Category: cool unknown america

B209 – IM NOT IN A GOOD WAY

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Its sunday, a day where most people are sitting at home watching a movie and looking forward to a week of work. while I have made the fatal error of accidentally eating Avacado, something I am really really allergic too, it literally brings me to my knees over night and takes me out of the game for a few days. there nothing I can do apart from sleep and rest. Its currently 8pm and im in bed, trying to get this post done.

my plan for todays post has gone completely out of the window, I wanted to talk about this old hill near our location which was were the revolutionary war was basically start and also were the army kept there Gun power. if you want to know more, here some links to the history for anyone who wants to know more.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somerville,_Massachusetts

http://www.muldermedia.com/prospecthill/history.html

http://www.unionsquareneighbors.com/prospect-hill.html

so really cool stuff, but all that really happened to day was I did some work and moaned the whole day that I felt unwell. I like everyone to know what I am going through and feel my pain, im not really a suffer in silence kind of guy. That doesn’t mean this is just Man flu, this is a medical condition that must be treated with the highest respect. The clocks are also going back tonight so hopefully the extra hours sleep will work in my favour.

back to my photos the plan for today now is to show some photos I took on my Iphone over the last couple of days, I of course have to include the photo from my flight over New York a few days ago and some other cool photos from Massachusetts.

if anyone is allergic to Avacado too and knows any top tips for getting rid of this please please let me know. I’m scared to google it because the webdoctors always make me feel like a limbs going to fall off when I google something.

Hope you like my photos.

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– someville, Massachusetts on my trip today to find something to sort me out –
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– leaving New York the other day, I love that city –
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– this was the ceiling in the car rental place at Boston Airport, looks pretty cool –

B208 – MY FIRST HIGH SCHOOL AMERICAN FOOTBALL GAME DAY! GO SOMERVILLE!

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My normal routine for the past two months for getting these daily posts up and online, has revolved around getting back to my hotel between 20:00 and 2200. From there I jump in the shower for roughly 15 minutes before laying in bed and doing my daily post, it normally takes me about one hour to complete and in that time, I edit my photos, write a minimum of 300 words and then schedule the post to go up at 10am GMT. That’s always my plan, but tonight I’ve decided that for once I’m going to head out get some dinner and write the post while eating dinner. so its not the same thing each day, mix it up a little and stop myself from basically getting bored.

I’m sat in this place which is abit like Wachacca meets your local kebab shop, its called Chicken and Rice and its in this town called Medford, Massachusetts. Im eating what can only be linked to a Lamb Doner in a Salad, but its pretty good so I cant complain.

My photos today are from the other night on my adventure to Harvard, on the way back I was driving along this highway, when I saw a bunch of floodlights and hunderds of cars all parked up along the road. It was a high school basketball game, something Ive always wanted to see. Somerville High vs Triton Regional. One thing you learn as a teenager about sports is how big the Americans go for high school and collage sports , they literally treat it like a team in the premier league. It was like a two thousand seater stand and everyone was there, it seemed like they were just genuine fans. Nothing like the UK where you might get one dad and a few mums turn up to watch their little boys play. This was the whole families, friends and genuine high school football fans.

It felt like an event, there was an atmosphere and people were genuinely involved in the game. It was just how I imagined it to be, teams were going hard against each other and they even had those coaches with the talkback systems on, getting angry when a mistake was made by a player.

The final score was 27 – 9 to Somerville high, my new favourite high school football team and really the only one I know about.

Here are the three photos I took from the little de-tour post Harvard Adventure.

