Over Afternoon Tea

Tea is not only a drink but a ritual over which people have been relaxing, talking, and catching up on each other's lives for centuries. This blog is intended to serve as a virtual cup of tea, helping me keep in touch with friends and family in my physical absence.

How To Be a Boston Pedestrian
The Ultimate Guide to Fitting In On Foot In Boston

1. Wear black. Black is the preferred color at all times but it's absolutely mandatory after dark, and for crossing dimly-lit streets. (This rule works well for cyclists as well. And if you must have a light, make sure to hide it somewhere in the folds of your jacket.)
2. Sidewalks are for wimps. Make sure to walk in the road, on the street side of any parked cars. This is especially important if the road is curvy and dimly lit.
3. Never cross the street at a 90 degree angle to traffic. Then they would know for sure that you're trying to cross, for pity's sake! Meander out into the traffic at the most indeterminate angle possible, so that drivers are unsure whether you're following rule number 2 or actually crossing.
4. Walk into the street and...hesitate. Hold it there for as long as possible. Make sure you are just far enough into the street that the cars can see you (at the last minute) but not so far as to commit yourself to crossing now.
5. And finally, never, ever, use the crosswalk. If that's really the best place to cross, walk at least one or two feet to the left or right. Crosswalks are beneath your dignity.

Coming Soon: How to Be a Boston Driver

Two Reviews
or, Love and Hate

Saw the new version of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe that came out this last weekend. I went in with low expectations. I dislike the BBC versions and after what the last few years did to Tolkien I didn't expect much better--especially from Disney. I neglected to notice, however, that it helps to be making a children's book into a movie. There is about enough plot for the movie, without having heaps and gobs left over.
Further, somebody brilliant seems to have decided that if a book has been an enduring classic for the last 50 years or so, the themes, plot, and characters in the book can be relied upon to be as attractive on the screen as in the book, provided they are appropriately adapted to it. It is entirely unnecessary to misunderstand characters, alter plot, and make the whole thing more politically correct. (Just in case you're reading, Mr. P. Jackson, this means you.)
In short, they actually managed to get the feel of Narnia. I felt, once again, what a very great disappointment it is that I have never been. Sure, there were alterations (I had to bite my tongue when Father Christmas, giving weapons to Lucy, says they are only for self-defense, since "battles are ugly things" instead of "battles are ugly when women fight"--just leave the line out, at that point) but I felt most of them were in keeping with rendering the movie palatable to a modern audience without changing the meaning of it too much. There were one or two places, granted, where Aslan's status was undercut, and that troubled me most of anything; he was not mentioned to be the King of Narnia, that I recall, and certainly not the Son of the Emperor Over the Sea (who was left out altogether and the Deep Magic left to function as a sort of Natural Law). But while things were left out that could have been in, nothing was in that really should have been out. Literary audiences may safely be left to supply their own context without Disney getting itself into too much trouble with the PC-ers and leftists.
I hope it makes a mint and they make all seven.
And now for the hate. I managed to get through one and a half of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series before pulling out my bookmark and giving up. The man is apparently unaware of the meaning of the word 'pace.' I've rarely met an author who can take a hundred pages to describe the events of five or six hours (during which perhaps four things important to the plot occur, items which I could summarize in two minutes, if that) AND STILL GETS READ by the populace at large. Why, I want to know, are people still reading these things? It's not like it's for improving your mind or education; we're not even talking Shakespeare here. This is supposed to be enjoyable?
And then there are his women. I could go on for pages, so I'll keep myself to two pertinent questions. 1) What branch of the harpy family does his wife hail from? 2) Why are all his men (and even his women) soooooooo slow to notice when an Aes Sedai is being evasive? Is that supposed to be subtle? I do better than that when my husband asks how my day was!
Ahem.
I am now reading Prince Caspian and swearing off all Robert Jordan. Just in time for New Year's resolutions. How convenient.