all over again.

the shortest route

Loving this view...

No subconscious messaging here.

What I would very much like to do right now is to get off this train and personally strangle everyone, who is chugging on their fags on the platform, to a bloody, airless, suffocating and gruesome death... and finish off by stomping on their cancer sticks.

The cigarette smoke is seeping through the insulation of the windows on the train and making me think of those precise adjectives.

Why doesn't the train move and leave these nutcases behind already??

The station reminds me of this completely delusional storyline in that crazy series, "Spooks" (known here as MI-5) where everyone (who didn't get themselves fried in a kitchen fryer) and their aunt spent most of the season dropping references to something called "Albany". I think I never got to know what it actually was, probably because the plot was so convoluted, it made no sense... and of course I was watching in 15 minutes per weekend sections.

I give up on anything that gives me a logic nightmare when watched in 15 min sections every weekend (or sometimes fortnight). Either that or it should meld gracefully into whatever other 15 minute-section-of-something I am watching.

Some of my favourites from back when the sun was not actually a big fat dazzling liar.





This brilliant brittle white mushroom bunch looked like it had to be saturated with some calcium salt. (e:matthew) and I wondered about the source.



Contrast that with this one - possibly filled with iron salts or rust.



It was such a happy day! Behold the cutest smile on the planet! :)




(e:Paul) taking the panoramic shots...


These great rotting branches reminded me of my muscle dissection days.


We plodded through a rustic-looking huge open field of fluffly little dandelion-like plants. We had fake "snowball" fights and all the little fluffy things ended up attacking me. I think (e:YesThatCasey) totally incited the attack.


I (not so secretly) spied on (e:matthew)-magic. :)

I had really fun time with (e:Paul) and (e:Terry) at the Niagara Gorge Trails yesterday. But it was not without some perils. The trail was tame enough to start with.


I was lazily enjoying the beautiful colours of the gorge from the top of the trail.



But then, things started to get rough.


They got rougher and rougher and suddenly there were rocks taller than me that I had to scramble and climb across.

Some of them were MOVING under my feet!!


This sign should have given me a clue that it was not some tame walk in the wilderness but I was busy trying to keep up with my 6 ft+ tall comrades without breaking my neck.


They made it to the rapids rock basin long before I could scramble over and probably waited an eternity before I got there.


The rock basin has these little pools worn down by the water into the rocks, lined with rust. I guess the rocks must be rich in iron deposits.


Alas, these pools are not untouched by human carelessness bringing in aluminium into the iron stronghold.


(e:Terry) was our bellwether on the trail. You can see him deep in thought mapping out our strategy.


On the way, we met up with some wildlife natives from the Gorge. I chatted with this Victorian smiley from back in the day.


(e:Paul) rescued this little snail from frying on the rocks.


There were a million millipedes all through the trail.

(e:Terry) took some pains to get acquainted with one and in return, got a nice palm massage from its million legs.





At one point on the trail the only way to move forward was by traveling upside down. (e:Paul) reminded us that that there was no time to just sit and eat and to keep alert!


He was right. Suddenly things started happening. We were were upon the upside-down stretch! (e:Terry) leapt into the frenzy.




(e:Paul) soon followed.



They joined the legions who have braved the toughest part of the Niagara Gorge upside down. My shoes and socks were soaking wet by that time so naturally, I couldn't stand on my hands. (Note that the lack of upper body strength had nothing to do with my giving up.)

While (e:Paul) and (e:Terry) completed the trail upside down , I photo-documented our awe-inspiring surroundings. We had clambered all the way down from that top ledge where (e:PMT)'s car was parked down to the basin with crazy rapids.


The rapids itself are pretty interesting.


(e:Paul) and (e:Terry) pointed out how, in spite of a very fast river gushing forwards, there were all these small counter-currents that just kept moving backwards.


Trying to imagine the neutralizing forces that made these counter-currents possible was mind-boggling.


I looked up and saw this nice little cable car system that was giving tourists a bird's eye view of the entire gorge without facing its perils (well, they could have crashed into it, but at least they didn't have to climb over rocks bigger than them).


I really want to ride in that cable car sometime. (e:Paul) told me that he was not interested in that adventure because apparently, heights weird him out. I was pretty surprised that we managed to come back home in one piece. (e:Matthew) was happily rocking in the porch enjoying the weather while (e:Terry) recounted out brush with the devil at the Niagara Gorge Trail.

This came in the mail today...



I am looking at this envelope with such weird emotions. It feels crazy that I am being counted as a part of the population here, in a completely foreign country.

I know it's not like I am getting electoral franchise or anything, but it seems like a momentous thing to be doing. In some small way, I am going to be part of this massive census - a detailed stock-taking of human resources in a country that is half-way across the planet from where I was born.

I reckon, it's a routine government-initiated statistical exercise to many, but to me, today, it's a source of wonder - in black and white.

<3 <3 <3 I am coming home to you! <3 <3 <3

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• I find Buffalo's downtown and harbour utterly fascinating. There is so much character and story behind each building, each statue, the shapes and the curves of the radials and the roads. You could spend many a pleasant day wandering around downtown and not be bored (unless of course, history, architecture and scenery don't really get your attention) Some cities are very sterile by comparison.