I can't believe when I check online what I am reading about the Gulf Coast. It is almost negligible in the news here. Of course, in transit, it is hard to keep track of the news... it's not as if I'm watching BBC 24-7 (or at all).
As I was leaving, it seemed like a rather minor hurricane. Now I read thousands are dead and the entire city of New Orleans is evacuated!?!? That's almost shocking beyond words... I'm not sure if it represents a flaw in our civil engineering (which is why these things tend to happen in 3rd world countries) or just a statement that no one escapes the wrath of God (in a Sumerian sense... ?).
Is the average price of gas really over $3.00/gal?
I was walking down Tottenham Court Road today towards Oxford Street, and I saw something that was both captivating and nauseating.
There was a girl, in a daze, bouncing back and forth between the crowd like pinball. She wasn't running into anyone, but was clearly very high. She was Oriental, but I couldn't discern from which part of Asia (ok I'm not good at that anyway) because her face was pretty swollen and she had something of a sloping jaw (which may have been broken). There was dried blood streaked underneath her nose and out of the corners of her mouth. Her hair was a mess and her feet and ankles were filthy and strapped into the 'Tevo-ish' sandals usually worn by homeless people. The truly odd thing was that other than that, she was dressed really smartly. She was wearing a plaid skirt of moderate length and a sweater that wouldn't look out of place among any of the fashionable Japanese girls at Japan Center or Misato.
I couldn't help wondering what her story was. She could have been a Chinese immigrant kidnapped by Albanian mobsters in Belgrade, a Krygistani peasant sold into slavery by Turks, or a the daughter of a Japanese business man who ran away from home. The only thing that was clear was that something very bad had happened to her.
She was for all intents and purposes invisible there. I only really noticed her b/c of the way she was dressed and the fact that it is extremely rare to see non-white homeless people here.
I feel like a scoundrel not helping her at all... I mean I might be too sterile, but I could have at least alerted a police officer... Then again maybe she's just another hardluck story, like any other city London is full of them. What I mean is maybe there is no helping... That would make me feel better, but I don't think its true.
As I was leaving, it seemed like a rather minor hurricane. Now I read thousands are dead and the entire city of New Orleans is evacuated!?!? That's almost shocking beyond words... I'm not sure if it represents a flaw in our civil engineering (which is why these things tend to happen in 3rd world countries) or just a statement that no one escapes the wrath of God (in a Sumerian sense... ?).
Is the average price of gas really over $3.00/gal?
I was walking down Tottenham Court Road today towards Oxford Street, and I saw something that was both captivating and nauseating.
There was a girl, in a daze, bouncing back and forth between the crowd like pinball. She wasn't running into anyone, but was clearly very high. She was Oriental, but I couldn't discern from which part of Asia (ok I'm not good at that anyway) because her face was pretty swollen and she had something of a sloping jaw (which may have been broken). There was dried blood streaked underneath her nose and out of the corners of her mouth. Her hair was a mess and her feet and ankles were filthy and strapped into the 'Tevo-ish' sandals usually worn by homeless people. The truly odd thing was that other than that, she was dressed really smartly. She was wearing a plaid skirt of moderate length and a sweater that wouldn't look out of place among any of the fashionable Japanese girls at Japan Center or Misato.
I couldn't help wondering what her story was. She could have been a Chinese immigrant kidnapped by Albanian mobsters in Belgrade, a Krygistani peasant sold into slavery by Turks, or a the daughter of a Japanese business man who ran away from home. The only thing that was clear was that something very bad had happened to her.
She was for all intents and purposes invisible there. I only really noticed her b/c of the way she was dressed and the fact that it is extremely rare to see non-white homeless people here.
I feel like a scoundrel not helping her at all... I mean I might be too sterile, but I could have at least alerted a police officer... Then again maybe she's just another hardluck story, like any other city London is full of them. What I mean is maybe there is no helping... That would make me feel better, but I don't think its true.
posted by akrites @ 11:21 AM
2 Comments:
At 5:42 AM,
Joshua said…
3.00 a gallon, or more. Still, though, less than most the rest of the world is paying, and a small price to pay not to have to walk 30 miles. (I would pay much more to have someone carry me those 30 miles, and that is essentially what a car does, albeit without the cache of actually having SOMEONE carry you)
The damage from the hurricane, I think, has probably as bit more to do with civil engineering than anyone wants to admit. We have had models in place for the exact event for almost five years, and no one did a thing. Evacuations were called in plenty of time, and people didn't want to go. An act of God though? nah. God's got better things to do, no?
Joshua
At 1:41 AM,
akrites said…
People are raising hell here. Their gas is now over £1 a liter! While granted $3 for 30 miles isn't a bad bargain, you have to remember that every single thing we buy is moved in a truck... and sooner or later we'll have to start paying for it.
Isn't Tiger Woods a civil engineer from Stanford? Now's his chance to show the world what a hero he is.
I don't think God really works like that either, I was just throwing it out as a certain worldview. The UK press keeps portraying every religious person in the US as believing that God destroyed Sodom though...
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