Well, here it is, nearly noon time on my side of the Big Pond, and I've only been up an hour. I hate oversleeping, but had only had 4 hours sleep Friday, and last night, my hillbilly neighbours were celebrating Thanksgiving early--which for them, apparently, means roast turkey and several 24 packs of beer. "Oi!" I wanted to yell, "Stop trying to get the damned dog to sing!" For Christ's sake, it was blinking midnight, and they're all yelling--well, they always yell, that's their nomal mode of conversation, for some reason---to the dog, "sing, you bastard, come on!" F_ck. At least the teens upstairs quit early last night, there's that to be thankful for, at least.
I finally couldn't keep my eye open, and went to bed at 1am or so...their mean elderly dog was still howling and barking, and they were still laughing...and banging on something metal, not sure I want to know what the hell that was about....hillbillies. You know, I've been told by a southern transplant, a woman from South Carolina, that she sees more genuine, honest-to-god hillbillies up her in the mountains of New York, than she ever saw down south? And, I do believe her. I had genuine in-bred hillbillies living in my apartment building, in the small rural mill town I lived in, for my first five years up here. I'm not joking about the in-bred part, either...it's not a put-down, but a real fact. There's about two or three promenent familes up here in the Adirondacks, whom are actually known to be in-bred...a local college even did a research study on them. In fact, one family even has a hamlet in the mountains named after them, because they were practically the only one's who lived there, way back when--tho' they've spread out to other towns, now, hence my encounters with them.
In fact, celebrites like coming here (in the off-season especailly, when most of the tourists have gone home), because, unless he or she is a country music star or a famous race car driver, no one knows them. British and other foreign celebrites, who want to be left alone, should come here--but, they'd probably get their egos hurt, when no one pays any attention to them, ha-ha.
Yeah, from November to April, this place is dead as a doornail--well, except for the ski areas, like West Mountain (a mile or two outside this city where I'm at, is a ski mountain), and the bigger ski resorts: Gore resort, which is up the road about 20 or 25 so miles, in North Creek, and Whiteface in Lake Placid--home of two winter olympic games. Then there's the snowmobiler's, the ice fishermen--big, big boast for the local economy, for some rural towns-- and skaters, cross-country skiers and winter hikers, ice climbers and dog sledders, horseback riders and snowshoers...and shoppers...lots of shoppers, what with the million dollar big brand name outlet shops in Lake George, drawing in Canadian, New York City and European shoppers.
Yet, we certainly don't get the millions of tourists in winter, that we do from the end of May until mid-October. And, I've known of several major celebrites (John Travolta just to name one), come here, even live here, and pretty much no one pays them any mind, as long as they don't make a nuisence of themselves--which one or two have, and were essentially shown the door by the locals, and told not to let it hit them on their way out. Adirondackers can be very stoic about celebrites...they would be more impressed with you, if you said you'd shot an 8-point buck at 500 yards, than if you turned up in a limo, surrounded by a mob of papparizzi.
Anwyway, I'd every intention of going into work today--but my sore throat and congested chest are giving me doubts. Friday, my throat hurt so bad, I had to split my shift in half, because at the end of my first two hours, I was in so much agony, I dont' think I would have cared if a bus had run me down in the street. I still have an hour to decide. I also have to consider that I have no clean clothes to wear, after today, and, that I have to run around like a loon tomorrow, trying--I'd even say "praying," if I still believed in prayer--that my stupidity of paying the wrong bill, won't literally leave me in the cold and dark, for Christmas.
I'm trying real hard not to think about that.
I also need to seriously tidy the house...after eight weeks of fighting, first the flu...which became mild pneumonia, then getting this head cold, a week ago...well, the apartment looks a wee...yuck. I've been so knackered, I've just been doing the bare basics..and only half-arsed at that. I'd like to have a lovely, tidy apartment for the holidays, but if I have to run around like a loon when I'm not feeling my best...that's just not going to happen. I don't mind being alone, most of the time--but when I'm sick, or my mandic-depression gets the better of me (especially the depression part), I really do miss having someone here, to help me out a little. Maybe if I'd had someone, I wouldn't have paid the wrong bill, and not been in this stinking mess with National f'ing Grid.
Well, can't live on "maybe's" or "somedays," can we? I'm on my own, and that's that.
