(For Meades)
As I sit here contemplating some home-cooked food, I ponder on how life has almost turned a full circle. I left the UK in 2003 after a life-changing event, determined not to return, as I was disgusted with the capitulation of my home country to the forces of Evil (Dubya and Tony). My destination was the Antipodes, and the future lives of choice were either greeny hippy builder or vintage motorcycling zenistry, the two alter egos of my adult life.
A revulsion to “eco leaders” in green stripey trousers [Ed: Meades will be devastated], and hippy chicks that talked the talk and then bailed out to live with the first available solicitor / advertising exec with a big bank balance when times got hard, made me realise where my true social standing lay: a motorcycle guy (or gal) is a motorcyclist first, and a political animal second. It’s a disease.
So how the fuck am I living in semi-rural northwestern Connecticut, armed with a green card and the prospect of naturalisation next year, and more to the point, how come I am eating a meal consisting of venison curry (freezer stocked by rednecks), organic brown pilau rice, and a side of home-grown zucchini, tomatoes, herbs, onions and garlic, all free from either my small veggie plot or from local friends? Worse still, I occasionally spend evenings playing with axes in a community-owned wood. What the fuck?
We live in interesting times, and while occasional observances are fine, perhaps it would be good to explain a little about my home, a run-down industrial town in northwest Connecticut; or, as a friend of mine’s father constantly asked her, “So what exactly is in Konneckticut?” As a middle-aged, widowed singleton, I have to say it’s largely about toys, but as I have resided here far longer than anywhere else in my adult life, and appreciate other aspects more and more, let’s do some background; it’s easy to do a wiki search on Connecticut.
Here is a personal précis:
Connecticut is known as the Constitution State after the “Connecticut Plan”, the proposal by the CT delegates to the Continental Congress that is credited with saving the assembly from acrimonious break-up, and leading to the ratification of the Constitution in Philadelphia during the Revolutionary War. The framework was supposedly based on the first articles of the New Haven colony from 1639.
Population: 3.7 million, in an area of 4849K square miles; that is to say about the same as Surrey, Sussex, Kent and Essex combined. The capital is Hartford, centrally located, and all the other major population centres are along the southern coast, bordering Long Island Sound. They are all a bit odd down that way. That’s where a lot of the money is too, as it’s within the commuter belt of NYC. (Also where the money isn’t, paradoxically: large parts of Bridgeport and New Haven make the Broadwater Farm Estate look like an agrarian paradise.)
State politics: the Communist State, nailed on to return two Democrats to the Senate, due to the large cities. Everywhere outside city limits is Trump territory. Sixth highest taxes in US states, and pretty good welfare support for poorer citizens, about as good as it gets, in fact. Must be why everyone seems to want to move to the South.
Early history: surprisingly, largely unexplored in the early years of colonisation, half-way between the Dutch in NYC/Hudson Valley and the Pilgrims in the Boston area. Groups of colonists seeking more religious freedom than on offer in Massachusetts (they are all a bit odd up there) started settling the Long Island Sound and the navigable reaches of the Connecticut River in the 1630s. Turns out that the Pilgrim fathers, fleeing political and religious intolerance in the mother country, were pretty keen on imposing their own even more extreme intolerances on the early colonists. The knock-on effect of this was the demand for self-governance in the fledgling settlements across New England (anarchism by any other name), which in turn kindled the fires that started the Revolutionary conflagration 140 years later.
I will leave the fates of indigenous inhabitants to scholars of such subjects, except to say that the shared custody of 4849K square miles of luxuriant temperate forests, lakes and streams, bounded by coastal regions unbelievably rich in fish and shellfish was fairly exchanged for a few beads, some hatchets, a lot of illegally brewed alcohol, and a couple of casinos. It’s all documented.
There are only a few of them left, so they made out like bandits. People like to assume that most of the Pequots, Mohawks and Mohegans generally wandered off to join their brethren further north and west, and they all lived happily ever after.
Geography: a bit of everything, but particularly a lot of lakes, hills, and rivers, the proliferation of which would lead to the Connecticut River valley becoming the heartland of the early American industrial revolution in the 19th century, some forty to fifty years after the process began in western Europe. Also thickly forested; almost all old growth had been cleared for farmland by the 1850s, but the opening up of western lands and the civil war led to huge areas formerly under cultivation being abandoned, and the regrowth continues apace.
Industry: in the early years, plenty of water power running from the upper reaches of the Appalachians to the west and the Berkshires to the north provided the power to make things. There are abandoned mill ponds and races everywhere in the woods, which are also crisscrossed with old stone walls from abandoned farms. Small forges and foundries gave way to larger factories in the 1890s, and led to wave after wave of European immigrants to work in them. This town is particularly strongly represented by Italians and Polish/Ukranians.
