¦ dialling in from worstation ¦
08.58 GMT, Friday, 9th November 2007. A glorious sunny day, bright beams of golden light, crisp blue skies and a shudderingly wonderful ice cold breeze. The kind of weather to turn your cheeks rosy and make your nose sniffle. Meanwhile the South East of England is getting battered by a storm surge and they're worried about the Thames flood barrier being able to do its job: cyberpunk is getting ever closer to reality. Well I've been back from Newcastle for 4 days now and I've systematically ignored my brain snapping me awake at 4A.M. in order to grab a few more hours in bed... a direct result of being out late most nights this week. Last night Jo and Hagen joined me at the Watershed for a quick bite to eat, pint and an awesome documentary-film called "In the Shadow of the Moon"... absolutely compulsory viewing for anybody with the smallest spiritual bone in their base fleshly body. The nights out and late mornings have meant I've not been making much progress on Shadows of Quantinex, or writing up the editorial corrections for Yellow Dawn, but... hell, I think I deserve a little bit chill out time.
I have a friend in the states. He read my recent post about "too many monkeys in the cage" which is a reference to the dying embers of polite society... and I was delighted to get a response from him which included his own stand against the mass-of-rudeness-and-ignorance that now pervades Western society. I enclose a segment of it here:
QUOTE: "Earlier on in the year I'm on the 'L' train from Williambsburg into 8th Ave, Manhattan. 9:15am, you know the score - packed solid, everyone looking like zombies and miserable, it's a very unpleasant time of day. I'm "strap hanging" stood up over the folk sitting down. It's so crowded, there would be no way for me to change hands or turn. There's a guy sat down in front of me playing one of those phone games - with the volume up full. I can see everyone around me getting increasingly annoyed. The train empties out at 14th/Union Square. The guy - totally oblivious - still beeping away. Something strange happened. I snapped. This NEVER happens (although New York brings it out in people). I bark at him, "Don't you have a volume button on that thing!?" Naturally all the commuters look down. get more engrossed in their books, look away etc. Time freezers. The guy (and it's a guy, not some "whateva dick 'ed" teen) I see the sheer crack-out madness in his eyes. Cold terror. "Ah, I can see the headline I thought" MAN SLAIN OVER SUBWAY TETRIS ROW "What the FUCK did you just say?" Now I'm proud of the next part - no shaking, lip wobbling or wavering, I repeat myself clearly, loudly and in my best British Patronizing Tone (which weirdly kowtows them). 6th Avenue stop looms. "Man you should speak Englidsh MotherFucker!" - said in classic semi-intelligent Brooklyn broken-English... I just grinned at him - what a tool. Got off just as the doors opened and he was starting to rise to his feet. I walked off all casual like. Okay it was a stop before I wanted but I felt like I'd scored a small victory for Polite Society. :) I should buy some Mace." END QUOTE
Here! Here!
Djr