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Post by rikita on Mar 25, 2011 20:05:06 GMT
okay, will move it there... i just somehow don't manage to keep up with more than a couple of sub-boards at once... so this here is one of the few i am going to...
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Post by Kimby on Mar 25, 2011 21:15:54 GMT
Reposting this, as the page break buried it, and this thread is NOT TO BE MISSED!
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2011 21:52:45 GMT
Things don't always have to be moved but rather recopied -- some of them have their place in two or even more threads. This is particularly true in the Image Bank, but not just there.
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 11:18:15 GMT
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Post by rikita on Apr 21, 2011 15:17:33 GMT
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 21, 2011 15:50:47 GMT
Oh my gosh, ladies ~~ the shots of NO and Berlin are the first things I'm seeing on the forum today. What delightful lifts to the spirits and exquisite shots, to boot!
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Post by cheerypeabrain on Apr 21, 2011 16:45:42 GMT
Absolutely lovely....
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Post by Deleted on Apr 21, 2011 22:30:46 GMT
Thank you good people!!! She was really quite good a cellist as well. And, so serene in her countenance and bearing.
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Post by bixaorellana on Apr 30, 2011 23:45:58 GMT
Today is Children's Day in Mexico and the party is going full blast in my neighborhood. I'm lurking inside, away from the giant speakers playing kiddy music. Since I was asked to contribute, and since I couldn't get away with just giving money, I went & got a piñata yesterday. Nothing like the last minute. Here it is in all its giant glory. That's 10 pounds of candy & other sugary crap in the bag next to it. Filling it was a laugh a minute. I had to cut a hole in the back above the clay pot & into the papier mache, then pour the candy into the inadequate opening, gagging on the smell of bubble gum. Lots of candy on the floor. More went down between the clothes and the pot. The shiny paper clothes began to rip. Aaaaargh! There were four piñatas, two for the bigger kids & two for the little guys. It rained a little, but stopped & didn't seem to dampen the festivities. Here is a bigger picture so you can see the monster in proportion to my adult-sized furniture:
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Post by rikita on May 1, 2011 11:31:34 GMT
in a berlin shop window:
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Post by bjd on May 1, 2011 16:28:10 GMT
Heavens, Rikita! Was that just decoration or were they selling it?
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Post by mich64 on May 1, 2011 17:29:39 GMT
Bixa, the pinata has lovely colours as do the pillows on your chair, love them!
Rikita, I cannot think of a single reason for purchasing that? Great picture. Cheers, Mich
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Post by rikita on May 1, 2011 17:49:29 GMT
dunno, it was night so the shop was closed. but i think it was just decoration. they might have been selling hats though, don't remember.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 8:39:46 GMT
Often, when I go to work in the morning, the Brinks truck is parked in front of my building, since a bank agency occupies the bottom two floors -- there is a little armoured door for them to enter and load money into the ATMs, as well as delivering other cash to the agency.
They go through the whole routine of looking all around with their hand on the holster, with the guy inside the back of the truck peering through his little bulletproof window.
You never feel very comfortable when you walk past them, not because you are expecting an attack, but because you might sneeze or something and cause them to shoot you out of surprise.
Well, yesterday I missed the big event, because they were finally attacked and the robbers made off with 130,000€. I didn't even find out about it until I saw it in the newspaper, or I would have looked around to see if they had dropped anything.
Frankly, if the bank is going to be attacked, I hope they keep doing it that way, because the other way that ATMs are attacked is by hijacking construction equipment and ripping the building apart. I would not be too happy with that.
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Post by bjd on May 17, 2011 9:11:31 GMT
We have 2 banks at the end of our street and I often see the armoured cars, guards etc. No little doors because it's a small street and the banks are small too.
Years ago, when one of my sons was about 12, about 8:20 am, he was going to school on his bike, cycling through a shopping area where there is a bank. He saw one of the girls in his class just standing there, so stopped and asked her why she wasn't going to school. She just pointed at the bank,at which moment two guys in ski masks burst out of the bank, jumped into a waiting car and drove off.
