[Swakopmund, 2/20/22] Among the regulars at Friendly Lounge, my local dive in Philadelphia, was Johny AC (for air conditioning, to differentiate him from Johny the Hat, a mechanic). A white man in his mid 40’s with a Japanese wife, Johny AC had been to Japan many times to visit his in-laws, but he had never entered New York City, just 95 miles from the Friendly’s corner door, with its black on white sign half bordered with a bent arrow.
I dare say most people will live their lives without being charmed by a black swan. LOL. I'm from Perth, Western Oz and they're native here. Black Swans are vicious, unfriendly even murderous bastards. They are charmless c_nts. I've seen them trying to drown a kayaker and heard of their attacks plenty of times here on Swan River. Not even naming the river after them improved their disposition. When they're just eating, swanning about and mating, they may look pleasant enough. You might even come across a park where a flock of them reasonably politely go around accepting offerings from the two legs. You're not supposed to feed them, but you've got a choice who to obey and when a pair of beady eyes surrounded by red tattoos and a coal black body is staring you down, who you gonna call? They target the prone too, so they're bigger than you.
That's the best of them. In nesting time, if you go anywhere near them they will fuck you up. They put their nests among the reeds so usually you'd have to be in the water, but some fishermen and kayakers, even swimmers can inadvertently find themselves in the death zone. They wrap their long necks around your neck and pull you underwater. I'd just called out to the kayaker to warn him about swans when a pair of them came blasting out from the reeds with all the noise and down-wash of a chopper and swiped the guy from his boat. Then one of them wrapped it's neck round his head, another four of them started flying over from the other side of the river honking madly too. It looked like they were saying, "Hold onto him Bill, we're coming, keep its head underwater .." They didn't look like rescuers but reinforcements. He did get back to his kayak and swam it out of reach. Lost his paddle though and we agreed it was their war booty. Anyway, cross being charmed by them off your bucket list or look at a Youtube video of them. They've got tame actors in those. You could always add "Fight off a Black Swan attack" though and come for a visit.
Everything here has ways to kill you. Have you ever heard the roar of a "cute cuddly" koala? My idea of a scary thing, would be a roaring bull koala riding a black swan. With a death adder for a club.
It was good to find your site here, and to know that you are well. Your last post on Unz was in December. I understand very well why you left.
Someday perhaps you will find a publishing company to put together a beautiful coffee table book of selected photos and essay from your years of work. A signed, limited edition would be splendid. I am sure you would find many customers.
Stay safe and well. Your insights are so valuable. You are needed.
Mr Dinh, I so greatly appreciate your writings and I feel so privileged to be able to communicate with you! Thank you for your time to communicate with me, you are the best novelist/writer of the 21 st century - you tell the absolute truth about the evil people who control this world and are destroying the human civilization and poisoning the human mind. You are the bright light in the sea of stinky darkness… Thank you…
I could not find your articles at unz.com anymore and was quite saddened, and stopped visiting that site. Great that I found you here and that I will be able to share your precious insight and wisdom. Thank you.
Namibia doesn't seem too bad. It's interesting that the old German buildings are kept in great shape. Similar buildings now in Germany are likely in disrepair or even covered in graffiti, LOL.
It is nice to live near or within reach of the sea. Whenever I am living in some place too far away from the sea, it ends up becoming kind of depressive. No, lakes don't really cut it. Even big lakes.
Namibia seems like a pretty cool country. Glad you made it to the beach. I found that one of the best waves in the world is there in Namibia at Skeleton Bay. I spent a fair bit of time in my younger days with my father at East Cape, Baja. That's where I saw the Giant Centipede and why I called you on picking one up! I saw a video of a Namibian Giant Millipede that was also called a centipede so perhaps this is what mislead you into first calling it a centipede.
Anyway, I enjoy reading you. I am more familiar with Theroux type books than the types of books read over at UNZ. When I was a kid I used to read about Africa and it's animals a lot. I wrote report on Congo in the 5th or 6th grade but found out it was called Zaire. That name change bugged me, cause Congo is a wild name for a wild place. Zaire didn't hold a candle to the word Congo. The Gaboon Viper belonged in Congo not some bland place like Zaire.
Good news is, I just found out it's called Congo again! Life is a circle!