Wars lead to profits. A local high-end carriage manufacturer was the only major casualty of the civil war (all the rich guys wanting fancy carriages were down south), but the local brass mill developed the first easily mass produced bullet casing; the Union government bought loads of them.
Elsewhere in the State, they made the weapons that they needed, Colt and Winchester being possibly the most famous. Innovation and ingenuity being a natural part of the yankee character, local discoveries are too many to mention, from cotton gins to condensed milk and rubber vulcanisation, sewing machines and needle bearings. Manufacturing became a mainstay of the local economy through into the 1950s and 60s, but the writing was on the wall as cheaper labour and power supplies elsewhere started to take its toll.
Natural history: you name it, we got it within spitting distance. Deer aplenty, raccoons, chipmunks, skunks, and bears all seen rambling regularly in my neighbourhood; wild turkey roam in small herds. Me and the boys in the factory next door stood around for a good while last week watching a couple of red-tailed hawks learning to fly, and the mill dam is an excellent spot to throw a worm and catch a small brookie or rainbow trout now the factories have all closed – that is, unless the bloody bald eagle has been by and had ’em all, or scared them away, but he’s fun to watch too. Friend of mine had her chickens eaten by coyotes two weeks ago, and another friend has seen two mountain lions in the last year, not ten miles up the road. I’ve not seen a coyote or mountain lion; both of these are relatively recent returnees to the state. Connecticut is also ground zero for Lyme disease, we have deer ticks a plenty.
Signed, sunbeamtim.
Ovally Balls 
I always feel like I have to state that I don’t agree with most of what JBP says. He’s a Conservative and I’m not, but I don’t understand the rage he seems to provoke.
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Will you ever?
Maybe
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@craigs
He presents himself as an “intellectual” driven by science when much of what he says is actually mystical mumbo-jumbo. He doesn’t send me into a rage but I do find him very pretentious.
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Isn’t he part of the Incel movement?
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@thaum
I don’t think he is. That lot may have used his words to justify their actions, but he’s not a proponent.
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OT – he’s a professor and used to work at Harvard. The psychology stuff he talks about seems to be backed up by some literature even if it is contested.
Where he overstep is the culture war stuff and the life coaching but people buy his books and appreciate his advice. That’s not a crime, any more than Naomi Wolf selling her bs.
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Thaum – despite what people in certain papers may say the alt right and incel movement hate him. He tells everyone to sort their shit out. They blame others (Jews and women) for their misery.
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I may have simplified there.
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@craigs
This is not science
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I think Peterson has stolen some of my best post-lunch work there. Will be consulting my lawyers. After lunch.
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OT – is it supposed to be? Looks more like an attempt at philosophy.
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@craigs
However you label it it’s still bollox.
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…….nic e bit of sound northern pragmatism there, OT.
Have a recommend.
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OT – noted. Still struggling to be upset.
The cricket is more upsetting.
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……more like a shower of reality
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Peterson and his sproglette know how to make a fast buck off gullible people.
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Day Two and my sourdough starter is already starting to form bubbles. Yay! (I think.)
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sadly – WAyne Fontana ……………
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2020/aug/07/wayne-fontana-game-of-love-dies
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MrIks, that is one of my beefs with the guy, the huckster thing, but I think he peaked with the argument that he can’t respect a man who won’t fight him, and since he can’t fight women he can’t respect women, or something, but he was okay with telling some women to beat up women he disagrees with.
Hopefully he’ll recover from this terrible illness, but the man is not a good guy, at all.
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“KP XL Crunchy Coated peanuts, sweet chilli with a twist of lemon flavour” – it says on the bag.
Not that nice but, weirdly, very more-ish, especially with Aldi wheat beer
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Thaum, the convention is that you name your starter, apparently.
We were talking about it elsewhere and there was a bookish theme going on, Rye Breadbury is one I remember, so I decided I’d call mine Jean-Paul Starter when I get around to it.
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It just so happens that La nausée is my favourite book ever, but I can’t nick yours!
Hmm. Maybe Agatha (Crustie).
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We climbed the 5th highest mountain in the Czech Republic today – 1495 metres above sea level. Got good Tenzing energy now.
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I kind of miss the days where Pro would say he’d climbed 1495 metres and Crashball would say he’d climbed 1496 metres or somesuch.
It always made me smile.
Having said that, good effort TomP – though I bet Crash has climbed the 4th highest mountain in the Czech Republic :-)
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On the Holba – Pure Beer from Mountains – this evening. The two I’ve got are under 5% pilsners and pretty good. We were looking at accommodation for the way home and have landed on a microbrewery with rooms above in the town of Litomysl. Looks … perfect.
