Buffet, Bikes, and Band

I contend that, in a city of cool neighborhoods, my neighborhood–Longfellow, south of Lake Street and west of Hiawatha–is by far the coolest. And that in a neighborhood of cool blocks, mine is, again, the coolest by far. We’ve got a house band, a guy who makes the most amazing zesty pickles, and a growing herd of kids on bikes. So we look forward to National Night Out, when we have our block party and set up a buffet table in the street and raffle off inflatable swimming pools and generally have a blast. Bikes, buffets, and a band–what could possibly make for a better summer evening?

The other cool thing about our block party this year was that I got to try out my “newest” camera, a British-made Purma Special from around 1937. It takes 127 film, and packs 16 exposures onto a roll that would get you just 8 from the Kodak Autograph; thrifty! But cooler still, it has the most amazing shutter mechanism. There are three speeds–fast (1/450), regular (1/150), and slow (1/25)–that you utilize by turning the camera itself: left side up for slow, cenetered for regular, right side up for fast. There’s a weighted mechanism inside that uses gravity to open the shutter at the chosen speed. The only real drawback is the availability of 127 film: I ordered a couple rolls of Efke 100 from Freestyle, because it’s not sold in stores in my neighborhood (cool though it may be).