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Post by Deleted on May 17, 2011 13:51:50 GMT
I'm thinking that the armored car employees are going to receive part of the blame for what happened.
There is a special parking zone for them on the side street alongside the bank, but they never use it. It is a one way street going in the direction that they probably don't want to go when they are done with their business. Instead, they park on the edge of the wide sidewalk of the main intersection. This means they have to walk about 15 meters in the open instead of just 3 meters.
I'm not sure if it would really have made a difference, but their employers will probably think so.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 4, 2011 17:17:52 GMT
So, a week ago (Saturday) was the Mother's Day event at the nursing home. They leave Sunday free for anybody with a mother still capable of knowing what day it is and going out for a real celebration. However, I am always very impressed with the effort that the place makes. And since 4 of my colleagues also have family members in nursing homes, they are also astounded by what goes on at "my" place. This year they did not hire professional entertainment but decided to do the entertainment themselves. There was an African fashion show (the majority of the employees since the place is in the heart of African Paris), Bollywood dancing (another element of the neighbourhood) and other performances both by the employees and other groups from the area. After the show is the buffet. I don't get to see much of it, because my mother doesn't like it for some reason. This is just one display, because there were at least 4 other tables covered with items in the other public rooms. I never get to see all of the stuff, though, because my mother wants to get away from the crowd. The bring out hot trays of tidbits from the oven, and then all of the dessert items are brought out. I never get to see them, but I can imagine how spectacular they are, because I know all about the fruit tarts, the chocolate concoctions, the fruit creations.... Meanwhile I am sitting upstairs in front of the television looking for the necessary explosions and car chases. Here is a brief YouTube of the ambience.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 4, 2011 17:44:12 GMT
How totally wonderful! You've shown the entertainment at the home on past occasions, and I can't help but think that the residents may have appreciated this much more. Certainly for the more confused ones, seeing the friendly, familiar faces decked out and performing for them must have been great fun.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 24, 2011 15:06:46 GMT
Yesterday I stuck this video in "the sound around you", totally forgetting about "Local Color", which is such a great thread. So, here's my video again & a chance for everyone who missed the Franco-African fun above to see it.
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Post by tod2 on Jun 24, 2011 15:28:51 GMT
How lovely Bixa! I also loved the video of the rain pouring down....there's something wonderful about the sound of falling rain - especially when you go to sleep.
Kerouac - I wish I seen your lovely photos earlier! And the video is amazing! I can't help but think your mom is in a wonderful home from home.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 6, 2011 15:00:49 GMT
Today my Roma beggar gave me some more gifts -- some Lindt chocolate bunnies with golden bells around their neck. Somebody had clearly given her some excess Easter stock, but she wanted my mother to have some.
On the Trip Advisor message boards, there are constant warnings about the Roma beggars who the posters think are not only begging, but managing to pickpocket you at the same time if you come anywhere near them. I know that gypsies originated in India, but I did not know that they had brought Shiva-like arms with them. My own beggar was having complications just giving me the chocolate since she was breastfeeding her baby at the same time.
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Post by rikita on Aug 6, 2011 16:04:50 GMT
well unfortunately suspicion and prejudice against roma is always especially big, everywhere. i am sometimes ashamed when i notice it also gets to me, and i sometimes get more careful around them - it is silly, everyone could steal from you, and the times i had something stolen so far in my live, it was most likely not by roma. but somehow it is very hard to get rid of prejudices that you hear repeated over and over...
in romania, they kept telling me things like "watch your bag, there are gypsies here", and they tell children who misbehave that the gypsies will take them, or call them gypsies, and a common word for a mess is also coming from the word for gypsy... i do think btw, that that influences the self-image of some young gypsies (some gypsy friends there told me that whenever anything went amiss in school or anywhere, suspicion was automatically on them)...
anyway, this is not to say there aren't gypsies who steal, but suspecting people just because of their ethnicity is sad...
