[The Life of Shaun #353] Manhattan Memoir

As I am sitting here on the sofa, victor in the last round of the air-conditioning war, looking out across the low-slung expanse of Miami, I cannot grasp how I have only been away from New York for three days.  Time really ekes on in this city.

I had a great time in New York.  It was a tame trip, as far as these things go.  Part of it was jet lag, but part of it was also that I was going in a different frame of mind than my past returns to the city.  I've been missing New York and my friends a lot more lately, and thoughts of moving back have been creeping to the frontal lobe, so I was sort of more looking for a "litmus test" regular week back rather than a blow-out.

A part of me thought I might fall into ecstatic regret for ever having left and falling into depression that I wasn't living there now, but that didn't happen.  I miss it, miss my friends there, and it was amazing and comfortable and felt so natural to be there.  But though I was sad to leave in a specific sense, I was OK with it generally.  I'm not ready to give London up yet.  I also know what it takes to get established in New York, and having lost my apartment there and working in finance, that is not something I'd think about trying right now.  But I know going back is a certainty, so I guess I can paraphrase St. Augustine and just say "New York, make me poor, but not yet."

Coming to Miami after New York was a stroke of genius mental-health-wise, though.  I love my extended family here, and they love living here, bless them, but I am certainly looking forward to getting back to the Big Smoke after a few days here.

And.  There.  Are.  Three.  More.  To.  Go.

This weekend I am going to Atlanta for the first time where I will be entrusting my liver and virtue to Mike McGirr.  Perfect prelude to a long overnight flight back to the Old World.

Melting,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #352] Bienvenido a Miami

Hey all,

Just a note to let you know I've made it to Miami in one piece (physically, at least; mentally less so).  Missing New York already, I can't believe how quickly the week went.

Off to Northern South Florida tomorrow to see Natasha and her family for two nights.  Hope all the Yanks have a good Fourth of July!

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #351] Dinner?

Hey all,

 

Having a great time in New York - though having trouble sleeping past 7:00, even in hangover mode.

 

I head to Miami on Friday, so Thursday night I am going to have a casual dinner at Pongsri Thai.  Nothing fancy, but somewhere I quite loved when I lived here.  If any of you New Yorkers would like to join me, please let me know so I can make a reservation.

 

All right, onto today's excitements - first up?  Cowgirl Hall of Fame - yeehaw!

 

Cheers,

Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #350] Safe in NYC!

Hey all,

 

Made it safely to NYC - so glad to be back!

 

All those of you who I am supposed to see, text me at 917-501-1638 so I can add you to my US phone.

 

Cheers,

Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #349] A cruel mistress

London can be a hard bitch, but this is a little rich:

In other news, I am off to New York tomorrow - HOORAH! It's been 18 months since I was there and I need the recharge; I am not sure how I let that happen. It's going to be a whirlwind and I've already realised I haven't scheduled enough time there. <sigh>

From there it's on to Miami to see las familias and then a closing weekend in Atlanta, where my friend Mike McGirr is currently terrorising The Southerners, bless him. I've never been before, so am actually keen about the visit.

OK, time to pack.

Cheers,
Shaun
917-501-1638 <-- for you East Coast folks I'll be-a-seein'

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #347] Pre-pride drinks

Hey all,

As you know I am heading to New York a week on Saturday. With seven years of history to revisit, busy Pride schedules and the realities of New York minus the N-E-Y for most of you, I am teaming up with my cute Quebecois friend, Gaël, for a collective pre-pride cocktail session. I know many of you are going to have full schedules that weekend, so it's perfectly acceptable to pop in for one or two on your way elsewhere. I just wanted to set something up where I will be in one place for a while so I can see those of you I might not get to in the work week.

So, the details:

Where: Stonewall (well, where else for the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall riots?!)
When: Saturday 27 June, 8-10ish pm

Hope to see you there! (Hoorah! Less than two weeks!!!)

