Tuesday, September 23, 2008

It's nice to go driving, to take the wheel and pick the way, to push into the night beyond the decent hours, and to pass so many dimmed houses where the respected and gainfully employed sleep, shackled to dreams of inflated salaries and plush vacations.

It's good to be out of bounds, on the lam and in charge of your own lot. And, it is a privileged - afforded only the unbound - to choose to stop, look up and see the eternal stars and to know that all of life is a sham.

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Sometimes, when it’s very late, Jack and I go for drives. We cruise up and down the main streets of our little town and we ride out into the country, past cottages and farms. Hardly a soul is awake, but where lights are on, they are the pallid, flickering type cast off by televisions. Years ago, when sets were smaller, the lights were faint and I could only guess what people were watching. But televisions have grown and now I can watch from the road, catching a brief glimpse as I pass only to get the next bit from the next window in the next house. If I wanted to, I could pull up to the curb, jawing popcorn, and watch the show on the wall-sized screen like I was at an old-time, drive-in theatre - the “viewers at home,” with their eyes transfixed to the shimmering electronic fire, would never know I was there.

But, I can never look for long, for all the programs on all 500 channels sing out the same song and I don‘t want to be consumed by the burning box‘s call. The message is, “your not happy because you’re not as thin, wealthy or endowed like us here in the box.” And the commercials are merely concentrated re-enforcing bits where the tele-vise pumps out its sludge in 60-second intervals instead of 30-minute blocks “Buy this pill and you’ll get thinner, have a boner and win millions, it works because I used it and now I’m on TV with my new trophy wife and her puppy. By the way, side effects can include anal leakage, delayed cognition and sudden death.” That is the one-two punch of the magic, burning box, the glimmering tele-eye that the masses warship, all of them facing it like Mecca, receiving the nightly communion of the church of capitalism.

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Johnson,VT VW Car Show

Another weekend, another car show. This one is both new and old. Years ago, the Johnson show was an event that I attended with certain regularity. And then, it stopped and I cried. But now, it's back. Check out the pics.



















































Sunday, September 7, 2008

Let's play automotive I spy!

I spy by the side of the road something faded and rusty. That's right, it's a Ford Capri. More text to come later. First, I have to finish my Sunday drive. So, for now, just enjoy the natural patina of this fine '70s machine.





Thursday, September 4, 2008


It's certainly not the fastest car on the road, but - after replacing the front brakes - my Saturn can sure slow down in a hurry. Now it's time to do the rear brakes.