Last night was a classic Alabama night out, and it was great.
Starting quietly, cooking myself a good dinner at home and having a beer, things hotted up when some friends came by and we headed out to the 28 Club. It had been too long since I'd been there and it was fun - although a Friday night is not the busiest - to drink, tell stories, play the jukebox and watch the poker game being played at the next table. And form a plan - the which was to go down to the river. So off we went, at 1am, down to the Black Warrior at Lock 5, took off our clothes and slipped into the water. It was real Huckleberry Finn stuff. Not an electric light to be seen, just the faint blue glow of the sky and the shadows of the trees on the water. The river was really warm, muddy on the bottom and with a lazy current, and the lightning bugs glowed like pinpricks. No sound other than the buzz of the crickets and treefrogs, and the occasional owl and coyote calling. We swam around a little, and mostly just floated, looking across to the faraway other bank and occasionally talking. Apparently it takes three days to float down the river to the coast.
It was really magic! I can't believe I haven't been swimming down there before. The water was so perfect, there was no-one around, and afterwards we sat on the tailgate of the truck, our clothes absorbing the water from our skin, drinking a beer and swinging our muddy feet, before waking up our driver (who had gone to sleep in the cab) and driving back to Greensboro (via an abortive attempt to go to Waffle House in Demopolis, but the damn place is shut down!). We got to Beacon Street at around 5, just as the sky was lightening. We jumped the fence into the backyard of the old Greensboro Hotel and climbed up onto its roof (it is the tallest building in town apart from the courthouse and the old Opry) to watch the sun rise over the sleeping, empty town.
Some nights are just perfect. London can't beat these kind of moments.
Links:
More interesting stuff on Iran - this article is more my perception of how things are changing and should continue to change.
Can these urban gamesters start an offshoot in London? if they did, London nights might get as fun as 'bama in the same childlike way.
Bangladesh beat the Aussies at cricket? What's going on in the world?
Starting quietly, cooking myself a good dinner at home and having a beer, things hotted up when some friends came by and we headed out to the 28 Club. It had been too long since I'd been there and it was fun - although a Friday night is not the busiest - to drink, tell stories, play the jukebox and watch the poker game being played at the next table. And form a plan - the which was to go down to the river. So off we went, at 1am, down to the Black Warrior at Lock 5, took off our clothes and slipped into the water. It was real Huckleberry Finn stuff. Not an electric light to be seen, just the faint blue glow of the sky and the shadows of the trees on the water. The river was really warm, muddy on the bottom and with a lazy current, and the lightning bugs glowed like pinpricks. No sound other than the buzz of the crickets and treefrogs, and the occasional owl and coyote calling. We swam around a little, and mostly just floated, looking across to the faraway other bank and occasionally talking. Apparently it takes three days to float down the river to the coast.
It was really magic! I can't believe I haven't been swimming down there before. The water was so perfect, there was no-one around, and afterwards we sat on the tailgate of the truck, our clothes absorbing the water from our skin, drinking a beer and swinging our muddy feet, before waking up our driver (who had gone to sleep in the cab) and driving back to Greensboro (via an abortive attempt to go to Waffle House in Demopolis, but the damn place is shut down!). We got to Beacon Street at around 5, just as the sky was lightening. We jumped the fence into the backyard of the old Greensboro Hotel and climbed up onto its roof (it is the tallest building in town apart from the courthouse and the old Opry) to watch the sun rise over the sleeping, empty town.
Some nights are just perfect. London can't beat these kind of moments.
Links:
More interesting stuff on Iran - this article is more my perception of how things are changing and should continue to change.
Can these urban gamesters start an offshoot in London? if they did, London nights might get as fun as 'bama in the same childlike way.
Bangladesh beat the Aussies at cricket? What's going on in the world?
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