I’m Living in a Foreign Country…

…but, I’m bound to…etc. (Apologies to Mr. Dylan.)

Local Shops fare: Cookies

The three nearest local shops are a Polish supermarket run by Pakistanis, a Turkish market run by Iranians, and a Caribbean shop run by West Africans. This post focuses on cookies I’ve picked up at the first two (maybe I’ll do bush meat and weird cleaning items to include Mama Africa some other time). Mostly produced in Slovenia, Czechia, and Iran they attract me mostly for the dearth of English on the labelling.

First up, some butter cookies that are apparently meant for teething infants. Iranian and more-ish.

There appears to be a bit more vanilla in the dark chocolate coated Polomacane susienky biscuits by Rodinne than in the ones by Opavia.

I have taken to various wafer sandwiches of late:

The Jezyki are almost too much like candy:

Thrifting Record Find: Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee

Jackie’s typical behaviour at the record bins involves inspecting first the album cover (especially the playlist) then the vinyl condition then, a while later, repeating both and sometimes, very rarely, tucking the record under her arm with a still 50-50 chance the record goes back where she found it.

None of that this time. I heard a low gasp and then she shoved the record to me. “Take this. Now.” She wasn’t wrong. November 1964, Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee. Sublime.

T-shirt clearout March 2024: to the rag bin!

New shirts in, old ones out. Here are some of the threadbare leavers. First up, one of a handfull of Drunken Bunny Liqueurs shirts in existence (and except for my hoodie, probably the last in Europe). Circa late 2013.

Okeh Records circa 2008.

Never much into race shirts, anyway, but the Ridgeway one was special to me. Since I’m not planning on ever running in an organized race again (beer miles excepted), I have also divested myself of the Swifts gear:

The hot sauce shirt came from a visit to the States visiting Debra and later, T, so it is a T shirt:

Never wearing anything that hints at my actual background is key so I’ve never had a t-shirt from any educational or training facility (nor that advertises a product I actually use). I bought the UTChattanooga shirt on the same trip T gave me the Sriracha one:

The Jimi shirt is gone, now, too. Jimi story involving Edie (the previous cat) in the link.

Bus run mop up, lunchtime Super Tuesday

Dunno what’s going on in the States. Our Deb is going to vote in NC today but I dunno what’s on her ballot. Listened to some history podcasts on the run to get a break from the US politics loop and made my way through the Queen Liz hospital grounds then up to Harborne to clear off a heavily routed bus section on my way to War Lane before looping back up then, having no more accessible ‘virgin’ bus tracks to hit, made my way past the old bits of the hospital visible on the map underlay of the day.

This time it was an OS 1:10560 scale (1 foot = 2 miles or 3″ to the 1/2 mile) in circulation from the 40’s to the 50’s (not any more sure than that).

Found Photo: hares in a meadow jigsaw

Jimi was pretty calm when we pulled out the Christmas puzzle (which we worked on until mid-February). It was Angela Harding: Rathlin Hares which I got at a chain bookstore in town. The bunnies are very good, no?

Sunday run

The primary rule this year is every run must include some new territory which the Bus Run project really helps since I’m keeping up with the runs this year on a master map. The map today is described as NLS – Barthholomew Half Inch 1897 – 1907. Ooooh.

It predates our street or, at least, its development. From nearby I made my way to the canal and went as far as the section currently — and for the last couple years — a completely blocked off segment of the tow path. There are some derelict factories along this stretch that are in danger or imminent collapse so we’ve been rerouted to the upper canal by the M5 flyover maintenance project as far as Spon Lane where it is better to go overland to rejoin the lower canal than it is to slog through the absolute bog that the upper path becomes in any damp period.

Picked up some segments of Bus routes for the Bus Run Project but I’ve been off a bit, training wise (note, no nosebleeds since Thursday during a meeting with some researchers) and wasn’t feeling too adventurous. So, I started the loop home along the tramline and at Kenrick Park noted a two minute wait till the next tram and knowing I couldn’t outrun this one to Trinity Way called the run a success at a little over 6 miles.