shaunism

Tuesday, 8 March 2011

Videos from the cruise

Two videos from the cruise:

Dog tag tea dance (how I spent my afternoons):

Plane taking off at Maho Beach (interesting bit starts at 1:30):

[The Life of Shaun #427] Big, Big, Big

I meant to post some pics from my Big Gay Cruise in the week after I got back, but fatigue and jetlag beat out ambition. I am home on this sunny(!) and warm(!!) Tuesday afternoon, so thought I could manage one semi-productive adventure (other than lunch), so I've posted some pics:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=344601&id=713081334&l=a81d3ac13f

(There are more party pics than necessary, but I have some friends who're keen to peek at them.)

Attached are a few of my faves from the bunch.

The cruise was a lot of fun; it reminded me a bit of the March on DC insomuch as it was this bubble of a week where the World was gay. Yes, there was a party every afternoon (The Gays love their tea) and night and early morning and sometimes beyond. But going to breakfast, having a stroll, a tipple or a nibble or a show, everyone was gay/gayphilic. And without sounding too insular, it really is a nice atmosphere when everyone's on the same pink page. When We (capital intentional) go on holiday, We're all in the same mindset - everyone just wants to have a good time, drops the attitude, and doesn't stress. Several staff told us how much more they were enjoying our cruise as we weren't complaining and everyone was smiling and just having fun*.

Still, for me it wasn't such an exceptional experience to justify the price tag again. Maybe that's because I live in London and a hedonistic weekend in Berlin is an hour and £50 away, but I'm not convinced I'd do another one, given holiday and fiscal restraints. If I do, I'll do a smaller boat - 2,500 is certainly enough to pick from, and the smaller cruises are half the price. But excursions like India, South America, the Arab world and Africa have a more pressing claim on my limited travel pounds in the immediate future.

The Big Gay Cruise was followed by three much-needed relaxing and recharging days with Natasha and Chris. It was perfect to see them again, and I really realise how much I miss them.

Next was the Big Apple; it'd be overkill to talk yet more about New York, but I got to see all the people I wanted to (who I miss also), got to eat Taco Bell and Pongsri Thai and saw seeds of my New York's revival below 14th, so all is good on the enchanted isle.

The last Big owes thanks to Alexi: a tour of Big Ben (or more precisely, the Great Westminster Clock Tower). Unfortunately, pics were strictly verboten, but everyone knows what it looks like. It was really quite cool to be feet from the bells as they chimed their hourly tune, and Big Ben as it chimed out twelve hours, to feel the vibrations in the ironworks and hear the harmonics in the reverberations. The clock faces are smaller than I supposed and are lit only by a collection of 80-watt (yes, 80!) bulbs. From the top I was able to see my building, which was a nice reversal of my normal view.

Post-holiday glow is over and am I am back in and enjoying London life. Lots of weekend pleasantries in the upcoming months, including forays to Berlin and Madrid, but mostly within the Circular, so I won't be giving my British passport much of a workout just yet.

Cheers from East London,

Shaun

*As long as the alcohol was flowing - which was always. An acquaintance who worked for a cruise line said the gay cruises go through 1/3rd the amount of food and six times the amount of alcohol as a normal cruise. In addition to all the set bars, they had cocktail waiters and mobile bars everywhere; I don't think we were ever more than a ten second walk from a bottle of vodka.

The Oasis of the Seas, home of the Big Gay Cruise, the world's largest cruise ship

Russ in our room

Me on our balcony, with the beautiful Ft. Lauderdale skyline behind

On gay cruises, people decorate their doors so passers-by know who's inside. This was ours.

One of the daily tea dances

Me at the dog tag dance

Gay cruisers also put up boards to leave and receive messages. Most of ours weren't appropriate for public consumption, but this is one from midweek.

A plane landing at Maho Beach, next to the airport. From Wikipedia: "The short length of the main runway at Princess Juliana International Airport, and its position between a large hill and a beach causes some spectacular approaches. Aviation photographers flock to the airport to capture pictures of large jets just a few metres above sunbathers (who are often blown away by the jet blast if they are standing in its path) on Maho Beach."

