#Hostel Nancy

[micheltaanman-blog]

Frankrijk - Nancy - Brasserie L'Excelsior

Frankrijk – Nancy – Brasserie L’Excelsior

[wildestflowrs]

DOMESTIC/FUTURE RONANCE HEADCANONS <33

They’ve had their fair share of apartments; they first moved in together when they went to Emerson, then travelled around Europe, Asia and South America for a little before settling on the outskirts of Indianapolis when Nancy lands a secure job as a reporter (she gets to travel with work from time to time, which she loves)

When they’ve settled Robin becomes a middle-school teacher (she teaches French, Spanish, extra curricular mixed languages lessons and a few music lessons on the side - also helps to run band)

Their apartment in Indianapolis is the first place they actually own together, rather than renting a place or staying at a hostel, so they go crazy painting and decorating with lots of colour

Even though she prefers to sleep in, Robin loves to get up and make Nancy breakfast (sometimes she even brings it to her bed on a tray with a little flower)

They have a small balcony where they grow as many plants as they physically can, plus they have plenty of window box planters. Robin names all of their ‘plant babies’

They know each other’s coffee and tea recipes by heart; Robin likes her chai tea with a little milk and a spoonful of sugar and Nancy likes her coffee with cream and no sugar

Robin runs warm while Nancy runs cold; Nancy snatches us most of the blanket in bed while Robin cuddles up to her or splays like a starfish, letting Nancy rest her head on her chest

Steve bought them a ‘kiss the cook’ apron when they moved in and they use it as an excuse to steal kisses while they cook together

They have a spare room and couch bed for when the kids or friends want to stay over

Their next-door neighbour is a little old lady who bakes stuff for them

Robin gives free music lessons to kids in the apartment block

Nancy still keeps guns / weapons hidden around the house - she even has a handgun stashed under a floorboard in the bathroom

Nancy leaves early for work on weekdays, so Robin doesn’t tend to see her before work; Nancy leaves her notes on her empty pillow like ‘have a lovely day my darling, I love you always - N <3’

Robin’s students love Nancy; Robin always gushes about her partner when prompted by the kids, and even if in the beginning it’s a way for the kids to distract their teacher from giving them work, they begin to love hearing about who they assume is Ms. Buckley’s husband

Robin forgets her lunch one day and Nancy comes into her class and drops it off and gives Robin a kiss goodbye - the kids are shocked but they’re accepting <3

Nancy often falls asleep poring over her work at her desk, and always seems to wake up with a blanket thrown over her and a warm mug of tea or coffee waiting for her

If one of them has a particularly bad nightmare they’ll cozy up on the couch and watch a movie and listen to music

When they moved in, the first thing they got out was a record player that they keep in the kitchen; even when all of their stuff was in boxes, Robin dug out a record and danced with Nancy in the kitchen of their new home. They dance together in the kitchen at least once a week

There’s books strewn about everywhere in their apartment, over flowing bookshelves and scattered on tables, with notes sticking out of them and annotations scribbled on the pages

Robin and Nancy love lazy days in bed every once in a while, cuddling or reading or talking or just existing with each other

[findafight]

tell us the ship, explain your thoughts 👀

Me trying to be vague and everyone immediately perking up like prairie dogs ready for tea alskfnkdkd. Idk I don't think it'll surprise anyone on my blog I've spoken about it in the past. Just got annoyed at it always being there for no reason and not making sense to me one too many times, I guess.

It's r0nance. I simply do not vibe with it at all. I think, if given a sterile au where there's nothing and no one connecting them and no homophobia to worry about, it might be interesting to possibly explore them being attracted to each other but realizing their personalities and goals and priorities clash too much to work out. A bright first fling into maybe-love that fizzled quickly. I've sort of done this in my post o66 sto bin au for them, but I'm probably not going to actually explore it there. (As it's already in the past even during the war for that au)

But in fics that try to be more or less canon/fix it type deal, it really doesn't make sense to me without even mentioning the hairsprayed elephant in the room. Robin and Nancy's personalities don't seem to mesh well, what with Robin's rambling tangents and Nancy's need to focus.

Robin would probably want to do something specific with her life, but she also wants to wander! Her parents are hippies and she wants to visit Paris. She wants to travel in Europe, and probably stay at sketchy hostels and backpack in the mountains, talking to locals that she doesn't have to worry about ever seeing again. Nancy is planning on immediately going to her dream school after highschool and likely pursuing a career right out the gate. She's very driven and focused, wants to go out and seize opportunities that can assist in reaching her goals, and I don't see Robin's dreamier personality traits fitting with that.

I think @thestobingirlie mentioned that while Robin and Nancy both experience the sexism and misogyny of the 80's, Nancy doesn't experience ableism as Robin does. And she doesn't try to understand where Robin is coming from, only openly appreciating her efforts after she ranted at the hospital director.

Robin rambles! We see her either ramble or give clipped answers ("I'm Robin I work with Steve!") When she's nervous or under stress or excited! We see both Nancy and Steve react to these rambles in different ways. When Robin goes off topic in the library with the conspiracy paper, or talks a bit too much about how much she talks a bit too much, Nancy's annoyed. She's initially dismissive of the national Enquirer esq newspaper Robin brings up that helps solve the case (go Robin!). Robin babbles at Steve a lot, and he never makes her feel bad about it. She rambles about rambling to Vickie and the Muppet joke and he adds little commentary as needed, letting her go, or he cuts her off with a little joke during her rabies freak out. He lets her ramble or lets her know she should stop without being actually annoyed and letting her know that by not telling her outright to stop. (She knows immediately that it's a joke, and she jokes back, although understandably nervously. I love them.)

Them being a background pairing so often is annoying, though to varying degrees. If it's just as Robin's gf mentioned I, like others, just kinda...change it to Vickie's name in my brain lol. But other times it's not and it just. Doesn't make sense why Nancy would be such close friends with Steve (her messy breakup ex!) and Robin and Eddie. That girl has big city dreams, she's getting the hell out of her tiny hometown and not looking back. Let her be free!!