I kinda miss the Friendly Tavern days! There's some guy who daily posts YT videos of Philadelphia's homeless addicts, depressing stuff. I used to think someday I would run into you in Laos or Thailand but it's likely not to be, I don't wear masks and refuse to be experimented upon. If I ever to get to go again to somewhere cool, I'd likely not ever come back to here. My Best and please keep writing. Thanks, Bill
I dare say most people will live their lives without being charmed by a black swan. LOL. I'm from Perth, Western Oz and they're native here. Black Swans are vicious, unfriendly even murderous bastards. They are charmless c_nts. I've seen them trying to drown a kayaker and heard of their attacks plenty of times here on Swan River. Not even naming the river after them improved their disposition. When they're just eating, swanning about and mating, they may look pleasant enough. You might even come across a park where a flock of them reasonably politely go around accepting offerings from the two legs. You're not supposed to feed them, but you've got a choice who to obey and when a pair of beady eyes surrounded by red tattoos and a coal black body is staring you down, who you gonna call? They target the prone too, so they're bigger than you.
That's the best of them. In nesting time, if you go anywhere near them they will fuck you up. They put their nests among the reeds so usually you'd have to be in the water, but some fishermen and kayakers, even swimmers can inadvertently find themselves in the death zone. They wrap their long necks around your neck and pull you underwater. I'd just called out to the kayaker to warn him about swans when a pair of them came blasting out from the reeds with all the noise and down-wash of a chopper and swiped the guy from his boat. Then one of them wrapped it's neck round his head, another four of them started flying over from the other side of the river honking madly too. It looked like they were saying, "Hold onto him Bill, we're coming, keep its head underwater .." They didn't look like rescuers but reinforcements. He did get back to his kayak and swam it out of reach. Lost his paddle though and we agreed it was their war booty. Anyway, cross being charmed by them off your bucket list or look at a Youtube video of them. They've got tame actors in those. You could always add "Fight off a Black Swan attack" though and come for a visit.
Everything here has ways to kill you. Have you ever heard the roar of a "cute cuddly" koala? My idea of a scary thing, would be a roaring bull koala riding a black swan. With a death adder for a club.
It was good to find your site here, and to know that you are well. Your last post on Unz was in December. I understand very well why you left.
Someday perhaps you will find a publishing company to put together a beautiful coffee table book of selected photos and essay from your years of work. A signed, limited edition would be splendid. I am sure you would find many customers.
Stay safe and well. Your insights are so valuable. You are needed.
Beautiful. Thank you.
Mr Dinh, I so greatly appreciate your writings and I feel so privileged to be able to communicate with you! Thank you for your time to communicate with me, you are the best novelist/writer of the 21 st century - you tell the absolute truth about the evil people who control this world and are destroying the human civilization and poisoning the human mind. You are the bright light in the sea of stinky darkness… Thank you…
I could not find your articles at unz.com anymore and was quite saddened, and stopped visiting that site. Great that I found you here and that I will be able to share your precious insight and wisdom. Thank you.
Mira
Namibia doesn't seem too bad. It's interesting that the old German buildings are kept in great shape. Similar buildings now in Germany are likely in disrepair or even covered in graffiti, LOL.
It is nice to live near or within reach of the sea. Whenever I am living in some place too far away from the sea, it ends up becoming kind of depressive. No, lakes don't really cut it. Even big lakes.
Linh
I remember the 1st time I saw the Pacific Ocean in 1982. I thought to myself, 'My God, where have I been all this time' ?
Went back every year until about 10 years ago. Maybe this summer.
Been seeing Jake Sullivan's name in the news recently, so I decided to look this guy up. He's Jewish ? wtf ?
The ghosts of Cashel are stirring.
Bill
Namibia seems like a pretty cool country. Glad you made it to the beach. I found that one of the best waves in the world is there in Namibia at Skeleton Bay. I spent a fair bit of time in my younger days with my father at East Cape, Baja. That's where I saw the Giant Centipede and why I called you on picking one up! I saw a video of a Namibian Giant Millipede that was also called a centipede so perhaps this is what mislead you into first calling it a centipede.
Anyway, I enjoy reading you. I am more familiar with Theroux type books than the types of books read over at UNZ. When I was a kid I used to read about Africa and it's animals a lot. I wrote report on Congo in the 5th or 6th grade but found out it was called Zaire. That name change bugged me, cause Congo is a wild name for a wild place. Zaire didn't hold a candle to the word Congo. The Gaboon Viper belonged in Congo not some bland place like Zaire.
Good news is, I just found out it's called Congo again! Life is a circle!
Skeleton Bay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjKzJIu56oU
I kinda miss the Friendly Tavern days! There's some guy who daily posts YT videos of Philadelphia's homeless addicts, depressing stuff. I used to think someday I would run into you in Laos or Thailand but it's likely not to be, I don't wear masks and refuse to be experimented upon. If I ever to get to go again to somewhere cool, I'd likely not ever come back to here. My Best and please keep writing. Thanks, Bill
Linh, is Namibia blessed with a government that is largely invisible? You never mention anything obvious, which probably means "yes"?
Great piece!