Cheers,
Shaun
Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #345] A Brutal Day

Most of you know I am fascinated with ugly architecture. It always astonished me the it was possible that anyone ever thought it was a good idea to build these buildings, often placed in the most wildly inappropriate settings. Over time, this astonishment morphed into fascination, and in Berlin, the fascination turned into love.

The style that is the most egregious and delights me is called Brutalist. London, indeed, the UK, excels at it; I don't think you'll find more raw concrete anywhere West of the Iron Curtain.

This Saturday afternoon, I decided to indulge my fetish a bit and take a look at the Robin Hood Gardens estate. It's due to be torn down soon after recently losing a petition to become a listed, and thereby protected, building, so I wanted to see it while I still could. Fortuitously, just up the road from RHG is Balfron Tower, another shining example. Attached are a few pics from my day out in Blackwall, East London.

Cheers,
Shaun

Full album: http://www.facebook.com/p.php?i=713081334&k=R6D4Q6V6VV3MYJ1FSD64W

01. DSC00004 - Robin Hood Gardens in the foreground, Balfron Tower behind. From Wikipedia:

Robin Hood Gardens is a council housing complex in Poplar, London designed in the late 1960s by architects Alison and Peter Smithson and completed in 1972. It was intended as an example of the 'streets in the sky' concept: social housing characterised by broad aerial walkways in long concrete blocks, much like the Park Hill estate in Sheffield; it was both informed by, and a reaction against, Le Corbusier's Unité d'Habitation.

The estate covers about two hectares and consists of two long blocks, one of ten storeys, the other of seven, built from precast concrete slabs and containing 213 flats, surrounding a landscaped green area and a small hill made from construction spoil. The flats themselves are a mixture of single-storey apartments and two-storey maisonettes, with wide balconies (the 'streets') on every third floor. The complex is located near Blackwall DLR station. It is within sight of the nearby Balfron Tower; both are highly visible examples of Brutalist architecture.

02. DSC00009 - One of the two buildings on the estate; DSC00017 later taken from the top stairwell (where the angled blue metal latticework is) later

03. DSC00011 - The charming wall around the complex

04. DSC00015 - The fetching "street in the sky"

05. DSC00017 - A view across the courtyard to the other building from the stairwell.

06. DSC00035 - What's where in East London

07. DSC00038 - Balfron Tower

08. DSC00039 - This shows you the "streets in the sky" concept in action; the 'tower' in the middle is the lift shaft you take up, then you cross over to the buildings, so you can see there's a walkway only every third floor

09. DSC00046 - I happened upon Chrisp Street Market nearby

10. DSC00061 - Thames Barrier is a large flood control structure on the River Thames, constructed between 1974 and 1982 at Woolwich Reach, and first used defensively in 1983.[1] It is the world's second largest movable flood barrier (the largest is the Maeslantkering in The Netherlands).

Located downstream of central London, the barrier's purpose is to prevent London from being flooded by an exceptionally high tide moving up from the sea, often exacerbated by a storm surge. It only needs to be raised for the duration of the high tide; at ebb tide it can be lowered to release upstream water that backs up behind it. On the northern bank it lies in the area of Silvertown in the London Borough of Newham. On the southern bank it lies in the New Charlton area of Charlton in the London Borough of Greenwich.

11. DSC00065 - Millennium Dome, er, sorry, the "O2 Centre"

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #344] My corner of London

Just a few pics from the past couple weeks:

A rainbow to South London, viewed from my bedroom

My local bus stop sign

A view of Whitechapel, Shadwell and Canary Wharf from Tower 42

The same photo, but with some details added. My building looks to have afunny shape in the outline because I the white tower (one of Shadwell's three towers, the third being the yellowish brick one to the left of the white one) blocks part of it out

(If you look at this pic I posted of the view from my flat, Tower 42 (né NatWest Tower) is just to the right of the Gherkin.)

Looking at these pics, you can definitely see how East London is a whole different city from the leafy, bucolic, green West London that Visit Britain sells to Midwestern tourists to lure them into visiting. It's definitely urban, gritty and edgy; I love it out East.