I mean obviously the bit I hate about it is that Robin holds a grudge and Nancy broke Steve's heart, which I don't see as compatible, even if we take into account that it's likely Steve and Robin have no idea Nancy cheated on him, and that Steve is an unreliable narrator and blames himself for the breakup. Steve and his relationships with both Nancy and Robin are so pivotal to all three of their characters that ignoring the history there seems a disservice to the complexities of their relationships with each other.

[hucklebucket]

So we know Nancy can't afford her electric bill, and Ace was recently suspended from a county job he'd only just started, for which he has no professional training.

I'm picturing them on their romantic trip to Paris, staying in a hostel with ten other people and having the majority of their meals at cheap fast food chains they could've eaten at in Maine. Sneaking into shows and films and museum exhibits without buying tickets.

[letsgethaunted]

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Welcome to the photo dump for Episode 170.5: Listener Stories #25! This is the episode where our Haunties (aka listeners) write in with their first-person spooky tales of cryptids, ghosts, curses, aliens, and more! Listener stories from this week’s episode include: a funeral ghost, a tarot reading from beyond, a crouched sleep demon that resembles the girl from The Ring, a grinch hand coming out of a closet, mirror portals, accidentally phasing into an alternate dimension for a year, shadow people with crow voices, a haunted jail hostel, lucid dreaming with a Bangungot, a salon ghost, and a spirit caught in a .gif. Some of the listeners whose stories are featured in this episode include: Justin S., Alanna “A.J.” S., Brett C., Charlotte S., Izzy P, Matt L., Carolina P., Nancy aka “NSA”, Joshua S., & Genevieve F.!  Scroll through this photo dump to see key images from this week’s episode! IMAGE 01: WELCOME TO OUR FIRST LISTENER STORY OF THE YEAR!!! This one’s a doozy, with Nat freaking herself out and Aly spiraling per usual. IMAGE 02: The Triskele or Triskelion is a mesmerizing symbol formed by three interlocking spirals connected in the center. The design is deeply rooted in Celtic culture, and has many meanings. This is the symbol referenced in the story from Alanna aka “AJ” who told the story of the time she switched dimensions for a year. IMAGE 03: Image from the haunted Ottawa Jail Hostel that listener Charlotte stayed in. IMAGE 04: Image #2 of the haunted Ottawa Jail Hostel IMAGE 05: Image #3 of the haunted Ottawa Jail Hostel IMAGE 06: Image #4 of the haunted Ottawa Jail Hostel IMAGE 07: Image #5 of the haunted Ottawa Jail Hostel IMAGE 08: The bangungot, referenced in the e-mail from Joshua S. IMAGE 09: Another image of a bangungot IMAGE 10: The ghost of Greenwood Cemetery, as captured in an iPhone gif by listener Genevieve F.

[pclyglct]

(  MAYA HAWKE  |  CIS WOMAN  |  SHE/HER  |  24 )  — — —  it's  just  been  another  long  week  in  boring  -  ass  hawkins.  isn't  that  right,  ROBIN BUCKLEY  ?  shit,  i  guess  they  can't  hear  me  over  PEOPLE HAVE THE POWER  by  PATTI SMITH  playing  through  the  headphones  of  their  walkman.  it  looks  like  they're  gonna  be  late  for  WORK  as  a/at  LIBRARY ASSISTANT AT THE PUBLIC LIBRARY.  did  you  know  ROBIN  has  been  in  hawkins  for  THEIR WHOLE LIFE  ?  yeah,  their  family  and  friends  describe  them  as  INQUISITIVE,  but  i've  seen  them  be  HYPER  too  !  i  would  also  say  they  remind  me  of  disorganized bookshelf cluttered with knick knacks, chipped black nail polish, daydreaming about faraway places while language tapes blast through headphones around her neck, the unsettling feeling of sticking out despite every effort to blend in, beaten up red converse covered in doodles, but  is  that  weird  ?  i  guess  nothing's  too  weird  for  this  little  town,  huh  ? 

happy to be here! I'll be sticking to canon, but also using the rebel robin podcast to form the bulk of robin's backstory, drive, and character prior to show antics. tl;dr: closeted disaster lesbian who only recently started feeling comfortable in her own skin. loves her friends but desperately wants out of hawkins. just returned from a 3-month trip backpacking across Europe & has started a new job as a library assistant. 

name: robin buckley

age: 24

gender: cis woman (she/her)

hometown: hawkins, indiana

current residence: hawkins, indiana

education level: high school graduate

sexuality: lesbian (has only come out to a handful of people)

positives: inquisitive, authentic, intelligent, kind, easygoing, open-minded

negatives: skeptical, hyper, anxious, sarcastic, avoidant, aimless

house: ravenclaw

alignment: chaotic neutral

pre-canon (rebel robin)

robin's wiki!

born to domesticated hippies Richard and Melissa Buckley. their former lifestyle and permissive parenting meant robin had experimental, open-minded parents who often didn't give her the attention they should have. the disappearance of will byers changed things for a bit, but they struggled to maintain anything that resembled a firm grip or a nuclear household for long, and that was perfectly fine for robin.

domesticated hippies also = poor af. savings were nonexistent when they spent their youth backpacking and staying in hostels or couch surfing. melissa's pregnancy forced the couple to settle, and they used the scraps of money they had to buy a tiny, shitty house not all that unlike or far away from the byers residence.

growing up, robin has always recognized that there was something... different about her. something off. but she was never certain on what exactly it was. when the quirks of her personality brought on some early childhood bullying, she quickly learned that whatever it was, she had to do everything she could to keep it hidden and to stay out of sight.

as she went through school, she mastered the art of social camouflage, fitting herself easily into certain social categories and being just social enough and just distinct enough to be utterly uninteresting to the regular hawkinite. the movie ticket girl. the band geek. during that time, she saw the loss of multiple different friendships for a variety of reason: her childhood friend barbra holland "dropping" her for nancy in middle school, her fellow odd squad members kate and milton dropping her because of shitty boyfriends or new girlfriends. while she later reconciled the latter relationships, the sting of rejection did nothing to help robin's growing sense of unease and the belief that something was wrong with her, that she was the broken one causing everyone to leave her.

