Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars - Thread


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UER Forum > Journal Index > Wretch in Beggar's Clothing > Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars (Viewed 2536 times)

Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars
entry by EatsTooMuchJam
6/30/2004 7:25 PM

Huh. So I guess there is a limit to the length of the journal name. It would be nice if the text box would have cut me off or if something had at least told me!

I wonder if I can change the journal's name to something that will fit. Naw. I'll just pass this off as intentional. It's art. It doesn't have to make sense!

I haven't explored anything at all this week. I've been focusing a lot on getting into shape lately. Normally my cycle is to gain about 30 pounds every winter and then drop it again every summer as it gets warm enough to bike. However, last summer I was dating someone that I actually liked for the first time in a long time and I didn't bike even nearly as much. Instead the summer was spent in bed watching Family Guy and Futurama on DVD and... well, you can guess the rest.
I don't resent it at all. In fact, I have no regrets about that relationship other than that it had to end when the other person decided that we were ultimately incompatible in the long term.
Anyway, all of that time together resulted in a total loss of only about 10 pounds over the summer and I put on my usual 30 pounds over the winter again. That left me at about 50 pounds heavier than I would like to be and I suspect that is one of the reasons more women didn't flock to me when they heard I was single again. Anyway, my biking regimen has taken care of at least 20 of the extra pounds now and I suspect that I'll be back to my usual end of summer weight by the end of the summer. I have a class reunion in 3 weeks and it also wouldn't suck to be extra cute for it. My ex was actually one of my biggest high-school crushes, though, and I think I've had about enough of dating girls that I liked in high school.

Last week I was in North and South Carolina for work and I did manage to do some exploring while there. I didn't really check out much of anything in NC since the stuff in the LDB here was either lame or not really close to where I was going to be. I met up, though, with abandonedsc and a couple of his minions while I was in Columbia. They brought me to the Olympia Mill (which I'd really wanted to see after seeing the pictures of it here). I loved the place and got some great pictures. Sadly, on the way out we had a little run in with the people working there and 4 squad cars worth of officers. I would classify the whole thing as an unpleasant experience. However, everybody that was there handled it well and the foreman decided not to press charges, thankfully.

The next day I didn't really have any work to do so I decided to surprise my Dad with pictures from his hometown (Laurens) which is only about an hour away from Columbia. I wandered around the downtown and took pictures of things (especially the abandoned black methodist church). Then I decided to try to find my grandma's house which wasn't easy since the town was bigger than I remembered (I hadn't been there in over 15 years and as an example I didn't remember the huge white courthouse in the middle of downtown. I was pretty sure it was a park last time I was there).
After a little driving around I found the Laurens public library and went in to use their Internet access. It wasn't long before I had grandma's address and directions.

On the way I noticed a suspicious smokestack and took a little detour. I found the Laurens Mill which was in the middle of destruction. I walked around the public areas briefly taking pictures and then screwed up my courage (I hate talking to new people) and approached a truck parked near the entrance to where people were working. I asked if the people in the truck worked there. One identified himself as the building's owner. I asked if I could walk around and take some pictures and he agreed as long as I promised to stay out of the buildings.
As a general rule I will go anywhere, but in the cases where I've been given permission by the nice people that own a property I am very respectful of their wishes. This was no exception. I had a great time walking around the areas outside the buildings and crawling over rubble taking pictures of things. I was amazed just how large the mill was. As big as Detroit's Packard plant is, I saw several abandoned mill-type places in South Carolina that were nearly its equal.

After I finished there I got back on the way to grandma's house. It wasn't 2 minutes later that I noticed another questionable smokestack and drove over to check it out. Another mill under destruction! Again I walked around the public areas taking pictures. This time, though, I couldn't see the people working there and the no trespassing signs were quite evident. Sadly I ignored the easy access in the form of easily-climbed turnstiles and open doors on the inside and went back on the road to grandma's place. Also, there were a lot of houses around the place and lots of traffic was going by. It would have been good for a nighttime infiltration. Of course I was also still stinging from the previous night's near arrest.

In no time I was at grandma's place and I took pictures of it and my aunt's store next door. I stopped in and talked to my aunt and cousin for about an hour. From them I was able to get some more info. on where Dad used to work and hang out when he was in town (including the location of his old school, church, and places where he'd worked). The second mill that I'd found was the one he used to tell me stories about (it was one of his first jobs).

One of the places they told me about was really neat. In its day it had been a place for teens to hang out. The pool table and pinball machine were still in the storage shed in back. There was also an overgrown minigolf course and an overgrown group of basketball hoops. Many pictures were taken.

Finally I was starting to lose daylight so I started the drive back to Charlotte. On the way back I stopped to check out a small abandoned shopping mall that I'd seen in nearby Clinton. It was well-boarded and had no trespassing written all over it. It wasn't terribly interesting except for the chandeliers outside of some of the doors and the abandoned bank that shared a parking lot with it.

Overall, it seems that the smaller towns in the Carolinas are ripe for the explorer who is into abandonment. The economy in many of them has absolutely crashed and a lot of the old mills seem to be closed and pretty. I hope to make another trip soon.

The enb.

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EatsTooMuchJam Location: Minneapolis, MN Gender: Male Total Likes: 24 likes Squirty "Stickybuns" von Cherrypants \| \| \| \| \| \|	Re: Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars < Reply # 1 on 6/30/2004 7:27 PM > \| Reply with Quote

	(I should clarify that by "someone I really liked" I meant "someone I continued to like after we'd dated for a little while." - I've had incredibly bad luck with women)
	"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

Scaggs Gender: Male Total Likes: 1 like \| \|	Re: Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars < Reply # 2 on 7/30/2004 8:01 PM > \| Reply with Quote

	It's because you're too nice. You know what they say: "Treat a princess like a whore and a whore like a princess."

EatsTooMuchJam

Location: Minneapolis, MN
Gender: Male
Total Likes: 24 likes

Squirty "Stickybuns" von Cherrypants

Re: Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars
< Reply # 3 on 8/2/2004 9:47 PM >
| Reply with Quote

Posted by abandonedsc
It's because you're too nice. You know what they say: "Treat a princess like a whore and a whore like a princess."

Ha! Me? Nice? Highly inaccurate!

"The large print giveth and the small print taketh away."
-Tom Waits

UER Forum > Journal Index > Wretch in Beggar's Clothing > Now this wretch in beggar's clothing bangs his cup across the bars (Viewed 2536 times)

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