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Saturday, 1 January 2011

[The Life of Shaun #425] 2011

2011 started off great in Olde London Towne. I hope it has/does for all of you as well.

To a good year ahead,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org

Tuesday, 23 November 2010

[The Life of Shaun #423] Unholy Trifecta and Crossing Over

So it's been a while since Russ was here for his visit on his return to the Silver State from his stint in Macau. We had a calm, cultural, relaxing time, as always.

First on the list was Manchester, which I have talked plenty about, so will just mention that it's suffering from Glasgow disease and I hope they get stricter on the door.

Second was Berlin: perfect, as always.

Third was our only new city of this adventure, Bucharest. I really knew nothing about it other than it's ex-communist, the first gay pride parade a year or two ago had violent neonazi protesters, and it has the world's second largest building, the Palace of the Parliament.

Bucharest is very odd - it used to model itself as a second Paris (and indeed had very close ties with France, pre-WWII), but much of that grandeur is gone. But neither is it a socialist canvass, such as Sofia. It's a large, pleasant enough, but not very engaging, city. I think I've not written about it because I've found it so hard to be inspired by it either in awe or horror. Perhaps if I knew more history, as in Berlin, it'd've leapt out at me more, but as it was... well, it was*. Pics below.

I can say it's desperately poor - we spoke to several people and they all said the average person earns €200-€250/month. It's cheap, but it ain't that cheap; it must be a truly dismal existence.

But, to something a bit more exciting (to me, at least), my friend Kimb'uh took a video of me at my citizenship ceremony. So, here it is, on 18 October 2010, the very moment I became British: http://mearsfamily.net/share/shauns-citizenship-ceremony.avi

Cheers,
Shaun

*I also think it was a bit of the travel overexposure I've spoken of before. "Bucharest? Oh. It's so... European."

Full pics at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=309308&id=713081334&l=cde3676217

The view of the Palace of the Parliament from my hotel room

București cityscape

The balcony where Nicolae Ceaușescu gave his last speech, assuring the masses everything would be alright. He was apprehended and executed within hours.

Now that's what I want to see when I visit the East! This was the Ministry of Defence, or something similar.

This was another pile that Ceaușescu was building at the time of his death. My tourguide called it a mortuary, but I imagine he meant mausoleum.

Outside the Palace, leaning on the French connection

Palace of the Parliament

The new central shopping area. Tens of thousands of people were uprooted and their homes bulldozed to build the Palace and its new surrounding neighbourhood.

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

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

Tuesday, 19 October 2010

[The Life of Shaun #422] Rule, Britannia!

This is my first eMail as a British citizen. Yay!

I said before that being approved for citizenship felt like a natural progression, but actually having the ceremony and letting it set in a bit, it really is fantastic, and I am smiling.

I am off to bed; my friends took pics so I will send some later, as well as a bit on the unholy trifecta of Russ's visit. Attached are two pics: one approaching the Tower of London (where my citizenship ceremony was held) and one of my certificate.

So, with all its frivolity, but sudden legitimacy:

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

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

Tuesday, 5 October 2010

[The Life of Shaun #421] Gay Bucharest?

Random eMail...

Have any of my gay friends been to Bucharest or known someone who has been? Russ and I go next weekend and, while we're not expecting a huge party, we're having quite a hard time finding any info less than three years old. Guess we might be getting the rest we need after Manchester and Berlin for a change...

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

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

Tuesday, 28 September 2010

[The Life of Shaun #420] The News Blotter of Shaun

It's been a while since I sent one of these out. I've actually been quite busy, but more in a fulfilling way than dramatic.

I visited my family in Corfu. Mom, Dad and Lisa now live there, and Lara was over from her new home in Istanbul. It was a bit of a stressful weekend as we learned two days before that Emilio (Lara's oldest) had MD. Fortunately, in the time since, we've learned it's Becker's MD, the mildest form, so he's expected to have a nearly, if not completely, normal life and lifespan.

