I was sitting at my desk this morning, as usual ignoring the glorious riverside view of a London skyline that’s only ever a glance away, and in a moment of reflection when I finally did look up, I noticed for the first time a massive black mushroom-like cloud that had been steadily making its way across an otherwise clear sky. Before I knew it, my Hollywood education had taken over and I was out of my chair shouting, Jesus Christ, what is that?!
Following this was a floor-wide dash to windows, news pages and mobile phones as everyone tried in various ways to determine whether or not it was something to worry about. As it turns out, a warehouse in Stratford had caught fire, the rubber tyres contained therein responsible for the blackness of the smoke.
The blaze is situated near the site of the 2012 Olympic Games, though there isn’t even anything built there yet, so I suppose the culturally indeterminate among us can breathe a sigh of relief, at least for today.
Everyone was back at their desks before long, but it was an eerie experience for me overall. The entirety of my hometown would have to be aflame in order to make that sort of an impact, visually-speaking. And the fact that everyone around me was initially behaving as though we could be the next potential targets of something much larger didn’t escape my notice either. The summer of 2004 is still imbedded in municipal consciousness I guess.
Bruce and I went to see Into the Wild last evening. I wish I’d have known what everyone else knew, which was that it’s based on a true story and *SPOILER FOR THE UNSPOILT AMONG YOU* he was never gonna make it. Boo. What a gorgeous film though. If I never saw another film again, I think that would definitely top my list. Apparently, Sean Penn nearly ruined the entire thing by casting Leonardo DiCaprio in the lead role, but then the family backed out and it wasn’t made for another ten years. Whew!
Okay, that’s lunch.
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