To Russia, with love

I recently realized... there's someone in Russia that has visited my blog.
Actually, hits from Russia make up 3.4% of my overall page view history.

I have to wonder if it's an accident, but 96 page views can't just be an accident, right?
So to my Russian viewers, I say

Добро пожаловать!  как ты меня нашел??

I honestly don't know much about Russia aside from the matryoshka dolls, the beautiful buildings in Moscow, and the stereotypical alcoholic beverage of choice. 

I'd like to hear back from my readers, but perhaps you don't have an account and can't leave comments. But by now, everyone has Facebook, right?

Click here to like the Facebook page if you haven't already!

Leave comments, criticism, or suggestions!

Unsurprisingly the majority of views comes from Canada and the US. Actually most of these views are likely just from my close friends. But thank you to everyone who does check my blog, it'll never be as famous as Hyperbole and a Half, but it's still fun to write!

Thanks!

Graffiti, Turtles, and Good Advice

Continuing my tales of exploring London... to read the first edition of this, click here.

I left the farmhouse and continued bicycling around the city. I came across an abandoned building with an open door swaying in the breeze. The glass had been smashed out and lay on the stoop in a pile of geometric fragments. 

I went inside to see what I could find. It was a roughly round building with a cone shaped roof. A small rectangular back room extended to the west side, but it was dark and smelled of decay so I dared not to tread too deep. In the tiny room that served as a bathroom, the only remaining feature was an oval mirror. It smiled back at me as I took it off the hook it hung on. The abandoned office sported a collapsing ceiling and a mouldering armchair.
I thought this might be the napping place of a passing-through wanderer, so I left him a cheery greeting.
One eye of the smiling face had dripped, and it seemed to me that it might be crying as well.

In the main room, I could see that someone had read the Dark Tower by Stephen King. This is a series of very long novels and a personal favorite. Written in what appeared to be lipstick, or nail polish was "Oh discordia" and a common tagline found in the book, "Bangoskank was here".

I'm glad I'm not the only one who appreciates those books.











I rummaged around a while longer. I had determined it had been a gardening shop. A sticker that held together some shards of broken glass from the window proclaimed that they had been a member of some Ontario landscaping association. I also found a red hexagonal sticker clinging to it's own glass. It proclaimed, "STOP! Contents marked for quick identification by polica break, enter and theft. Maximum penalty life imprisionment"

I find it humorous that I found this while I was exiting the building, and suddenly felt like I should leave.

Back on the road, I had to swerve suddenly to avoid a carcass of an unfortunate roadkill victim. And then another. And another! I found nine dead painted turtles, there they are standing in a row. Big ones, small ones, some as big as your head. (Okay maybe not that big).
They all lay at the edge of the busy roadway in various states of decomposition. Now I will have it stated, that this species of turtle has been designated as a "Specially Protected Reptile" under the Ontario Fish and Wildlife Conservation Act which offers protection to individuals but not their habitat.

As if to illustrate this, I turned around to see where these poor unfortunate souls had come from, and a large sign proclaimed "PRIME LAND FOR DEVELOPMENT". I didn't know whether to throw up, or cry.
London seems to be a city that is growing up and over a rich natural land. I said once to a friend that my first impression is London is a mutant hybrid of city, suburbia, countryside, and landfill (sorry to say it, but there is a lot of litter).

As if to prove my point,while I climbed a small mountain of grey earth behind a shopping plaza, I found a discarded backpack with it's contents strewn about and caked with dry mud. It looked like the remains some thief had left behind after rummaging out all of the "good stuff". The one item that caught my eye was a small stone square with a leather cord. A piece of white paper listed, what seemed to me as the 10 commandments. However, upon closer inspection, I think they are really just pieces of good advice. What I could make out is:
6.
7. ........................................ on Sundays.
8. You shall respect your peers their suggestions
9. You shall not cheat on your spouse
10. You shall respect the environment that you live

Last but not least, a throwback to my Sweeny Todd reference... I passed by an interesting barber shop. Even If I had a beard to shave, I don't think I would be a patron there.

 

There's no place like London

 I have sailed the world,
beheld its wonders
from the Dardanelles,
to the mountains of Peru,
But there's no place like London!

 No, there's no place like London...

For those of you who enjoy musicals, those are the lines from the first song in the movie Sweeny Todd. The song continues to really bash the city of London, England.

Personally I have recently been stationed to London, Ontario. It has been an interesting first week! I have done some exploring, bicycling around the city and looking for...well... something to find. My favourite things to find are the forgotten places. I suppose that fits well with the title of my blog.

While traveling along a major road, I noticed a dirt road that led to this lovely old bridge that spanned over the railroad tracks.
Note: if I had taken this photo from a higher vantage you would be able to see a multitude of siamese-twin roofs that are the hallmark of suburbia

Ignoring the signs warning about the dangers of crossing, I walked across the ancient bridge and saw the dirt road led to an old house that had been boarded up. Across the driveway was the remains of a barn that had been burned to the ground. Only one wall remained standing and behind this was a cacophony of old hay and blackened wooden struts. This wall was white, and adorned with sharpie quotations left by some rogue poet.

 

I climbed down into the jumble of burnt lumber and litter and looked around.

Perhaps most people would see trash, but I always find treasure. On a lid from a large metal drum I noticed a burned book. Upon closer inspection, I found it was Holy Bible.

At random, I chose one page and pocketed it. I read it later, when I was less creeped out, and some interesting quotes jumped out at me. I am not a religious person, but I you will never hear me say that there is no benefit to theology.

        24 Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a furious man thou shalt not go:

        25 Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul. 

       12 Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.

However, I will draw the line when it comes to quotes like this following one, it just gives me the creeps.

        17 Let not thine heart envy sinners:but be thou in the fear of the LORD all the day long.

(When I Googled these quotes I found that they come from the King James version,

and that these are proverbs, if you care to know.)

I also found some smashed crystal-ware, and I photographed it because I loved the contrast of fine crafted beauty smashed against the rocks.

My favourite item to be found near this husk of a barn was a very rusted treasure chest. Or a trunk? Whichever you want to call it, depending on your imagination. At the bottom of the chest was a dark blue crushed velvet dress, thrown in a heap of disarray.



It had a fine fake silver clasp below the breasts and the neckline was adorned with silver beadwork, which was haphazard now and tearing apart. It looked more like moth-eaten, cheap costume apparel than a lady's dress.  I dropped it back to it's hiding place when a small spider crept onto my hand. (Bleck!)

Still shaking my hand, I left the property and bicycled back over the bridge. As I went over it, a train with many cars and tankers sped below me. Once they had passed, I couldn't resist the temptation to go check out the tracks, and also to snap a cliche photo of myself. 

More to come! I have some more photos and I plan to continue exploring

London's secret places in hiding over the next few months. Cheerio!