On the evening of our first day in London, we passed by Nelson Mandela’s bust and played the first verse of this ’80s ska gem:
Month: June 2022
Is this sarcastic? I can’t tell.
We weren’t quite sure how jet-lagged we’d be when we landed in London on the morning of Saturday, June 11th, so we kept our plans simple. We’d limit ourselves to wandering about the area near the our hotel (Sea Containers, right on the Thames’ south bank, just west of Blackfriars).
Within this limited zone was the London Bridge shop of Whisky Exchange. Anitra found it while doing her usual diligent pre-travel research, and being whisk(e)y aficionados, we had to go take a look.
If you get the chance, go there — it’s impressive. Their selection is large and beautifully laid out, the staff are friendly and knowledgeable, and how can you not trust a place like this in a drinker’s city?
We chatted with the expert who was stationed at the desk in the back of the shop, asking for something that would be interesting, local, hard or impossible to get in the U.S. and was under £200. His recommendation: Filey Bay Yorkshire Special Malt Whisky’s Special Release Double Oak #1. There were a mere 2,000 bottles in this release, and yet it was well under the price limit we’d given.
Here’s a video review of what we bought…
…here’s a Japanese whisky enthusiast’s tour of the shop…
…and here’s a CBS Saturday Morning piece on the Whisky Exchange:
Zen Pencils — “Cartoon quotes from inspirational folks” — take some of the best quotes and statements out there and present them in comic form. They just updated their rendition of Sophie Scholl’s “I choose my own way to burn” statement to fit the current times. It’s worth reading:
“The real damage is done by those millions who want to ‘survive.’ The honest men who just want to be left in peace. Those who don’t want their little lives disturbed by anything bigger than themselves. Those with no sides and no causes.”
“Those who won’t take measure of their own strength, for fear of antagonizing their own weakness. Those who don’t like to make waves—or enemies. Those for whom freedom, honour, truth, and principles are only literature. Those who live small, mate small, die small.”
“It’s the reductionist approach to life: if you keep it small, you’ll keep it under control. If you don’t make any noise, the bogeyman won’t find you.”
“But it’s all an illusion, because they die too, those people who roll up their spirits into tiny little balls so as to be safe. Safe?! From what? Life is always on the edge of death…” 
“…narrow streets lead to the same place as wide avenues, and a little candle burns itself out just like a flaming torch does.”
“I choose my own way to burn.”
Sophie Scholl was a resistance fighter against the Nazis in Germany in the early 1940s. She was a key member of Weiße Rose — German for “White Rose” — a resistance group run by students at the University of Munich. Weiße Rose distributed leaflets, painted graffiti, and took part in actions to call out the Nazis and inspired resistance against fascism.
The Nazis executed her at the age of 21 for treason on February 22, 1943.
My response to “I’m just not a political person” is usually either “Bullshit” or “So, you’re just useless then.”
To borrow a paragraph from Sami Fishbein Sage’s essay, Unpacking “I’m Not A Political Person”:
It’s A Privilege To “Not Be Political”
When you say you’re not political, you’re telling on yourself. What you’re saying is that you’ve only been on the receiving end of all these invisible perks the government provides, rather than being on the side that suffers from the lack of them or that is even actively harmed by them. For example, it’s only because of active participation in politics that same-sex marriages are legal. That happened less than five years ago, and it would no doubt be the dream of a conservative Supreme Court to overturn it. Try telling your gay friend, whose marriage status could be in real jeopardy based on election outcomes, that you’re not political and see how they react.
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Ehhh… Close enough.