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #343] Cambridge

Cambridge is fecking boring. It's not even all that pretty, and what is pretty they have greatly diminished by permeating it with All Bar One, Slug & Lettuce, the inescapable Pizza Express and the like.

Which was quite fine by Argie and me because all we really wanted to do was talk about and listen to Kris Allen, our favoured contestant and winner of American Idol 8, which we had just finally got to watch the night before due to the airing delay in the UK. Lottie, the sweet dear, had no chance of dimming our commitment and she gamely played along, as long as we were drinking, which we always were. We arrived to Cambridge, parked ourselves at the first beer garden we came across, popped out my portable iPod speakers and did not arrive at our hotel, just down the road, until five Kris-laden hours after our arrival into the university-cum-chain-store town.

For those not interested in Idol, this entry just ended, so you can go check out your favourite artistic site, read another chapter of Das Kapital, study Mandarin, light some incense and tea candles, or whatever it is you people do.

I've liked Kris since "Man In the Mirror" (group two, top 36, for those less well versed in Idolatry [Idol fact: Adam and Allison were the other two through from that group]) but in my voting pool, I was the only one who picked him*, so I know that my nascent adoration in the top 36 was not universal. But I just went with who I liked (my other pick was Anoop) rather than who I thought would win, and just like with JLS in the last X Factor (except for the losing bit), I just enjoyed each week he did well so much and was genuinely happy for him with each stage he made it through.

Danny - I never got him and could not stand him.

Allison - I am not a rock chick kind of guy, so she did not endear me at first, but her last two or three weeks were awesome; "Crybaby" was perfection.

Adam - His voice and his control over it are unmatchable, and I'd never protest otherwise. If his preferred repertoire were more in the "Mad World" vein than "Born to be Wild", I'd've liked him heaps more, but as it was, he began to grate on me a bit. However, he is the only other Idol whose songs I downloaded this year.

But Kris I just liked from the beginning; his style fits me much better, and everything from his aura to his looks to that hypersexy crooked mouth when he belts tickles me up and down. Who knows how much the "possibly gay" thing factored (my guess: too much), or perhaps America just doesn't need another rocker while David Cook's still making the rounds, or maybe people just started to see how great he was in his own right, but by "Falling Slowly" I thought he could win it and by "Heartless" I thought he should. So I am very, very happy (read: ECSTATIC!!!!) with the results, despite the vocal adamonishments (sic) from many of you.

Already miss the season, Kris and RyRy; glad to have X Factor to get me through till February.

Gushing,
Shaun


*This initial Krisism netted me $203 from an unsplit pot, so I am not unhappy about my now-prescient unique affection. Thanks, Krissypoo!


All pics: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=127991&id=713081334&l=3478b03634

Argie and Krisypoo in the beer garden

Fine white wine! And I quote: "Bottled in France".

Lottie's and my texts to the gay bar

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org
http://shaunism.blogspot.com

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[The Life of Shaun #342] London - New York - Miami - Atlanta - London

I just purchased my tickets for my tour of the American East this Summer.  The details are below, so those of you in that time zone, stock up on liquor, aspirin and Coke, polish your cha cha heels and let's celebrate the gays and America in style!

Looking so forward to seeing many of you soon.

Cheers,
Shaun

Flight Information DELTA CONFIRMATION #: D6BRX6 TICKET #: 00623090255911 Bkng Meals/ Seat/ Day Date Flight Status Class City Time Other Cabin --- ----- --------------- ------ ----- ---------------- ------ ------ ------- Sat 27JUN DELTA 4 OK U LV LONDON-HEATH 1005A L M 25B ROW COACH AR NYC-KENNEDY 105P Fri 03JUL DELTA 89 OK U LV NYC-KENNEDY 655P F 26C AR MIAMI 1032P COACH Fri 10JUL DELTA 74 OK L LV MIAMI 145P 15C AR ATLANTA 344P COACH Sun 12JUL DELTA 812* OK U LV ATLANTA 535P D M 40J AR LONDON-GATWI 700A# COACH CK *Operated by NORTHWEST AIR LINES

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