she found solace in the adventures her parents talked about experiencing in their youth: the different people they met, the risks they took, the communities they were apart of, the annual christmas party with old hippie friends from all walks of life, impossibly pouring into hawkins and their tiny house, a colorful oasis in the middle of monstrous town. it all sparked an interest in knowing more about the world around her.

her need for camouflage kept her from exploring her curiosity in school and excelling (less she lose her average B student status by being an overachieving teacher's pet), so she instead funneled that need into exploring literature and learning languages. the books exposed her to interesting philosophical and moral dilemmas, points of views, and (later much-needed) representations of life not found in hawkins. the languages made the possibility of exploring those parts of life feel more like a possibility.

operation croissant bloomed from there: a dream to spend a summer backpacking across europe, venturing on a life like her parents did when they were younger, meeting people who are maybe like her. at her core, robin longs for acceptance and community. she wants to exist as herself, fully as herself, with people who know every aspect of her and love her for it. more than that, she wants to be around people like her, to not be the odd one out. she wants to be surrounded by a community who sees people who are different and their first reaction isn't to judge. as her feelings for tammy were realized for the crush that it was (in large part due to the insights gained from her friendship with mr. hauser) and she began to recognize why she was different, her dreams adapted to include wanting to be a pillar for change, to fight back against the Hawkins monster and to somehow make things a little bit better for the people like her who come after her.

her teenage years never saw operation croissant come to fruition, but she somehow stumbled upon a tiny community with reformed douchebags and prisses and a gaggle of children and she's never been happier (or more traumatized, but alas, a worthy trade off to her).

post-canon

following the defeat of vecna, robin continued to work at family video.

she came out to her parents not long after - their reaction was probably the best she could have hoped for from them: they accepted it in their eccentric way of theirs, regaling her with stories of other lgbtqia+ friends they've met in passing (along with uncomfortable tmi stories of their own sexual explorations from their youth). the whole thing has brought the buckley family a bit closer together, as her parents have made more of an effort to be present and invested in her life in a long-term way.

she's chosen to stay at home partially for this reason, but also because she's too broke to get her own place, and partially still resistant to the idea of investing money in roots in hawkins.

with the money she saved, advice from her parents, and a full year of planning, she finally made operation croissant a reality. she spent the first three months of this year in europe, and it was a lot. amazing and overstimulating and eye-opening and terrifying and beautiful and ugly and bustling and lonely and affirming and a lot. she was relieved to return to the warmth of her loved ones when her trip concluded, but also both comforted and left-wanting in a way she'd never experienced before.

and thus, her dilemma.

she loves her community, can't even imagine a life without her friends, or picture how she can find anyone who'd understand her the way her people do in hawkins. but the idea of being stuck in hawkins and becoming a Hawkinslifer itches at her skin in a way she can't help, can't soothe, can't stop.

she doesn't actually know what to do to solve this problem, so she doesn't really voice it (a rarity), especially now that weird shit is maybe staring up again so leaving is not even an option to consider. but in the back of her mind, operation new york has started sprouting just the tiniest of bit.

anyways, she's always been kind of aimless, unsure of what she wants to do with life since she can't picture an actual future in hawkins. but, after returning from europe at the start of april, she decided a good first step would be to do something that actually interested her for work, so she left family video to take on a job as a library assistant at the public library.

misc/headcanons

prior to working at scoops ahoy, robin worked at the hawkins theater (season 1 timeline). she was fired when she accidently melted a movie.

has maintained a good relationship with her former english teacher mr. hauser since graduation. he was the first person she came out to, and she has always valued his caring presence in her life as an older gay. his gift of a russian-version of anna karenina is the most worn book on her bookshelf (frankenstein remains her favorite though).

she's picked up a few more languages since her high school years. she's fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, Pig Latin, Russian, Portuguese, and Dutch. She's currently trying to learn ASL, but her hand coordination is fucked so it's a slow go.

[likecastle]

Ronance Femslash February

So I got a lovely anon ask with the prompt "robin proposes to nancy after a romantic dinner," and I had an idea for how I wanted to fill it, and then I just . . . did something else? Like I just completely forgot about the plan. So today's ficlet . . . isn't that prompt, but is kind of . . . inspired by that prompt? I don't know what to tell you, other than I'm gonna try again tomorrow.

I’m accepting Ronance prompts all month for Femslash February. Anon asks are totally fine, and you’re welcome to send more than one prompt. Don’t be shy! Please, keep them coming! You can find previous prompts I’ve filled here.

Paris is, well, it’s everything she ever dreamed of—the crush of tourists in the Louvre, the crooked dark shelves of Shakespeare & Company, vendors trying to gouge them at the Marché aux Puces, carousels in the shadow of Sacré-Coeur. She buys copies of Les Illuminations and Les Fleurs du mal in the original French from a street vendor and they stop by 27 rue de Fleurus so she can stand on her tip-toes to take a picture of the little plaque out front. Every morning Robin wakes up in their hostel unable to wrap her head around the fact that they’re actually here, and every night she can hardly sleep because she’s so excited for what the next day will bring. And every minute of every day, she’s so unbelievably grateful she’s getting to experience it with Nancy.

It’s actually better than she ever dreamed, because even when she was sitting in French class, fantasizing about strolling along the Seine hand-in-hand with a pretty girl, she could never really fill in the particulars of the girl in question. She could never quite imagine someone feeling that way about her, and now someone does, and it’s Nancy Wheeler, of all people.

Nancy, who somehow always manages to find them the best coffee, who annotates a map of Père Lachaise just because Robin made an off-handed comment about wanting to visit Oscar Wilde’s tomb, who insists they just walk a little bit further, and then a little further, and then a little further, and inevitably leads them to some unbelievably delicious patisserie, or the most glorious view of the sunset imaginable. Nancy, who laughs at all of her stupid jokes about the paintings they look at and lets Robin order for them every time, even though Nancy was in French Club, too. Nancy, whose impish smile alone makes Robin turn hot and fluttery at her center, who kisses her fiercely when they find themselves alone for a moment—in their room at the hostel or on a quiet side street or in the gardens of the Musée Rodin.

