Variety Pack - Connecticut Edition

Random adventures in the New York suburbs and beyond.

There's not much to report from this week, and no real issues to expound upon, so here are a bunch of photos and commentary from adventuring around the place, a bunch of stuff that is too small to become blog entries on their own, kind of like the last variety pack.

Connecticut News

Now granted, as an Australian, I shouldn’t throw stones when it comes to what counts as newsworthy. However, Connecticut seem to have made strides in the creation and reporting of the trite and mundane. The biggest story this week (so big it trended on global social media) was the guy who, stuck on traffic on I-95, stripped naked and sat atop the roof of his car. There were claims that this only perpetuated the traffic snarl, but given that I-95 is a parking lot pretty much all the time it’s a bit of a stretch.

But modern gender-neutral attempts at imitating Lady Godiva are hardly threatening to the societal fabric of Connecticut. The cats on the other hand…    

Yeah, they’re dangerous enough to make the news. And then this happened.

Please take care of your cats.

Fireworks

They’re legal to sell here. In Walmart. It brings back memories of Canberra in its heady socialist-libertarian utopian era when it too was legal to buy pyrotechnics in the stores. Of course, the dog owners were happy when they banned them. Speaking of dogs…

Bowie Dog

IT IS HETEROCHROMIC AND ENIGMATIC, JUST LIKE BOWIE!

Actually, it’s one of my workmates’ dogs, who visited on “Bring Your Dog to Work Day” (it’s a thing). It spent the entire day growling and barking at me. It would occasionally sneak up to my desk, poke its head around, then dart off at full speed. Strange animal.

Boston

For Independence Day weekend I went to Boston. I didn’t get too many photos but had a great time. Here’s one I did get.

Apparently some people had a party on the ships over there. Tea was served.

I Don’t Like Cricket (Bars)

This was originally intended to be an article a la Cheeseburger Soup. A snack bar made from cricket flour, i.e. crushed up insects. However, it was so terrible that I couldn’t get halfway through before giving up and eating a banana instead. It wasn’t the crickets per se, but the other “flavors” – cocoa, coffee, and cayenne. Which was mainly cayenne. It tasted like burning.

By Jiminy, it’s awful. Ha! Jiminy! Get it?

Southport

On the rare occasion that I get out of the office to explore the local town of Southport, it’s very pretty. There’s a forest park a couple of streets away that for the most part is serene, apart from being bounded by Highway 1 and the New York to Boston railway.

There’s also a lovely restaurant nearby, which does a great steak frites. Good for a special occasion.

Black Rock Beach

And Black Rock actually has a beach. It’s not much of one, but there’s water, a little sand, and a seat where you can watch the sunset, and that’s nice enough after a day of work and exercise. See you next week!