 

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– I want one of those jackets, they look sick –
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– I bet these players get such a rush from playing in front of such a crowd –
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– i wonder if they could throw me that high –
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– Somerville where on the offensive and the crowd were loving it –

B206 – I’m outta here 

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right Ive got to start this post by saying Ive had a few to drink, so sorry for any spelling mistakes of problems with this post. Its been our last night in New York before heading back to London and Ive loved spending time and working here. we move on to the next state tomorrow and im looking forward what it has to offer.

each day of these post I aim to write 300 hundreds words, 100 words for each picture. i think thats pretty responsible.  its not too many and  not too less. the one thing about photograhy is writing about your photos I hate it. but it kind of make sense, if you take a picture you should be able to write about that picture, end of. so thats why now when I take a certian photo, I always think about how I will explain that photo to someone. its definitely something I need to work on and from now on Im definitely going to make an effort to improve, just so my work can get taken seriously.

america has been a weird place to spend time, its not like anywhere else in the world. its got its own views and its own lawers. so of which are wrong and some are just a bit hazy. but I hope this country can take its own lead and some day show the world what makes this place a cool country.

anyway im just a young kid whos had the chance to see this place, some day I want to bring amy here and have a holiday here, but for now Im just looking forward to getting back to the uk and painting my flat.

its been 206 days since I started this blog and I cant wait to spend some time working on my house!!! michelle spear you are a legend and the blinds look great. christmas 2018 at 315, city view house!

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– we managed todo this trick at the bar –

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– new york at lunch time 0

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– welcome –
 

B205 – THEY WERE THROWING PIES IN EACH OTHERS FACES!!

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Today we were back on location working, so it was pretty hard for me to take photos, I could seem to get a good stream of photos on the go, mainly because I was just inside all day, and I didn’t wake up early enough to go a take some photos before work, my call time was 0730am this morning, its now 23:22 in the evening and I found out a few hours ago about a part over in times square, which I’ve had to be an adult about and not go. I wish my 18 year old self was here so I would just go balls to the wall and head down there, but now Ive got these things called responsibilities and they really seem to get in my way.

to still make sure I show you some good photos today, Ive decided to use some from my adventure around New York yesterday, I was going to save them for when I get back to London and don’t have anything to post but I kind of think why should you some rubbish photos I took today when I have these cool ones right next to me.

yesterday while I was walking around I saw something Ive never seen before, which is surprising because I cant think of a reason why I wouldn’t of done this when I was younger, its something that I would have thought I would of done and thats throwing pies / whipped cream in each others faces. I have no explanation why they decided that on a rainy Tuesday morning in New York they would organise a small side street pie throwing event, but it made for a good photo so I cant complain.

For some reason the more time I spend in New York the more I love this city and the people in it. I did have a little accident today though, I completely forgot what car park I parked the car in, mean that after the shoot we had to walk around a few block before we found the right one, and it turns out I parked in the car park I was meant too, I just didn’t remember. Im only telling you about this, so the Amanda and Libby don’t think i just right about all the good moments, I include my mistakes too.

Heres my photos from yesterday, i will do my best to up the anti tomorrow and will take some good photos through out the day. here they are, enjoy.

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– yesterday we snuck onto the roof of our hotel and I managed to get this shot, I really want to get an early morning photo from up here. thats the queensboro bridge looking across to Manhattan –

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– these guys, no idea why they were doing it, im just happy I walked past when I did –

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– surely thats not his umbrella, it really doesnt go with the bad boy image jacket –

B204 – THE DAY MY CAMERA NEARLY DIED!

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Back in New York and the main thing im going to take away from today is that New York rain seems to be something you cant find anywhere else. its non stop and literally everything just gets soaked through. I went out today not expecting to get that wet, it was just like a little bit of drizzle when I left, well that turned into some thing completely different, but a few years ago I watched that documentary of the New York photographer Bill Cunningham and in that documentary Bill talks about being out in all weathers in New York because thats when you get the best shots, and the guy is completely right, New York seems to go into this completely different mode when it starts raining. My highlight of New York in the rain today was seeing a women walk round with a metal Bin on her head to project her afro, she literally didn’t get a damm what she looked like as long as her hair stayed dry.

if you read yesterdays post you would know my plan for today was to stay around Hunter’s point and take it easy. Well after a quick chat with my parents my dad said I had to have a chill dog from a street vendor, so that became my mission, track down a street vendor and have a chilli dog on the “side walk”. and as soon as I got off the subway at 7th and 59th street, there he was a street vendor with all the goodies apart from Chilli dogs, sorry dad but I just went for a hot dog, I hope that counts. I did plan on not giving up till I got a chilli dog but I was hungry, so that will have todo.