This trip is something she couldn’t quite believe would ever really happen when she was sixteen and the only queer person she knew in all of Indiana. It’s something she sort of didn’t think she’d live to see when she was throwing Molotov cocktails at an interdimensional evil wizard. Even now, walking along a boulevard in the golden light of street lamps beside the girl she loves, it’s hard to believe it’s not a dream—that this is really happening, and she really gets to have all this. But it is. She does.

[ghguguhuu]

Agatha Christie: 10 Petits nègres

Coucou guys, I hope that you are good, personally, I am. So I'm currently reading 10 Petits Nègres by Agatha Christie and I just wanted to put my annotations on my blog.

Chapter 1 ˚˖𓍢ִִ໋🌊🦈˚˖𓍢ִ✧˚.

There are introducing the main characters who are on the train (en route) for l'ile du Soldat.

Juge Wargrave: He goes there to see his old friend who travel a lot (I think her name is Constance or something like that...).

Vera Clayton: A young woman who work as a teacher. But she manage to get a good job as a secretary on l'ile du Soldat by Nancy O'Nyme.

Philip Lombard: I dont think he his going on this ile to do anything legal.

Emily Brent: An old lady who was raised by a military. She seem to be very straight and hate the new generation that she find to lazy and fragile. She is going on l'ile du soldat to spend vacation there because she find places full of young person exhausting. She also forget the name of the person that invited her.

General Macarthur: He is going there to see old friends. Apparently, rumors about him as been created and everybody was kinda cold with him.

Now, they are introducing characters that are not in the train.

Dr Armstrong: He is a young famous and rich doctor who as been greatly paid to take care of the wife of Mr O'nyme. He is going on l'ile du soldat for that reason. He is driving in his car

Anthony Martson: He is a young man who is attractive and knows it. I do not really know why he is going there but he wants to have fun. He seems to know the O'Nyme. He is in an youth hostel.

M. Blore: I do not know why but he knows all the characters that I introduced. There names are wrote in his notepad. He has already been to l'ile du soldat wahn he wes a child. He seems to have a mission and he is tying to fake being a rich south African owner.

Thanks for reading this blog ₊˚ʚ 🧊 ₊˚🪼• ✧ ೀ

I'm sorry if I lmade some mistakes in english or if I wrote something wrong about the book.

[birdybirdnerd]

KIDDING. 3, 18, 21 for Spencer and Nancy

worlds specialest guys <3

Spencer and Nancy:

What does their safe space look like?

Already answered this for Nancy!

For Spencer, hmm. Before the Brigade, it would've been behind the bar he worked at. He knew where everything was, knew what was expected of him, knew his place. It was routine. It was familiarity, in that it was completely unfamiliar to anything he'd known before, but he'd made it familiar. Post RAWTS, it becomes anywhere Gidget is comfortable, or anywhere Gidget is. That's his boy!

Describe your character through a Brooklyn 99 gif or line.

Spencer: "I'm not totally useless. I can be used as a bad example." I'M KIDDING I'M KIDDING. "Great, I'd like your $8-est bottle of wine, please."

Nancy: "The English language cannot fully capture the depth and complexity of my thoughts, so I'm incorporating emojis into my speech to better express myself. Winky face."

What would be one item that they would hate to lose most?

Oh this is a tough one. Cop out answer for Spence is Gidget- that's his BOY, if anything happened to him he'd kill everyone in the room and then himself. Second cop out is Percy, his dog, but. As for non-living things he'd hate to lose, I'd have to say… really anything Gidj gives him. Fuck. Another cop out. Okay well Nick's started making friendship bracelets for the Brigade and Spencer absolutely wears his until it wears right off. When that happens, he's devastated.

As for Nancy, well. He's kind of grown attached to that stupid scarf, he managed to hold onto it after leaving his Parable and throughout RTAOS and after. He almost lost it a couple times on his backpacking trip with Oliver- I can see it maybe getting stolen at one of the hostels, and he refused to leave until he tracked down the fucker that stole it and stole it back (that was a close one- the person was minutes away from leaving the country). Despite his whole (gestures) everything, Nance doesn't feel all that materialistic to me? At least not for like. Idk. Things.

If he ever lost his collar he'd go fucking bonkers distraught. Good thing that thing's locked on tight lmao

[dodger-chan]

You know, making Robin and Steve miserable is not working for me right now, so have some thoughts about a potential good future for them. Cut for length.

After Vecna is defeated/the Upsidedown is sealed off or destroyed whatever, our favorite platonic besties are a little surprised to realize they're still alive and relatively unmaimed. They've got some money set aside from minimum wage jobs and decide fuck it, they'll go to France for a while. They stuff some clothes in their bags, grab their passports and fly to Paris.

Robin is basically fluent in French and Steve, despite barely passing the one year he took, manages fairly well. As bad as he was at memorizing vocabulary lists and grammar rules, Steve's actually very good at talking to people. By eating cheaply and staying at youth hostels (and the occasional night with new friends) they stay in Paris for about eight weeks before they have to go back.

They don't quite go back to Hawkins, though. Robin gets them shitty retail jobs in Chicago, they rent one of the worlds worst apartments and start saving up to do the same thing again, but Rome instead of Paris. They also get married, because Steve really needs to have someone be his next of kin in case of emergencies, and

They fall into a pattern of working crappy jobs (sales jobs with commissions are the best, Steve is so good at those) for a several months, living as cheaply as possible, then flying off to spend a month or two as tourists in the city of Robin's choosing.

Robin gets new language tapes from the library and makes sure Steve has a basic grounding in Italian and Spanish, and eventually Portuguese and German. Steve is never as close to fluent as Robin and he's never able to have academic discussions in any of these languages, but it's not like he could in English, either.

To make extra money, Robin starts writing queer centric travel articles for a local alternative paper. She has a byline before Nancy graduates journalism school - Nancy is only a little jealous.

[mariacallous]

As the United States was watching the skies in the aftermath of the spy balloon incident, China may have been acting at sea. In early February, maritime vessels disabled the two undersea cables connecting Taiwan’s Matsu Islands, a tiny archipelago just 10 nautical miles off China’s coast, to the internet. Now residents of the islands face highly reduced internet connectivity until the cables are repaired. The activity looks like targeted harassment by Beijing—or an exercise in preparation for cutting off the whole of Taiwan.

