Archive for September 27th, 2023
Love or money
Wednesday
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Man oh man, is it frustrating when you’re walking along rail tracks and the only trains you see are idle. The railfan crowd sports fancy little radios which allow them to predict the comings and goings, but a humble narrator doesn’t have nor does he want one of those things. That is, unless one of you reading this wants to get rid of one of those units, in which case – contact me and I’ll pay for shipping.
After proceeding along the Great Allegheny or GAP trail from Duquesne, one had finally scuttled into throwing distance of Homestead. Wasn’t quite there yet, still had about three miles of walking to get through. This was the ‘slog’ part of the walk – clear and cloudless skies, temperatures in the low 80’s, and the burning thermonuclear eye of god itself was irradiating me in the punishing manner of ‘Sol Invictus.’ Shvitz!
– photo by Mitch Waxman
The only train witnessed was just sitting there, and there wasn’t even a locomotive attached to it, so these rail cars were basically in a parking lot. No fun. As the title of this post suggests… not for love or money did I get what I was hoping to shoot on this walk. Luckily, the purpose of this scuttle was ultimately about stretching my legs and ‘unclicking’ my back while burning out a few miles in the name of exercise. There would be beer and good conversation at the end of the effort, but right about this point a humble narrator was frustrated and uncomfortably warm. I kept on thinking about that sound Lucille Ball would make after saying ‘Ricky.’
I’ve started carrying a water bottle with me, which is something I never did back in NYC. Back home, you were never more than a 15 minute walk from a bodega or convenience store. Here, you’re on your own and need to be prepared for circumstance.
– photo by Mitch Waxman
Our Lady of the Pentacle has pointed out to me that I still refer to NYC as ‘home,’ despite the fact that I haven’t dwelt there or been within the confines of the 5 Boroughs at all since December of last year. My response is “We live in Pittsburgh, but New York will always be my Home.”
I’m still very much in touch with things back home, by the way. Still keeping an eye on the Creek, and Astoria, and watching from afar. There’s a few people whose phones still ring when something concerning happens. Things seem to be going fairly poor for ‘home’ at the moment, it seems, and every bit of news I receive about the latest developments reaffirm the decision to ‘get the hell out of Dodge’ as having been the right move.
Back tomorrow.
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“In the Shadows at Newtown Creek,” an 88 page softcover 8.5×11 magazine format photo book by Mitch Waxman, is now on sale at blurb.com for $30.
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