My other plan for today  became getting a good shot of the smoke or stream that comes up from the ground around NYC and after hunting for ages to try and find somewhere, I finally bumped into the perfect location just by 42nd and Grand Central Street. ( im trying to remember the names of the streets, just so I feel like a local). Once I found this spot I only had to wait a few minutes before this guy walked past, it was a pure case of right place right time, but thats how street photography works really, the more hours you spend on the streets, the more places you end up in at the right time.  This is one of my favourite photos Ive taken in a long time, this whole photo feels quite peaceful at a time when everything is starting to get a bit crazy. Im not sure if that makes sense to you, but it does to me.

Here are my photos from today, Ive tried to take it easy today and just get some good rest, now I’m looking forward to laying in bed watching some movies and getting some proper sleep!

I hope you like my photos. oh and if your wondering about my title today, my camera nearly broke because the rain just didn’t stop and I really wasn’t prepared for that. Apart from that I would say its been a pretty successful day.

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– this is one of my favourite photos Ive taken recently –

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– mum is that you?  –

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– the rain today was proper rain, the stuff that no matter watch jacket you had on your T shirt was getting wet –

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– here you go dad, this is where I got my hot dog from –

B203 – I LOVE THIS CITY

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today has been just a day of travel, I woke up this morning in 23 degrees weather at 6am and quickly packed up before leaving florida and catching a plane back to the crazy city that is New York. We are back at the hotel from last time, the Vue something its called near Queens Boro bridge, this hotel literally gives us such a good view of Manhattan, I think ive shown it before when I first got to New York, well anyway Im like two floors above my last room and dead on facing the city, so this time Ive got such a better view. Ill show you it tomorrow maybe.

Its now like mid night and Ive just edited my photos from today and now just thinking of anything to write and all I can think really is how nice Florida was and how happy I am to be back in New York, tomorrow is a pretty chilled out day I think, so my plan is to explore hunters point a bit more, thats basically opposite Manhatten on the queens side of the river. Normally when you head to a city you get drawn to the main tourist spots, but im just going to walk around Hunter point and then Maybe head into town, but the main mission for tomorrow is to take some cool photos of the city and the people that live here.

I would love to write about how I plan on getting up at 5 in the morning to go and take photos of the sun set over the river or people on their rush hour commute, but that would just be a big fat lie, I dont plan on doing anything like that. part of the whole three photos a day thing, is that sometimes its just a down day with no plans and those are the days were I have to get creative with my photos and tomorrow might be one of those days. Im trying not to think about it too much other wise, Ill end up doing something adventurous and not chilled out at all and thats not the point of tomorrow.

heres my photos from today. enjoy.

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– packing up the car at silly O’clock this morning, I already miss this SUV –

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– the last palm tree I saw in florida and look at that sun rise! –

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– back in New York where everyone is constantly moving at 1 million miles an hour –

B201 – CATFISH, SOUTHERN STYLE

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If anyone has driven from Tampa to Bartow, or even been to this little town somewhere in florida called Bartow, you will hear the local talk about Catfish Country as a place you need to go an eat it. you will hear them talk about how great the cat fish is and how its such a famous place to go and eat at. Ive never had Catfish before and today was really my first time, ( I had a cat fish Sandwhich the other day but I spilt most of it down my top and covered the whole thing in ketchup. So Im counting this as my first time, this is kind of my review of cat fish and the restaurant Cat fish country.