On Feb. 2, a Chinese fishing vessel sailing close to the Matsu Islands severed one of the two cables, which connect the islands with Taiwan proper. Then, six days later, a Chinese freighter cut the second cable. Speaking shortly after the second cable was cut, Wong Po-tsung, the vice chair of Taiwan’s National Communications Commission, told reporters that there was no indication the incidents were intentional. It’s not uncommon for undersea cables to be damaged—but losing two in a row is either really unfortunate or quite possibly not a coincidence. Either way, Matsu Islands residents are now left with only rudimentary internet access: The islands’ commercial telecommunications provider, Chunghwa Telecom (CHT), has set up free, round-the-clock Wi-Fi in its stores on the islands and launched a backup microwave system for phone calls and state communications.

The Matsu Islands’ 12,700 or so residents will have to live without the cables for many more weeks; a repair vessel will arrive on April 20 at the earliest, and the repairs will require further time. The residents have experience living with damaged undersea cables. CHT reports that the cables were damaged five times in 2021 and four times last year, though nowhere near as badly as this time. During such periods of impaired internet connectivity, “it would take more than 10 minutes to send a text message, and sending a picture would take even longer,” Lii Wen, the Matsu Islands head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), told the Taipei Times, adding that “the booking system in hostels and logistics services cannot function normally either, let alone viewing content and films on social media.”

With both cables down, even moderately slowed-down internet immobilizes daily life. Beijing is watching to see how island residents get on with this impediment to their existence—and to see how they manage to communicate with Taiwan proper. It’s also keeping close military watch of what it considers a renegade region. Taiwan’s offshore islands have always been its Achilles’s heel; in 1958, China shelled the Matsu Islands and the neighboring island of Kinmen. Last summer, the People’s Liberation Army Navy conducted large exercises near the island, purportedly in response to then-U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, though their large and well-executed nature suggested they had been planned long in advance.

Indeed, it’s striking how often Chinese vessels have damaged the undersea cables connecting islands in recent years. It’s especially striking because it’s no mystery where the world’s 380 undersea cables are located. On the contrary, there are maps detailing their location to ensure that fishing vessels don’t accidentally harm them while dragging their nets. By and large, this works: The International Cable Protection Committee reports that each year there are between 100 and 200 cases of damage to the cables and only 50-100 of those incidents involve fishing vessels; the rest are the result of construction and other activity. The incidents involving damage to the cables connecting the Matsu Islands are, in other words, disproportionately frequent.

What’s more, to date they have primarily involved the Chinese excavators that park themselves off the islands and dig up sand (which I wrote about for Foreign Policy last year). Given that undersea cables have a diameter of 17-21 millimeters (roughly the size of a garden hose), it would require an unbelievable amount of bad luck to accidentally damage them as often as Chinese vessels do—let alone to take out two in a row.

Chinese excavators parking themselves in Taiwanese waters and taking Taiwanese sand are classic gray-zone aggression: It’s not a military attack, but it’s also not nothing. Indeed, every time they appear, Taiwanese coast guard vessels have to travel to the site and instruct the vessels to leave (though they can’t be sure the uninvited visitors will do so in an expeditious manner). Every time, the diggers harm the maritime wildlife and the seabed. And because they often harm the undersea cables in the process, they harm the Matsu Islands’ ability to function and to communicate with Taiwan proper and the wider world.

Given that the undersea cables’ locations are known, this frequent and now jacked-up harm to the Matsu Islands doesn’t look like accidental damage—it looks like harassment of Taiwan. After the most recent incident, the DPP accused China of deliberately damaging the cables given how often they’re broken. The incidents could even be an exercise in preparation for a communications cutoff of Taiwan proper. Fifteen undersea cables connect the main island with global telecommunications.

CHT plans to, at least partly, ensure the Matsu Islands’ connectivity by laying another cable, and this time it will be buried underneath the seabed. The cable will, however, only be in place in 2025. In the meantime, CHT has to pay for the backup internet system, and it’s also waiving island residents’ internet fees. When the repair ship arrives, fixing the two cables will cost CHT between $660,000 and $1.3 million.

Causing such costs is also part of gray-zone aggression. If a company suffers losses as a result of geopolitical aggression, its insurer may not cover it: Russia’s devastating NotPetya cyberattack resulted in massive lawsuits between multinationals and their insurers. While CHT’s conversations with its underwriter are naturally confidential, the two will have to agree on whether the severing of the cables was accidental damage or an act of harm initiated by another government to weaken Taiwan. Either way, CHT or its insurer has to pay for repeated damage that goes far beyond what’s typical for undersea cables. What happens if CHT backs out of providing connectivity to the Matsu Islands on the grounds that constant cable repairs are making it too difficult and expensive? As I’ve outlined in other pieces and this report, geopolitical confrontation risks making parts of global business uninsurable.

And there’s another problem facing CHT, Taiwan, and indeed every country: the shortage of cable ships. The reason CHT has to wait until the end of April, or later, for repairs to begin is that there are only 60 cable vessels around. (Take a look at them here.) It’s a good thing that these scruffy-looking ships exist; indeed, without them the internet would not operate. But not only are the cable ships few in number—they’re also getting on in years. As Dan Swinhoe reports for DCD Magazine, no new cable ships were delivered between 2004 and 2010, and only five ships were delivered between 2011 and 2020. “Only eight of those 60 ships are younger than 18, with most between 20 and 30 years old. 19 are over 30 years old, and one is over 50,” Swinhoe notes. Like the world’s undersea cables, the cable ships are privately owned—and the market, as of yet, seems to have no interest in improving things. This might be a chance for governments—especially the world’s predominant naval powers, such as the United States—to step in. Alternatively, cable operators, which include not just telecommunications firms but tech giants like Google, too, might want to buy their own cable ships.