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Post by hwinpp on Aug 15, 2011 8:35:52 GMT
I nearly got gypped pickpocketed once in Hannover. She didn't find my wallet but she did find the family jewels, which was just the diversion
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2011 14:55:16 GMT
They do that in the Dominican Republic. Any time a man has his testicles fondled or squeezed, his hands are going to fly to that area, leaving his pockets unguarded for the accomplice.
I was luckily warned ahead of time.
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 15, 2011 16:13:03 GMT
Re: 261 & 262 -- I never made the connection between "gypped" and "gypsy" before! Thanks -- I'm cutting that verb from my vocabulary.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 15, 2011 16:41:11 GMT
In the old days, you had to jew the prices down to avoid getting gypped.
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Post by Deleted on Oct 29, 2011 18:30:28 GMT
This week there was a "major" fire on the Champs Elysées in one of the most elegant and expensive restaurants, Ladurée. Visually, there was nothing to see from the outside except for smoke, but I didn't even see the smoke when I walked over from the office. However, it was apparently pretty intense, starting in the restaurant kitchen (a renovation worker pierced the wrong pipe or some such) and spreading across four floors via the electrical ducts. No injuries and not even any visible damage from the street, but you can imagine how everything could have gone wrong in such a tightly packed neighborhood, so there were something like 40 fire trucks that rushed to the scene from 20 different stations. What really got me was how they set up a "command center" tent and other things to deal with the fire. I have never even seen a command center tent in other fires, many of which were much worse than this one. I guess it just goes to show that even the fire department has to worry about PR in high visibility events in front of all of the tourists in the world.
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Post by bixaorellana on Oct 29, 2011 18:54:27 GMT
Do you think it was merely PR, or practicality? It would make sense to have a central place where those in charge could be contacted via radio (or whatever is used nowadays). Also, it might help keep the press & curious onlookers from approaching too closely to the fire.
Whatever its purpose, it was a great photo-op and you really did it justice.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2011 20:18:25 GMT
Standing in line at Dia tonight, my heart was warmed just watching a very working class Maghrebi father trying to control his Duracell bunny son. He was clearly there exclusively for the son's needs because his only purchase was a 12-pack of yogurt, but the queue was quite long and the son wanted everything along the aisle. "Can you buy me this soap?" the son demanded, seeing a body wash with a dinosaur on the label. His father said "You have plenty of soap already! You have the Pirates of the Caribbean soap." This already gave the young father quintuple bonus points in my book for knowing precisely what soap was already on hand. How many fathers know such things?
The little boy kept harrassing him, but the father said he could pay for it with his own money, which cooled the debate down a bit. Then he saw a bump on the boy's head. "What's that? Did you get in a fight?" "No," the boy said. "I was running with the two Alberts and I fell down." This was already amazing because I would say that a French kid currently has as much of a chance of being named Albert as an anglophone kid, i.e. not much. So TWO Alberts in the same class? "The big Albert pushed me and he got there first and then the other Albert said he cheated. But then Jamila came and hit me. She's mean."
"Jamila hit you? I thought she liked you." Duh, Dad, don't you remember that that's what girls who like you do at that age to get your attention?
Anyway, I was simply enchanted by their conversation since young poor fathers get so much bad press, usually because they have run off instead of washing their children with Pirates of the Caribbean soap.
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Post by bixaorellana on Nov 21, 2011 21:46:13 GMT
That is really an updated, French, Norman Rockwell scene -- truly charming.
My local color yesterday was tasty, but not charming. I was invited to lunch in honor of my friend's daughter's 30th birthday. I showed up 40 minutes after the 2:00 time stipulated. This was after peeking over a couple of times to see if anyone else was there yet. I was the 2nd arrival.
The food was finally served @ an hour later. It was chicken cooked with avocado leaves and some kind of thin, very delicious chile sauce. Rice and refried beans accompanied it. This is all stuff I like.
Another thing I like is utensils. There were none. Everything had to be eaten with tortillas, not one of my talents. I noticed when I was finished that my part of the table looked like the highchair area.
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