Rachel came to stay with me for a month, which was perfect. She (Amsterdam, Edinburgh) and we (Berlin) travelled a bit, but it was wonderful just to have her here as a fixture rather than as a fleeting guest. She plans to do it next year as well and both Marco and I hope she does.

I applied for and was approved for British Citizenship and had a (very successful, as my depleted supply of wine glasses will attest to) party to celebrate the five years in London that brought me to this point. I actually expected this milestone to be something that I waxed lyrically about, for far too many lines, how life, I and my London have changed. But this has felt like home for so long now that, happy as I am, it felt more like a natural progression than a victory.

The travel highlight, to the horror of my British friends, has been Leicester for Pride. Marco and I went with the (schadenfreuden and selfish) hope of a Middlesbrough-cum-New Delhi. We were surprised, and just a bit disappointed, to find out that it's actually a rather nice city and, despite the rantings of the BNP, still majority white. Also, unfortunately for us, the gaysians there haven't shed the cultural weight of the subcontinent and were much less numerous than in the street, or than in London. The parade itself was only about three minutes long, but it was really nice to go to a pride that actually meant something more than another way to advertise for the pink pound.

Russ arrives tomorrow from Hong Kong for two and a half weeks before relocating back to the States, during which we will perform the unholy trifecta of Manchester, Berlin and Bucharest. The first two are repeat visits, but ones which we love. Neither of us has been to Romania, so it will be a new adventure. And, from what we've foregathered, not a gaycation with parties till dawn and boys swinging from the rafters. But, as we age, we find appeal in different experiences than ten years ago. But don't worry - we're going on a Big Gay Cruise in February, just to keep grounded.

Attached are a couple pics from Leicester; there are more here if you wish to see --> http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=294456&id=713081334&l=5ac9135435

(Also, including below for those who are interested, an article about my borough I quite liked.)

Cheers,
Shaun

1 - Our hotel. I'd taken a picture of the building before I knew it was our hotel, so imagine my delight when we rounded the corner and saw the Premier Inn sign attached.

2 - Pride in the park. No Brighton, but a damn sight bigger than anything in Vegas, despite being a much smaller city.

3 - The multicultural beat of Leicester.

4 - A very old tower next to a very old (and pretty!) building.

Life & Style

Bridging the culture gap: young Bangladeshis celebrate their heritage — but they are also a crucial part of modern Britain

Tower Hamlets: The rise of the new East End

Doug Sanders
16.09.10

To stroll East from Brick Lane 15 years ago was one of the most dangerous things a Londoner could do. You were entering the migrant-packed heart of Britain's poorest, most violent borough. Now, as I visit the second-generation immigrants who'd been children then, I find in Tower Hamlets deprivation replaced with university education, violence with an upwardly mobile community.

I've spent the past three years examining urban districts dominated by rural-born migrants, spending time in marginal neighbourhoods of London, Amsterdam, Berlin, Paris and Madrid. And I have found London's Bangladeshi districts offer important lessons — and some warnings — for the transformation of such areas.

In 1995, the East End was racked with bloody clashes between Asian gangs and neo-Nazi skinheads and stained with drug crime and extremism. It suffered a full-scale outbreak of tuberculosis, a disease that had been absent from London for a century and existed mainly in Third World slums.

The figures unearthed by the Evening Standard in 1995 when it exposed Tower Hamlets as Britain's most deprived borough were dire: a third of families lived on less than £4,500 a year. Two-thirds of children were poor enough to qualify for free school meals. Houses were all but collapsing on their residents, often packed four or five to a room, with three children sharing a bed — overcrowding was five times worse than the national average. The borough ranked lowest in Britain for standards of living, health and quality of education.

You will still find crime, religious conservatism and ill health — it's not hard to identify, especially among part of the young male population. But the larger picture is fascinating. In Tower Hamlets, and almost nowhere else in Europe, I found it easy to find families in which the parents had been born on dirt floors but the daughters are now university-educated civil servants, scientists and bankers.

The Bangladeshis of Tower Hamlets come mainly from one of the poorest corners of one of the poorest countries in the world: at least 90 per cent are from the thoroughly rural Sylhet district, where most families must survive on less than £1 a day.