In the future, more submarine cables will be placed underneath the seabed to make them less exposed to damage—but that, too, depends on the 60 cable ships being available. If Chinese fishing and cargo vessels want to accidentally damage or sever the 15 undersea cables connecting Taiwan to the rest of the world, the near future thus offers enticing prospects. Indeed, given the world’s dependence on the cables and the few ships that can service them, the near future offers tempting prospects for any country ready to create a few more “accidents” at sea.

Cable sabotage could become our era’s blockade—and unlike past generations’ blockades, it can be conducted on the sly. No wonder other telecom operators are studying CHT’s backup operations, because they, too, could be forced to deploy such measures, in Taiwan and beyond. And let’s hope many countries study Taiwan’s response. Responding to a devastating but invisible blockade could become one of the thorniest diplomatic challenges facing Western governments.

[greenbagjosh]

28 May 1998 - zooming through the Alsace and what Stuttgart Hbf was like before Stuttgart21

Thursday 28 May 1998

Bonjour a tout le monde!  Guten Morgen!

Today would be the day that I rode to Munich from Paris Gare de l'Est.  I already had my ticket in first class ready for the long journey on the "Mozart" Eurocity, which also went to Vienna via Salzburg.  My apartment room in Englschalking would not be available until 5 PM Friday afternoon, so I stayed a night in a hotel along Schillerstraße.

It was about 5:30 AM and the sun was about to rise in Paris' 11ème district.  Breakfast would not be ready until at least 6:45 AM.  I took a shower in a room in the hallway.  THen I went down the spiral steps of the hostel, and went for a walk along Rue Faubourg.  I made sure to take a photo of a 1970s Citroen DS hatchback.  Those DS series have a low hatch which makes their design interesting.

I returned to the hostel, ate breakfast, which was just a couple of breadrolls, butter, jam and coffee, went up to fetch my luggage, checked out and walked along Rue Trousseau to the Ledru Rollin metro station.  I had to take the westbound M8 train to République and change to the M5 for Gare de l'Est.  I went upstairs to the Grandes Lignes platforms and found the train for Munich and Salzburg.  I was in the rear car, that would be good in the long run, as the train would change direction in Stuttgart Hbf.  Note, in 1998, it was not common knowledge, that in the 2020's, an underground through station in Stuttgart Hbf would be built and replace the long distance platforms.  I had a little time to buy the latest "Canard enchaîné" humor newspaper, full of political cartoons.  Its contemporary publication competition is Charlie Hebdo, which has edgier cartoons.  

The train left about 7:50 AM.  I had my trusty Aiwa HS-JS 475 loaded with an audiocassette and two fresh AA batteries.  I tuned into NRJ 100.3 FM, and listened to it as long as I could retain the signal.  While the train passed Pantin/Ella Fitzgerald station heading to Noisy le-Sec, the Festival Roblès show played a parody of Nomads "Yakalélo", called "Yak de Lolo", a comedy song about going to a beach resort on Africa.  The train went along to pass by Meaux.  By that time, the radio was playing "La tribu de Dana" by Manau, a rap group from somewhere near St. Brieuc in Brittany.  I lost the NRJ signal somewhere about 20 km east of Meaux, but I managed to tune in another song.  There was an English-language song playing but I could not quite get the song title or artist.  The following song "tout n'est qu'un rêve" by Alias Lj, was in French.  The train sped up and maintained its speed until it arrived in Nancy.  The following stop was Strasbourg.  The train stopped to change locomotives, from the SNCF to DB.  It soon crossed the Rhine and crossed into Germany through Kehl Hbf.  There was no passport control between France and Germany, but there was a ticket check, which was not bad.  The staff had changed at Strasbourg.

The train did not go to Oldenburg, but went north through Baden Baden and stopped at Karlsruhe.  While I was recording some radio, I did not realize until days later, that I had accidentally recorded footage from the 29th of May 1998 on top of the footage I recorded on 28th May, effectively erasing it altogether.  I recorded part of a 29th May 1998 Voice of America AM broadcast, when Barry Goldwater, and actor Phil Hartman had both died the same day, imagine that.  I managed to stop, before arriving in Karlsruhe, when an original version of "Dreams" by The Corrs was playing, and later "Küssen Verboten" by Die Prinzen, a band from Leipzig in the former East Germany, with Sebastian Krumbiegel as lead singer.  Prior to 1991, they were called the "Herzbuben" or "Knaves of Hearts".    

Karlsruhe is an interesting city, especially for the trains.  If you remember the y = x^2 graph from algebra, this is kind of the track map of the Basel to Frankfurt via Mannheim, conceptually speaking.  Karlsruhe would be at the origin and to get to Baden Baden, you would be going west and then south.  Only in February 2022 did I visit Karlsruhe for a couple of days, and by then, the track orientation made sense.  Prior to that, it was confusing.  After leaving Karlsruhe, the train went a bit east, then north, and east again stopping in Pforzheim, then east again through Vaihingen (Enz) and ending up in Stuttgart Hbf, somewhere in the middle of the long distance train platform area, long before the Bonatzbau would be gutted to dig the new underground platform area, as a result of Stuttgart21.  While I was waiting for the train to change direction in Stuttgart, I tuned into 102.3 FM, which was called Z FM, long before it was renamed "The Eagle 102.3".  There was the Morning Show going on, and they were interviewing comedian Mark Curry.  It was funny.  Also, the song "Love's taken over" by Chanté Moore.  I think before Stuttgart21 draws to a close and the old surface tracks are dismantled, I will always remember "Love's Taken Over" from the time that long distance platforms at Stuttgart Hbf still existed.  Also the year before, Saturday 2nd August 1997, I had visited Stuttgart and bought a new point and shoot camera.  My Vivitar camera broke on Friday 1st August and could not take flash photography but it could do everything else.  I had to make do with the point and shoot camera until I bought the Samsung Evoca 115, a quantum leap ahead of the Vivitar, which could make a timestamp on film.

Eventually the train left Stuttgart Hbf and went to Ulm through Bad Cannstatt, Esslingen(Neckar) and Plochingen.  It was a bit slow but the scenery was nice.  Already in 2023, the section from Wendlingen to Ulm is now high speed and when Stuttgart Flughafen is complete, trains will go underground from Stuttgart Hbf, come out in tunnel partway, stop in the Flughafen underground station, and then go high speed to Ulm.  At least you can experience from my story, what life was like before Stuttgart21.  