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Ticht, Ha! This was pretty easy. A bus takes you 3 kilometres from the summit and you go up about 250 metres. We did walk the 8 kilometres back down.
I like to boast to Czechs that I’ve climbed an over 3,000 metre mountain. While it’s true, you start from 2,600 metres above sea level. It still left me absolutely cream crackered.
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Just looking at pictures of Litomysl. Looks lovely, and the castle looks fantastic.
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I’m on Budvar meself, it’s a good go-to and always on offer, though I bet it’s a lot cheaper in the CR
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BB, If you look down this page:https://www.vylety-zabava.cz/tipy-na-vylet/jeseniky/2221-vylet-udolim-bile-opavy, you’ll see the walk we did yesterday.
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Ticht, Original’s about 70 p a bottle in the shops. They’ve got a new one called 33 that’s a bit lighter – it’s almost always on discount at about 50p a bottle. And the lightest one – they’ve just changed the branding – is a bit less than that. So, yes, cheap. The original’s good but I prefer drinking it draught and close to home – which I can’t so easily in Prague – as it gets me steamed.
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The offer here is £6 for four, Tam, so about double what you pay.
I really like it. it’s a good beer, I prefer it to Pilsner Urquell
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This is 500ml bottles, btw
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I wish I could remember the image posting site I found a while ago, I took a few shots of Cuckmere Haven a couple of days ago, the chalk cliffs rise to 200m above the sea and the beach is at the end of a beautiful walk along a valley beside a meandering river – it’s worth a Google
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There’re 4 that I like a lot – Pizen, Budvar, Svijany, Bernard . The best Pizen is from the tank and is gorgeous. Many pubs here just do one beer and care for it well. They’re the best places to get it.
Microbreweries have been a big thing over here so in my missus’s home town – which is about 40 kms from Budejovice – we go to that pub now rather than the other usually Budvar/Plzen places.
The only tip with Czech beer is don’t drink Staropramen.
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“The only tip with Czech beer is don’t drink Staropramen.”
A-men
How can it be so bad? Czech beer is really good, except for this piss that is sold all over the place here. It’s not just that I’d prefer one or two over “Star”, it’s that I’d rather walk out of the pub if that is all they had.
It really is crap.
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It’s a bland Eurolager. Cheap here and backed by a major corporation (but then that is/was true for Plzen). It’s just knocked out. No one I know likes it. You occasionally here someone say the unfilitered isn’t bad but never that it’s good.
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Pfft ti Crash and Pro.i live higher than TomP climbed. And Addis Ababa is much higher- one to 3000m above sea level. Climbing several flights of stairs there does take it out of you a bit.
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Lovely typing. Can’t see my screen properly in the sun. And I’m closer to the sun than TomP climbed too.
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Staropramen turns up in low-cost supermarkets here occasionally but in huge plastic bottles, which is a fair warning sign.
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I can’t explain why, but I have this feeling of utter certainty that the 5th highest mountain in the CR is exactly 1495 metres above sea level.
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Iks/Ticht – he refutes that interpretation of what he said (I’m not sure on what basis – I just found a tweet) l.
Completely agree about the huxter thing. Although he did seem to tap into something for a while.
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Tomp – one day I will do a pilsner/pilsen tour. Fantastic beer that’s been shamefully diluted over time.
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Tahs making a hluva statement in the rain in Sydney. mainly it’s too little too late,but they’re 45-0 up against the Reds with 27 minutes to go. Reds finally get on the scoreboard. 45-5.
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Ticht – cuckmere haven is awesome, and there’s a lovely pub and brewery (Long Man) in Litlington nearby.
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Reds win the 2nd half 12-7.
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Craigs, Longman make a good pint, though I haven’t had one for a while.
Cuckmere Haven is straight from a geology text book, the meandering river and the huge chalk cliffs, gorgeous stuff
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Big Nuck Williams has retired after sixteen years as a pro, what a great career!
There is a funny tweet of him coming off the park at the Kingspan and only at the last minute realising he was headed for the wrong dugout before joining his Cardiff team mates.
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Embra have a huge kid as a trialist, he’s only just started playing but at 18 years of age he’s six foot eight and over eighteen and a half stones, so he has the raw materials https://www.rugbypass.com/news/oguntibeju-the-68-120kg-scottish-qualified-nigerian-born-lock-whos-playing-in-sa-but-could-be-about-to-sign-for-edinburgh/?fbclid=IwAR3s1inyz8glag_eccpIZf4YFyDWTz3tU-bj3-CYx6ou6wdIW3bSYZ1z95M
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I’ve just read a rumour that world rugby have delayed the residency rule change, it was in an article linked on twitter.
If true Schoey will be Scottish this time next year.
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Surely being Scottish is more a state of mind?
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