday when I'm sure it meant something, possibly that I'm not longer in the place where these photos were taken (a Coca-Cola building). That is of course pretty obvious, the fine idea I had at the time has now escaped me and it's simply down now to sharing a couple of (in my view) interesting photographs taken yesterday. Must buy a notebook or use the recording device on my phone or take some memory pills.

P.S. for today

On the blue trail

There's a real feeling of peace and stillness out at Louisa Lake Park. The air is hot and heavy but the woods are full of odd animal and bird noise and it truly seems a wild place (for a townie anyway). So after exploring the lake shore for a while I decided to try one of the trails, I started on the red trail. The red trail then turned into the blue and red trail which then turned into the blue trail. I was on the blue trail, checking out mushrooms, avoiding snakes and observing the diggings of wild pigs. I was also on the lookout for bobcats. I was also lost. Fortunately I have no natural sense of direction, I just retraced my steps, followed the guidance of the giant mushroom and eventually found myself, still on the blue trail but in a recognisable car park.

The actual, helpful mushroom.

Sunshine Skyway

There was precious little sunshine to accompany my crossing of the "Sunshine Skyway", a huge bridge and road system that spans Tampa Bay. Miserable driving rain and heavy traffic made the journey a chore however the road designers thoughtfully added a "fishing pier" and rest area on both sides of the bay so I took frequent breaks to park up and just stand and watch the clouds pass and witness the occasional fish actually get caught under these broody and disturbed skies.

The difference between a madman and me

Dali Museum, St Petersburg: I spent the wettest day of the holiday so far with these good people. There are many such quirky and strange (private?) images on display here. Dali and Gala dressing up, cavorting on beaches and eating fish all across the Spanish coastline in the 1950s being a common theme. Anyway. This strange and stylish building in the run down and creepy town of St Pete's hosts some of the great man's best known works thanks to the $s of a rich American collector who's name escapes me. It took me a few hours to get round the gallery, the detail visible close up in some of the works (which range from huge to tiny) was truly wonderful and demands time, I could've been there for days. The prints and reproductions in books simply don't capture the colour, depth and hidden treasure of brush strokes and technique of the real thing. Neither does my feeble camera so I hardly bothered. 

Like any gallery there were crowds of dumb tourists picking their way randomly across the rooms, stumbling and fumbling and staring as if they'd never seen any piece of artwork, ransacking the gift shop, asking stupid questions, lining up for over priced coffee and bumping into each other whilst shouting out in strange accents...all sounds a bit like me really.

You are not

You are not what you eat

Or the size of your feet

You are not a clothes line or an image

You are not a mixed bag of opinions

You are not a sack of onions

Or something somebody else describes

You are not your wealth or health

Neither cool or foolish

Blonde slim fat or ginger

Or a dead ringer

Not your gender nor a defender 

Of some fragile peace

What you are lies beneath

All these things external and crooked

You are a tiny dot a spot

Inside your very self

This is who you are

And no one else.

A Universal thing

Beer here is $8 for a plastic cupful; rivalling most venue and rock festival charging schemes in the UK. The views are decent enough however as is the changeable weather. It was unfortunate that my park entry ticket expired yesterday thereby barring me from entry today. Sometimes you just have to suck things up.

Holiday V Home

I'm still not feeling at home in the holiday home. Not something that I had anticipated but after quite a few weeks of living here I've come to the conclusion that a holiday home can't feel like home for the likes of me. For the other family members who've stayed here and who are here now I don't know. They may feel at home in some temporary way. For me it's not, it's hotel style with pale carpets and annoying appliances and strange noises that the AC emits, downpours of lizards, heat and energy sapping atmospheric special effects and ice machines. Cups, knives and dish towels that I don't recognize, like a futuristic camping trip that never ends, shop to shop to garbage can with intermittent holiday events taking place on  a routine basis, I can live with this and I can like it but it's not home. 

Disclaimer: Things on this blog are often written during thunder storms, towards the end of a hangover or whilst hungry or disorientated. They generally do not reflect any part of recognised reality or normal life and should not be used as part of any wider programme of research or exploration. These things being strange and foreign concepts that have no place in my own carefully constructed alternative reality. There is no point in any pursuit other than the fun that may be had or by some chance occur. If this means nothing then leave it be so that it may all be nothing and so find some temporary rest way over there somewhere. 

Good morning America

Shower floor layout featuring newly unblocked drain and cleaning products (human and shower). 

On top of the chest of drawers various unused and forgotten items lurk awaiting rediscovery. 

View from the office this morning - views from other windows are available.

