DARK SHAPES UNDER THE AWNINGS

Both of the pipes I enjoyed immensely for several months after recovering, more or less, from a stay in the hospital three years ago, were in storage for a long time. So it was fun revisiting them while spending much of last week dodging the rain in the afternoons. Which happened far too often. Having spent my childhood in the Netherlands, where we moved during my infancy, rainy weather is something with which I am familiar. Unlike many other native Californians, who may have experienced it for the first time recently.


"Oh no, it's the end times, water is falling from the sky, and what's that weird smell of burning leaves eminating from that dour looking person with a piece of wood near his face?"


Several people looked at me with keen interest while I was smoking recently. Possibly because what was sticking out of my mouth was something from decades ago.
My guess would be that it was made just after the war.

Either that or they could see the caffeine bringing light and warmth to my zombie-like tissues. Colour creeping up in glowing waves from my toes till at last the head lit up.

It did not rain today, for your information.
Life has returned to the streets.

Sometimes objects look sexy. There are some pipe shapes like that. Mostly it's ceramics, a characteristic that collectors of antiques, archeologists, art historians, and scholarly aficionados are well familiar with.

The straight Rhodesian, especially in its pudgy variant, is one of those shapes.
Here's an examplar done for an American company years ago.

This was made by Comoy for Jost's in St. Louis. It was sold to me by Mary Pulvers, who had a shop on Battery Street till 2005. I was working for the law firm of regrettable memory at the time. It had never been smoked, so naturally I snapped it up.


Even during inclement weather one must head outdoors to smoke.
I have, consequently, become an expert on shelter.
Closed businesses with deep awnings.
Private public spaces.



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