The train stopped in Ulm.  Ulm until 2022 was the place where trains to Friedrichshafen and Lindau were required to change from electric to diesel.  Also, trains for Sigmaringen have their eastern terminus at a head platform or "Stumpfengleis" on DMU's, diesel multiple units.  The train left Ulm for Günzburg, Augsburg and eventually arrived in München Hbf.  I had my reservation at Hotel Helvetia on Schillerstraße, not far from the station.  The strange thing about the Hotel Helvetia, is that the lift has to be called from upstairs.  Years later that was changed.  The second floor, or the first floor in Europe as opposed to the ground floor, was where the reception was located.  I had a single room with a shared bath, for about 60 D-Mark, breakfast included.  In Euro that would be 30.00 €.  

Already I had a bank account in Munich, so I did not need to reestablish one.  This would be essential, for receiving monthly wage payments.  I had my ATM card with me, so I could withdraw funds as needed.  I went into town and rode the U Bahn around.  I have some stories about the 28th May 2018 which will say more about what I did that evening.  I remember there was a major exposition of gymnastics going on that weekend.

The next day I would go to the offices of the HomeExchange (do not remember right now the real name of the company) in Munich.  I would receive my key to the apartment in Englschalking and move in.  Hope you will join me for that.

Bonne Nuit!  Gute Nacht!

-----

A little more from the previous day that I wrote in 2018, you can tell how much time has passed since I had written this.

Hi everyone, Before I log off for the night, I wanted to give a quick overview of Wednesday 27th May 1998, exactly 20 years ago today.  It would be probably my shortest visit to Paris that I could remember, as on the 28th May I would be heading to Munich via Strasbourg and Stuttgart, and back then, it was an eight hour ride by train.   About 7:30 AM on the 27th, I arrived at CDG T1, rode the underground pedestrian link from the gate to passport control and baggage claim, took the bus to the RER station, took RER B to Gare du Lyon, took a  and line 8 metro to Ledru Rollin in the 11th arrondisement and left my luggage at the hostel.  I arrived there about 10:30 AM.  From there I went on to - metro ride to Nation, Gallieni to Porte des Lilas, Places des Fetes to Louis Blanc with the 7B as they use the MF88 stock - Centre Georges Pompidou and the Stravinski Fountain - Chatelet Les Halles - Notre Dame - took the RER C from Saint Michel to Champ de Mars / Bir Hakeim / Eiffel Tower - went farther on the RER C to Issy Val de Seine, transferred to the T2 - rode the T2 the entire route to Grande Arche de La Defense - took the RER A to Cergy Le Haut and found that was the only RER station that did not have fare gates at the time.  I took a photo of the view from Cergy Le Haut towards La Defense. - took the train back to CDG-Etoile, transferred to the Metro line 2 for Anvers, the southern end of Montmartre - Had a look at the Champs des Elysees, walked to the nearest line 8 train back to the hostel.  I was tired but felt I beat my jetlag or put a big dent in it.   I do not remember where I ate dinner that night.  But I had a good sleep and woke up early the next morning, made it to breakfast and caught my intended train to Munich from Paris Gare de l'Est without transferring. I have an album "Paris 27 May 1998" if you would like to see some of the photos I took.

[wat-the-cur]

I think i dont like horror where there's no glimmer of hope that the good guys can win if that makes sense? Like I dont mind a dark ending where the hero loses but at least did they have a good chance at winning and were they able to fight back and give the villain a challenge? Like Nancy nearly beat Freddy and gave him a good fight, but everyone in Ju-On were helpless against the ghosts and couldnt do anything to fight them. It just feels like misery porn to me if they cant even fight back

This is something my horror buddy and myself talk about, regularly. Don’t get me wrong, there absolutely is room for films/TV programmes that are wall-to-wall doom and gloom. I mean, that is an aspect of horror, the idea that there is no winning a situation. But, that isn’t very satisfying to watch. I am very much a fan of horror that contains, even a thread of determination and hope. My favourite final girls/boys, are the ones who kept going, despite everything. Like Nancy, as you say. Or Ash, or Sally, or Sam, or Wendy, or any number of finals, even if all they did was outrun their hunter. They need not even be strong, or smart, but if they are determined they are well on their way to my heart.

Of course there are situations that cannot be won, but part of what makes horror so enjoyable to me, is the idea that you can come out the other side of these terrible ordeals. A perfect example of this is The Exorcist. Even after all these years, it’s still a deeply distressing watch, and so much is lost throughout it. And yet, there were those who made it out of the darkness, full stop. There’s no fake-out, no gotcha moment (of course, there is Legion, but Regan’s trial ended here as far as I’m concerned). It’s bittersweet, with extra bitter, but it’s genuine and triumphant. I love that.

Even in grindhouse goresploitation pieces, like Hostel, there is a small note of optimism. I’m sorry to rattle on, but this is why, though interesting in some ways, I am not eager to watch films like Cannibal Holocaust, or A Serbian Film, or Guinea Pig, or Salo. I mean, I’ll watch them at some point, probably, but this is not what I seek out in my horror films, you know?

As I said, there’s room for every type of horror. I’m open to probably all of them. It’s just that some hit where it counts. I think David Lynch put it best, when he said something along the lines of, you have to know the darkness in life, before you can really appreciate the light. So, I think a great horror film is one with a ray of light to it.

[bonvoyage-boncourage]

Jour 30: View out of part of the Casemates du Bock, Luxembourg.

I left Strasbourg early in the morning to try and get to Luxembourg, but as I was eating my breakfast in the train station, I noticed that..... my train had been canceled. This hasn’t happened yet, so I decided my only option was to go to where they sold the tickets in the station and talk to somebody. 

This was nerve-wracking because I have always just bought my tickets over the internet to avoid having to try and explain myself to someone in person. When I got in there and explained, the woman hastily told me that I should take a bus that was running in about 20 minutes to Saverne, a small city. She told me that the same ticket would work, but I honestly didn’t believe her. A train ticket for a bus? But I followed her instructions, and found out that plenty of people on the bus had also been on the same train! So I was actually in the right place.