Stumbling around this morning recovering from a large meal in the local pub in the town of Celebration, a kind of American Dalgety Bay. Three cheeseburgers formed the starter followed by fish and chips. The fish had been flown down from Boston apparently, quite an effort to make it to the plate. It was all heavy going in a light weight environment. Celebration remains a kind of cultural and design enigma, populated by slow traffic, golf carts, grey wanderers and Disney cast members. It's clean, overpriced, white and lazy and strangely disturbing, forming up in my head as a weird American time warp of an experience.

Balloon Pool and Veganism

Last night the pool was (almost) filled with balloons, hence this very special effect.

Every so often I fancy the idea of turning vegan for a few months just to see what difference it might make to my general health and outlook. It never actually happens.

The food and presentation looks good, not so crazy about the prices though. More information here...

A world of Star Wars

They are going nuts here promoting Star Wars. It's a runaway gravy train of images, technology, mythology and money. Like stepping into some brave new world or religious cult the power of the force (of mass media exploitation) is irresistible. There is no escaping your destiny (young master) to return time and time again for the immersive rerunning of the film experiences played out in every possible way. The new park will be open in a few years, lay all your money down now. You cannot choose not to be fan either, somebody as done something strange to all of our DNA that compels and controls. So as the Stormtroopers swagger around fantasized streets keeping order and the blasters pump flare like colours across the sky we look to the future only to see more bright shiny things and good and evil colliding once again. The problem is figuring out who is who is who.

Various diversions

First World Problems and Solutions: If you get bored with eating, swimming or sunbathing then you can always play games or go to theme parks.

Back into the wild

It is possible to find peace and relative solitude in the madcap middle of tourist crippled Florida. Lake Louisa Park only a few miles up Highway 27 is a green and scrubby wild wilderness. Miles of empty lakes, curious examples of wildlife (too quick to photograph) and quiet, sunbaked roads. It seems a long way from King Kong and the legions or super heroes and designer shops all hungry for ready cash and footfall. For a $4 entry fee you can quite quickly get lost and come close to treading on a gator's tail or wandering into a swamp. No shops, no amenities, just a student renting out canoes from an old ISO container selling warm Coke and giving sparse advice on how to avoid getting hurt or eaten. For most visitors though the whole point of their day is about getting lost. A rare and nice personal experience that you can't actually share with anybody. Nice to do if you want to be in America but for a short time not be part of the spiralling, crazy circus.

Life...

...can be full of little surprises. (I'd imagine that everyone who has ever looked twice at any American power point has taken a picture like this, so I'm just taking my turn now.)

Another day another dragon

Dragons are a big deal it turns out. They make for fantastic fantasy and commercial good sense. They are scary but also photogenic. Once the unlikely property of the Welsh or maybe St George or some other feeble knight they are now the fictional kings of killing beasts and unlikely human allies, from Shrek and Game of Thrones to Pete's Dragon and Harry Potter. No story is complete without some fire breathing, hell raising lizard. Naturally they survive best in theme parks where around every corner, at the end of every queue and propping up plot devices with their timely, fiery interventions the dragons are top of the food chain. Well top but still behind strange super powers, strong willed  women and a little dark magic.

Lizard on the tyre

This chap tried to hitch a ride but failed, his mate however managed a blistering two mile drive down the highway on our bonnet jumping off quite the thing once we reached our destination, an IHoP.

Sweets sampled for YouTube reviewing.

Food in Florida

Food is everywhere in Florida, it's a religion, it's a belief and for some it's a complete lifestyle. There are many big, hungry people here. Restaurant after restaurant filled with eager waiting staff, scurrying chefs and rapid action cooks and meals, large and larger that defy description. Tonight it was shrimp for me, three kinds, three flavours, three portions, wow! The crab shown above was not mine but worthy of appearing here for a) size and b) complexity of the dish and c) skills required to actually eat it.  Now it's slowly digesting (the shrimp) someplace inside me, the couch calls, the night is long and hot...and there's always something else to do and something else to eat. 

Tame Impala

Chevy Impala: moved north, turned Yankee, no explanation.

Barry Lyndon revisited

Thanks the Guardian for reminding me about Barry Lyndon, it's relevance and importance and informing me of it's re-release.   Like Heaven's Gate (another misunderstood film) or Easy Rider, Five Easy Pieces or Dark Star, the movies that populated my screwed up younger consciousness shouldn't be forgotten or filed away (preaching to myself here and no one else) by my muddled sixty year old mind.  Note to self: explore the past a bit more so the present can be better understood and the future avoided at all costs.