One thing I wont talk about is the service, America waiters and waitress are the best in the world, where ever you go you’ll get a good service and thats because they work for tips. so its unfair for me to talk about their service.  As someone whos a huge fan of the traditional cod and chips, this is a biased opinion. but when cod and chips isnt on the menu, would I go for Cat fish, probably not. but if I was in florida again, would I go for Cat fish and chips, probably. its got an OK taste and is a bit like cod in the texture, but no where near the same amount of favour.

but what you get at this place Catfish Country is the whole experience, if feels like a food restaurant in the south should feel, and has all the right things, a massive TV showing the sports highlights, unlimited ice tea and the perfect atmosphere, these places always feel like they’ve spent 50 years collecting things from passers by, including their number plates and other weird items and this place is no exception, its full of just about everything you can image from over the size bud light neon signs, to taxidermy, to things that look like they belong to on a boat. but all done in a real aesthetically pleasing way. its just all looks like it genuinely belongs there.

If you are ever driving down highway 98 towards Bartow definitely stop off and give this place a try, you cant miss it theres a massive sign that says “Catfish Country”.

Heres my photos from the meal, I’m sorry to the locals but nothing you cook will be able to beat fish and chips from Brighton Pier.

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– this place definatly looks 10 x better than any fish and chip shop in the UK –
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– I wasnt even aware there was a catfish festival –
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– It looks almost the same to standard fish and chips but they do give you this little corn do ball thing –
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– I really like the fact every table had a paper hand towel roll, that always means you going to be in for some good food –
 

 

 

B200 – THIS HAS BEEN A MASSIVE DAY!!! 200 DAYS CONTINUOUSLY!!!!!!

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this is my 200th blog post, 200. thats how many days Ive done this in a row without a day off, thats at least 600 edited photos (some days I post more if its been a good day) and that with an average of 350 words per day thats a total of 70,000 words!! how many words is a distinction again, I cant remember? but I think its fair to say even though Ive written roughly 70,000 words, those people with a degree are still probably smarter than me.

When I first started this blog post challenge I was always thinking what I would do when I got to the 200 post mark, and for ages I thought I would have a cake and launch some fire works out of it or something, I definitely didn’t think I would be working in America and writing this post in Florida, I only really remembered that it was the 200 mark, yesterday when I saw it was B199.

Now this is a bit of a double celebration, because since I injured my leg 164 days ago, running a half marathon where completely screwed the tendon that connects my quad to my hip and basically had to learn how to use that leg again, I’ve been on a diet of burgers, pizza and beer. Well today was the end to that era and because I got up early and ran 5 miles before work. My time 45:13, which is an OK time but as Amy says its not about the timings at the moment, its just about getting back to how I was but Im pretty happy with the time and comparing it to my fastest 5 miles, Ive only got to shave like 2 minutes per mile off my time, which is completely do able.

The way I celebrated my success at reaching 200 post and running 5 miles was by doing the best thing anyone can ever do after running in 23 degree heat and thats by jumping in a cold pool straight after, our hotel has a pool and well, theres nothing like that feeling, made better by the fact I ran in some old trainers where my toe pokes out the end. so taking them off by the pool was probably the highlight, my feet where dead, but in a good way, they deserved every second of pool time.

Im now eager to get back out running but know that I need to take it slow, but I think if I set myself a goal of running 10 miles a week for the next month or so and then see how I feel after that, plus a few physo sessions in between, I should be OK.

Anyway heres some photos from my run today! todays been a good day, because it feels like I have completed two massive personal goals Ive had for a long time! and in a pretty cool part of the world!