Of half a million Bangladeshi migrants to the UK and their British-born children, half live in London, and half of these in Tower Hamlets, where they form more than a quarter of the population across the council and in some wards are a majority.

Success, then, needs to be measured against this backdrop. But it is genuine success: in Tower Hamlets today, 46 per cent of Bangladeshi students achieve passing grades in five GCSE courses, only slightly below the national average of 51 per cent, and far better than the 30 per cent achieved by the borough's white students. Indeed, sociologists and social workers now focus on the grandchildren of the cockney dockworkers, not on immigrants, as the main sources of deprivation and social tension.

But why has Tower Hamlets thrived while the Turkish core of Berlin and the high-rise outskirts of Paris, for example, turn more violent?

First, studies over the past decade show it is far easier for immigrants to start a small business in London than in other European cities. The explosion of curry-houses wasn't just a dining phenomenon, it was an investment in social mobility.

Another key factor is citizenship: the people who arrived in the East End over the past 40 years, like the Eastern European Jews and French Huguenots before them, found it easy to become full citizens and participate fully in the economy and politics.

A study by German sociologist Joachim Bruss found 82 per cent of Bangladeshis in Britain felt their ethnic and religious backgrounds have no effect on their job prospects — compared with only 54 per cent of Turks in Germany. In other words, Tower Hamlets has avoided the violence and misery of its European cousins by understanding that its residents aren't pathetic cast-offs. They are people who came here with a project and we have removed the barriers to their success.

If we jeopardise any of this — through middle-class urban policies that make it harder to open small businesses in residential neighbourhoods, through immigration policies that block the pathway to citizenship to newcomers — the gains of the East End could be lost.

Doug Saunders is the author of Arrival City: How the Largest Migration in History is Reshaping Our World, published this week by Heinemann. More information at arrivalcity.net

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

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

Saturday, 11 September 2010

[The Life of Shaun #419] British Mercury

Yesterday I received the official letter from the Home Office notifying my my application has been successful. Turns out the other letter was the council's response to them being notified and reserving a ceremony date for me. Kudos to Tower Hamlets for being so efficient!

Not sure if Royal Mail was slow, or if the Home Office didn't post my letter right away, but it was printed on 27 August. I applied, in Tower Hamlets, on 16 of August. That means my application made it from here to Liverpool, was processed, reviewed, approved and over and done with in eleven days. I have some friends that applied for an initial visa to America that would have been overchuffed with 111 days.

Now, how quickly can they approve my applications for the dole and housing benefits... ;-P

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

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

Thursday, 9 September 2010

[The Life of Shaun #418] God Save the Queen

Received by Royal Mail today:

Dear Sir:

Your Home Office application to become a British Citizen has been successful you are therefore invited to attend a Citizenship Ceremony, details below.

Despite the appalling punctuation, it's fantastic news - I've been approved! I won't actually be British until the ceremony where I will swear my allegiance to the Crown, but the (surprisingly short) wait is over. Hoorah!

I would like to pontificate endlessly and wittily (allow me me the measure), but I am excited and hyped up. Gonna shower and then celebrate like a true British man: with a pint and a curry.

Cheers,
Shaun

Shaun H. Coley
Shadwell, Tower Hamlets
London, UK

http://www.nocirc.org

Tuesday, 7 September 2010

[The Life of Shaun #417] Tube Strike

London is currently suffering one of its periodic tube strikes as its workers deem 48 days holiday, a 37.5-hour work weeks, and above-inflation wage increases during times of austerity, insufficient remuneration for their daily trials.

TfL (Transport for London) is doing what it can, but is, of course, failing in some of the most basic ways. Bank/Monument is entirely closed, severing a main link to/from East London, though trains are running through the station itself. And my friend Lottie took this charmingly contradictory photo at London Bridge this morning. It sums things up perfectly.

I, being a chosen Tower Hamlets resident, had no issues as the DLR is run by a separate company. The fate of Morgan Stanley rests on my shoulders alone today!

Cheers,
Shaun

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