Chapter 7, The 2CV On Strike, parts 304 - 307

Richard Britell June 29, 2012

304. But before I can tell you what happened to the old man at the hospital I have to get him there first, and I ran into problems right away. First I did not know the way and promptly got lost by making a wrong turn.

305. Also my old car, the 2CV which was always so reliable picked that critical moment to develop a knocking sound in the engine.

306. Out in the middle of nowhere, on a road that was not even paved, I pulled the car over and opened the hood.

307. My worst fear was being low on oil, and sure enough when I pulled out the dipstick there was not a drop of oil on it. Imagine my distress. I simply could not drive the car with a knocking sound and no oil, but meanwhile Buboni was dying in the front seat.

Casting Manhole Covers, parts, 300 - 303

Richard Britell June 28, 2012

300. A note to anyone reading these texts. When I started this story of my drive around southern France, I posted pictures that went with my story, such as the one above showing my car,  the 2CV. I was also posting pictures of the places I stopped and the interesting things I saw. But after I picked up the Duck he volunteered to choose all the pictures saying, "Your stuff is too dumb, let me do it for you." So the Duck took over the pictures.

301. So the Duck was doing the pictures, and then we picked up Buboni, and since then they have been doing the pictures together. Now, low and behold, I take a look and I see that they have been playing all sorts of tricks on me and putting up all kinds of crazy images which have no connection to the story I am telling. Look up there, what is a picture of Stalin doing in this story? This could be aggravating to people.

302. So I asked the Duck, "Why the picture of Stalin?" And this is what he said.  "Back in section 168, you were talking about how I went to the monastery to get my legs made the same length, and so I put up the picture of Stalin, because Stalin had one arm too short, and he was schooled in a church school like a monastery to be a Priest, it's perfectly obvious to me what the connection was, anyone would see it, and that goes for the above also."

303. This is what it is like dealing with the Duck with his perpetual memory, and complicated way of thinking.  I told him that in the future we would have to put some notes of explanations sometimes, and perhaps some links, and since you can't put links on Pinterest, they would have to be on the blog. Meanwhile, if anyone wonders what some of these pictures mean, just ask, and I will try to find out, and I am sure Buboni will help once he is better.

Casting Manhole Covers, parts, 296 - 299

Richard Britell June 27, 2012

296. I feel very bad spending so much time telling you about my trivial concerns with the plasters casts of the manhole covers, and in the meantime poor old Buboni was there in the front seat of the 2CV dying of cholera. I am sure you want to know what happened to him.

297. I am going to tell you outright that Buboni did not die. It all happened only just a few days ago, and I want to put your mind at rest about this, because I know you are concerned about him, just as I was.

298. I could have dragged the story out, and made you think he was going to die any instant, but that is the sort of thing professional writers do, and by now you probably realize that I am not one of those sorts.

299. But the great art historian's stay in the hospital was very interesting in many other ways, and that is what I want to tell you about.

Casting Manhole Covers, parts, 292 - 295

Richard Britell June 26, 2012

292. I was so upset about this I called Mrs. Festini at home the next day, but she know all about it. "You're not thinking", she said, "only the mold is reversed, when you pull out the cast it will be right reading."

293. "Just consider", said Festini over the phone,"the face you see in the mirror every day is reversed and it doesn't bother you, you never notice it, and when you see someone you know reflected in a window you would never even notice the face is reversed unless they had a license plate attached to their forehead, then you would see it instantly."

294. "Because a license plate is so much more important than a person's face isn't it Mr. Bartlesby," she said.

295. That was Mrs. Festini being sarcastic again.

Casting Manhole Covers, parts 288 - 291

Richard Britell June 25, 2012

288.I suppose, being a policeman on a night route, and having nothing to do, having someone to talk to was interesting for him.  I would work on my mold making and he would stand behind me and ask questions, one after another.

289. Bob, that was the policeman's name, wanted to know a lot of things. "Will it be bronze when it is done? How does the mold stay flat when you put the plaster in? Is it heavy when it is finished"? Bob was full of questions but I could tell he was not really interested because he never listened to my answers, he was just killing time.

290. One night he was there when I pulled the latex mold up from a manhole cover and he was very interested to see the result. I turned it over and showed it to him by the light of the street lamp. "This is interesting," he said, "look at the letters, they are all backward, don't you think it will look odd if the lettering is backward?" he wanted to know.

291. I was stumped and confused, it never crossed my mind that the mold would be all backward looking, and I didn't know what to say. "I'll have to ask Mrs. Festini about this right away", I said. I had to put my project on hold for a time till I figured things out.  I tried to remember if my hand was backward when I cast it in plaster, was it a left or a right, I didn't know.

Casting Manhole Covers, parts 284 - 287

Richard Britell June 24, 2012

284. In our art room at the museum were some art journals and from the pictures in those magazines I got a feeling for what was bothering my art teacher, but for her to say  the exhibits were intended to make people feel stupid was going to far. It certainly looked peculiar to me, but they must have had their reasons, I'm sure.

285. Anyway, I took Mrs. Festini's advice and started to go out late at night to make plaster casts of manhole covers and sewer grates. The first night I painted the latex mold material onto a manhole on a side street, and on the next night it was cured and ready to be removed.

286. I made many molds this way. A policeman did stop me and asked what I  was doing but I did not take Mrs. Festini's advice, I just said it was an art project for a museum art class, and I did it at night so as not to be disturbed.

287. The same policeman drove that neighborhood every night and he invariably stopped to see how I was doing and how my project was coming along.

Casting Manhole Covers, parts 280 - 283

280. Mrs. Festini said, "If anyone asks you what you are doing just say it is an project for an art exhibit at a Museum, as soon as they hear that they will go away and leave you alone, you will see". "And why would that be Mrs. Festini"? I asked.

281. 'Because art exhibits in museums make most people feel stupid and ignorant  so they want to get away from such things as soon as they possibly can.  As a matter of fact, any exhibit that does not make ordinary everyday people feel ignorant and stupid is hardly worth anything, take my word for it." she was in a bad mood when she said that.

282. What Mrs. Festini said could not have been true, but I could tell she was going through a difficult time ever since her still life painting had been rejected from the museum show by the curator from Detroit.

283. After the rejection of her painting she started to make frequent trips up to Detroit to see art exhibits in galleries up there, and after each trip she would be in an angry mood. She felt that her paintings would never be in a Museum because they only wanted bad art. I don't know what she was looking at up there, I have never been to Detroit.