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– Left: my person best – right: my time today, ok for a first proper distance run since my injury –
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– this photo was taken from inside the pool because I can and it felt right, those £45 trainers have done me well and still have a few miles left in them –
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– nothing beats the early morning sun –
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– run past this, seeing old classic american cars in this state always makes me want to buy one and restore it – 

B199 – CROC HUNTING DIDN’T GO SO WELL

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This morning I woke up with one plan and one plan only, to see a wild Alligator. that was my only mission, after speaking with the girl on at hotel reception she told me that I was definitely going to see one and that they are everywhere round here. even in the lake opposite our car park.  So that became my first place I looked, I wasn’t really too sure how close I could get to the water, but that didn’t stop me, Ive always wanted to see one and now Ive got that chance. turns out I didn’t see one in that lake, so back to google.

After spending some time on the internet googling “croc places near me”. literally thats what I googled. turns out that theres a a fair few lakes / swamps around but what I was expecting was some kind of beach on a lake, where you could walk around and take photos of alligators and everyone happy, that wasn’t what happened, its actually a lot hard than that.  We literally drove 10 miles out into the swamp land place, where they have these crazy birds which look like eagles mixed with Vultures mixed with black birds, that eat road kill and anything else they can find. these birds are literally like the size of a small dog and scare the hell out of me. I have no idea what they are called, but if anyone reading this does, please please let me know.

We now had to come up with a plan C, which involved parking the car and walking across a trail to see what we could find. about a mile down the the road from the scary birds we found this car park which was kind of close to a lake and thought that was our chance. but after walking around for like an hour, we didn’t see anything. literally nothing apart from this small blue lizard thing. So it was back to the hotel, for an afternoon sleep, not every day is like this, normally we are working and don’t have a chance to head back to the hotel when we want, so this was actually pretty nice.

Ive been on the internet trying to figure out my best chances of seeing a croc round here, Im pretty sure my best chance is going to be at a lake 18 miles away, where an alligator has just tried to grab a dog,  but i’m really not sure if I can make it over there before we leave on Monday. Might have to be either a really early morning thing or late at night, both really scare me because when its dark and they like to hunt then. if I can free up some time I will, but who knows. for now the mission is on hold, to be resumed.

here’s my pictures from today, if your ever in Bartow check out the antique stores they’re pretty cool and have given me loads of idea for my flat.

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– what are these birds, they look like something from a horror movie –
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– on our hunt to see an alligator earlier –
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– Im not a massive antique buff but just looking round these places it pretty fun –

 

 

B198 – I FEEL LIKE A TRUE AMERICAN

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So just got to our hotel in Tampa, Florida and the journey feels like its gone on forever, first we didnt have a pilot of the plane, no idea how that happens but it did. Im not going to moan about it thought, because now we are in Tampa and the car hire company have given us the one things I’ve always wanted. a proper american SUV, this thing is a beast. they have given us a GMC Yukon SLT, this thing is like a $60k monster. No idea why they looked at me and thought it would fine, but they did and Im happy about it.

Overall it feels quite good to be back in the south, I know Flordia is quite touristy but it doesn’t feel like that where we are, it feels like a cool part of the world, even though Ive only seen it in the dark. Tomorrow we have a day off, so im looking forward to explore this place, at the moment my main goal is to see a crocodile, like a proper wild one on the side of a river bank, but not sure if that will happen. the chances are ill just chill all day and try to burn of that ridiculous amount BBQ food I just eaten.

This is now like my sixth america state in the past 5 weeks and I really feel like I’m starting to understand a bit more about this place, it almost feels like I’ve completed america if that makes sense. every time I go to a new country I always want to feel some kind of connection to that place, and get the lingo along with the way of life. Im not sure if 5 or 6 weeks is enough time to feel like that, but with america I kind of feel like I’m starting to get the hang of the crazy country.

As today was just really like a travel day not many photos were taken but I did try and get out after dinner and do like a mini photo shoot with the SUV. and to be honest I think thee photo look pretty cool.

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– Would this SUV even fit on UK roads? –
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– I would love to drive round London in this –
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– flying to Newark airport to Tampa, literally spent the whole time just looking out the window, apart from when I was sleeping-  (only good thing about sitting at the back of the plane is that you can take good pictures) –