-is that a mamiya 6 or a 7?
absorbed in my own thoughts it had to be repeated
-a 7 or a 6.
-a 6
geek boy seemed to be disappointed.
i had decided to stay in charlottetown, i was beginning to drive like an automaton, i would stop but there was this daze which was lengthening the already longish reaction time between sightings and reaction.
driving alone was good for thinking things through but i would have to spend extra brain cells remember my moments of brilliance.
i decided to stay to get some exercise walking, because the room was comfy and private and there was a washing machine.
i was out and about looking for a coffee that wasn’t from tim hortons. i had brought the globe and a series of postcards for things to do while having it along with a decent sweat roll. the search had become a wander as i making choices at corners not on which would lead to a possible outdoor café - did i mention that i had to sit outdoors?
instead i was choosing the way to go by which option would be more visually interesting. i realised this when i didn’t enter what looked like tourist land and instead decided to walk streets that were on the balancing point between rehab and the falling down. there were places that served breakfast - nice looking conveniences - but i only wanted a café au lait and some sort of pastry.
i had passed a place that held potential but there was only one table and two women were glued to the seats.
i prefer the six. i said as i collapsed the camera it is nice and portable. sam was drooling now, he wanted to handle it and i was teasing him. funny i had just seen this photo-imaging shop across queen street that made newfoundland imaging look like b&h in new york.
he wasn’t sure about the square, he is keen about photography to the point of calling himself a geek. his friends seem to sigh and they realise they are in for a long wait as we chat. i mention the joys of the 500mm lens which the seven doesn’t have in any useful way. i ask were he buys his film as he uses film and he points across the street
-they have three rolls of colour film.
we are standing in front of what seems to be a nice café where, i think, he and his mates were heading, in fact they have vegetarian items on the menu mention that i am looking for a coffee but although this seems fine there is no place outside to sit.
he mentions the place that i had just passed - ampersand - he works there. said that i was it but there were two woman out front in the only seat.
-one is probably my sister.
was going to show him what was done with the camera but it seems that i left my snaps in the room. we part and my search continues.
i think that i like the area that i am walking in, not the shops along richmond street which seems to be the fine dining ghetto. the street was closed and there were officially sanctioned musicians playing for the those dining al fresco.
a strange “fountain” from one of the sewer covers water is spurting up in three streams at first i wasn’t sure but i think that it was on purpose. there were also too many faux irish pubs.
did find the pizza that i was craving last evening. arriving and recovering from the shock of the room, i asked where i could find a pizza
-greco
-but isn’t that a chain?
oh well there is jake pizza by the needs convenience it is about a 10 minute walk
again i took the post cards and planned some quiet time having a pizza but while the pizza was good - it was decidedly for take-away and there were too many stung out teens wanting to use the toilets.
i was looking for a nice individual pizza with fresh ingredients and closer than than the suggested place.
but king street seemed to be this mix of live long residents coming up against the rehabbers.
ms. nichols comes out looking for her cat - and mentions the lovely weather. she has been in the neighbourhood since she was a child. she was born in the house in front of hers but her brother bought it - i think i passed it and it was now a bed and breakfast, a judge was buying a house around the corner.
we talked about sitting out front rather than out back,how neighbourhoods are safer. a white cat comes up who lives next door but is friendly enough to be picked up. it has an extra claw, she mentions the buddy across the street who when tired and the sun is on his side of the street comes over to sit on her chair.
her next door neighbour told her about people who were climbing on her roof. mentioned that this area looked more like the boston states than what i would find in canada, there seems to be this style of architecture that didn’t stop at the border. i remember seeing the same type of building in saint john.
under her siding the house was a log home, i was told.
she went in i went on still looking for a café
i was feeing selfish to-day as i didn’t bring out the digital much. i found that it is getting in the way more and more. i use it knowing how everything has to be instantaneous and thus it is used for the weblog.
while it works well with people i find more and more the almost invisible act an act that i was trying to make second nature has become a ritual.
now i am going to take two as i now i have to take the snap with both. they don’t keep the pose, i make an official one with ziquinho then bring out the digital to make snaps when we have started to chat again.
but to-day i was using the digital even more sparingly. walking i was away from photographing things and dealing more with situations. in cities without that infinite landscape situations are the norm but here i was making an effort to place the object in the formal integrity of the snap rather than allowing it the dignity when i am racing about in a machine.
i also was glad that i didn’t bring the deardorff, it is great for fixed photographs in a fixed place but in my indirect way of working of allowing things to happen. the initial photographs made would be the same but that snap that is around the corner, the chat with buddy who comes up would be lost. when a choice between the shortest and a more elongated walk would have to be made i would rationalise for the shorter. i had realised again that the best snaps that i make are around the corner from the one i was planning, not really 10x8 territory.
i head up king street bent on getting back to an place where i can find that outdoor café but still i divert. find a tim hortons, and its starbucklike alter ego - timothy’s head back to the room for more film then down university avenue and find beanz. i had made a direct walk i would have found the café in five minutes as it was the place was closing in 45 minutes.
-they’re falling apart, buddy says as i am watching the last innings of p.e.i. v. the ironmen from miramichi.
-yeah they should pull this pitcher also he is rattled now.
mentioned how i preferred this level of play as they are trying.
he mentioned hockey and how it wasn’t what it was,
- they should go down to twelve teams. buddy (forgot the player’s name) made eight million and scored eight goals, hell someone gave me a million a goal i sure enough would try and baseball is no better a winning pitcher who can only go five innings? the game is too specialised.
the stroll was turning into a loss i headed into victoria park to find a place to write the rest of the post cards but the benches were taken and the park itself didn’t hold any interest for me. did remark that there was a narrows but it was a pretty tame one.
-still using film? a park worker yelled out before he had to chase out some people who were in an off limits area.
i would walk back to the hotel, thinking the houses along brighton road quite respectable, but then at the sign that said i was entering the historic centre, i turned left to stroll once again.
-something smells around here are there any skunks.
-no that’s politicians.
splurged with hot and sour soup and stir-fried tofu with cashews at leo’s thai kitchen - quite good. then headed over to gahan house a brew pub that was well hidden in a restaurant. the beer was good but one should run when one has to wait to be seated at a pub. if not that the twee glasses should also be a signal. they are supposedly what is needed to savour the full bouquet but give me a pint glass.
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