From Saverne, there was a train leaving for Nancy (a bigger city) pretty much as soon as we arrived; I talked to a man at the train station who told me that from Nancy I could definitely get to Luxembourg. Well, I’d been relying on the word and kindness of strangers the entire trip... I might as well have relied on him. And the guy was actually super nice in that he called the train conductor and had them actually hold up the train for about two minutes so me and a couple of other passengers could board! Just like in the U.S, the people in the smaller cities are always so kind.

The other two passengers had been travelling with me since Strasbourg; it was a mother and her young daughter, Ava. I talked with them the entire train ride, and actually these were the first French friends I made the entire trip! Ava was very cute and she loved to sing, and I learned that lots of French children’s songs are the same as English ones but with different lyrics, like Jingle Bells and Old MacDonald. I ended up teaching her You Are My Sunshine. Her mom told me that they were trying to get to a birthday party, but because of the train situation, they’d just missed the party and spent the entire day on the train and then would have to return home. That... is so awful. I felt so bad for them.

Because I was getting into Luxembourg at around 15h, I ended up just cancelling and rebooking my train tickets back to Dijon; I would leave in the afternoon instead of the morning so I could spend more time in Luxembourg. This is very important. You’ll see why tomorrow.

From Nancy, I ended up parting ways with Ava and her mom and getting on the train to Luxembourg, which was uneventful, except I could’ve sworn that there was blood on my window. Those high speed trains aren’t screwing around, I guess; I felt bad for the poor bird.

From the Luxembourg train station I searched for the bus that would take me to my hostel, but realized there was strangely nowhere for me to buy a ticket; I found a bus driver and asked him, and he told me that public transit in Luxembourg is free! Cool!

When I went to check in to the hostel, I told the man my name and he immediately asked if I was Irish. I said “No, but my family is!” And then from then on we spoke an absolutely wonderful Franglais. I love Franglais, I already loved Luxembourg. He said it was funny that I was American with an Irish last name but spoke French.

Wow. Luxembourg is. CRAZY. I wasn’t planning on going outside of the capital city, but it was enough. The city is split into a part that’s up on a huge hill and another part that’s below the hill. I climbed up the hill after putting my stuff in the hostel, and let me tell you, it was not easy. At the top, I climbed around for a while in the outer parts of the casemates du Bock, which you can see here. They’re a series of defensive tunnels built directly into the hill, and they’re cool as hell. I guess they had a majority of them closed for the moment, but I was super impressed with even the section I got to walk around. Again, Tara’s Climbing Urge was satisfied.

I found a tabac-esque store and bought a candy bar to feed myself, a sticker of course, and, would you believe it, a music box of “La Marseillaise,” France’s national anthem! I said yesterday I collect music boxes, and this was definitely a worthy addition. They had Germany and the UK and some others, but interestingly, no Luxembourg. Huh.

I was really impressed with the cashier once I realized what she was doing. Luxembourg is really a completely multilingual country; the cashier was waiting for the customer to say “Hello” to her in their language and then she would finish the rest of the transaction in that language. The man in front of me said “Hello” in German, so she did the transaction in German; I said “Bonjour” so she did the transaction in French; the woman behind me said “Hello” so she did the transaction in English. Sorry, I know I get excited about the stupidest things, but I really was excited about that.

After eating my candy bar, I wandered into the main “tourist” area of the city, toured a church, then somehow managed to walk all the way back to the train station. It was getting cold, and I hadn’t made any friends that day... I was getting kind of lonely. I called my best friend and talked to her for a while as I walked back to the touristy part of the city, found a restaurant, and went inside.

I was seated but immediately noticed the men next to me speaking English; it was only another few seconds before they invited me to sit with them. They pegged me as American right away; I asked if they were Australian, and they all shook their heads and gave me a hard time. Yup, they were Kiwi. I felt bad but they told me it was really common.

There was also one Frenchman, Laurent, among them. I had dinner with them for the night, and when everyone went to the bathroom, Laurent and I talked to each other in French. Which was nice. Gosh, I’m getting so confident! He told me my French was actually very very passable. Like, to the point that when I was first ordering my food, he’d thought that I was French. Woo!!!

We ended up going to a bar styled like a speakeasy, which was very funny because I’ve never heard of a speakeasy bar in the U.S. even though the entire concept of speakeasy’s is exclusively American. We had a very good conversation there; I was glad I found some friends. By the time we left, it was 1:30 in the morning! Luckily, Luxembourg has essentially no crime; I walked all the way back down the hill to my hostel and didn’t see another person the entire time. It was very peaceful, and it was the safest I’ve ever felt in a city at night.

That’s it for this first day in Luxembourg, but... just you wait for day 2.

Bon voyage, bon courage !

[letsgethaunted]

Listener Stories #25

Welcome to Episode 170.5: Listener Stories #25! This is the episode where our Haunties (aka listeners) write in with their first-person spooky tales of cryptids, ghosts, curses, aliens, and more! Listener stories from this week’s episode include: a funeral ghost, a tarot reading from beyond, a crouched sleep demon that resembles the girl from The Ring, a grinch hand coming out of a closet, mirror portals, accidentally phasing into an alternate dimension for a year, shadow people with crow voices, a haunted jail hostel, lucid dreaming with a Bangungot, a salon ghost, and a spirit caught in a .gif. Some of the listeners whose stories are featured in this episode include: Justin S., Alanna “A.J.” S., Brett C., Charlotte S., Izzy P, Matt L., Carolina P., Nancy aka “NSA”, Joshua S., & Genevieve F.!

THIS EPISODE IS SPONSORED!! Find out more about this week’s advertisers below!

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[skarboro]

In Dublin! #efultimatebreak #ireland Met a lot of ppl, there's around 30 of us Stayed at a Generater hostel Walked around Temple bar Had dinner at Nancy Hands @nancyhandsdub (at Dublin, Ireland) https://www.instagram.com/p/Cb9s2SsO8Ib/?utm_medium=tumblr