Between business and family, one thing and another, I was
away for about half of the month of June, and part of May, more travel than I sometimes
do in an entire year. Zip! Zoom!
Washington, San Francisco, the woods, Washington, LA, the woods,
Baltimore, San Diego, NY. Trains,
planes, and automobiles. I’ve caught up
on the newspapers and some magazines, but still have about 3 months of New
Yorkers to sort through. So I missed most
of the state budget fiasco and need to read up on state and local
political goings on.
A few travel notes:
Sleeping with strangers
No one actually snoozed on my shoulder but on two long
flights I was sharing a three person row with two men, both times the men knew
each other. Everyone napped but stayed
within the confines of their seat space.
One of the men ordered red wine, which he then spilled all over. None splashed on me but the whole row smelled
like a winery. The train trips were
relatively uneventful, though someone did fall asleep on my shoulder but only for a short time.
Reading
In May I bought a Kindle, thinking it would be a good
reading venue for traveling. It is a
great way to carry multiple books without the extra bulk. It has worked out well. As a luxury I did pack a paper copy of Kate
Morton’s The Forgotten Garden; for some reason it seemed too long to read as an
e-book. That doesn’t make sense but for
me a longer book is easier to read when I can actually touch and hold it. Shorter books, though, we great to read on
the Kindle. It’s also a good reading tool
for the train, but it's important to get to get a seat with an outlet nearby.
Watching Children
On one family trip we were walking back to our hotel and
went through a public area, shopping and restaurants with a central fountain,
with stairs down to the sidewalk below.
As we neared the stairs three small children ran up and headed for the
fountain. There were two boys and a
girl, the oldest perhaps 6. They either
found or brought with them a bag of foodstuffs, chips and soda. They rooted through it, kicked off their
shoes and were slashing in the fountain.
No supervising adult in sight. We’ve
run into situations like this before so my family walked on and I found a light
pole to lean against nonchalantly, hands in pockets, admiring the blue
sky. The closest restaurant had a glass
wall facing the fountain. I scanned the
diners to see if anyone was watching the kids.
A few people looked up at them but then went back to their food. There was no one else around. The kids ran around, sometimes in a group,
sometimes scattered. At any time I could
have grabbed one and taken off. So could
anyone else. After five minutes my light
pole stance was becoming conspicuous so I found a seat on a stone wall a few
feet further back, in the shade. I did
stuff on my phone, one eye on the three kids, trying to keep watch without
alarming them. Ten minutes. No sign of anyone. The kids
rummage through the food bag again. The
girl seems to have lost her shoes. They
are thin but not unhealthily so. Maybe
they are street kids without a parent at all.
How long does one wait before calling the cops? Is someone else keeping an eye on things
going to call and report me as a suspicious person? Close to 15 minutes after I noticed the kids
a woman comes out of a store and they run towards her. I get
up and walk away, resisting the temptation to go tell the mother she needs to
keep a better watch on her children. My
family is waiting for me a couple of blocks away and ask if a parent ever
showed up. My heart is in my
throat. So very many things could have
gone wrong and only a few days before I had read a news story about a girl who
was taken from a store and murdered.
That could easily have happened in this case, too.
Similar scenes play out in our local train stations. I or other people notice kids who seem to be wandering
on their own and stand guard until a parent shows up. One day while Mom was paying for something in
a store opening onto the concourse a little girl came out and started trying to
poke something into an electrical outlet on a column. “Oh, Honey, I don’t think you should do that,”
I said, stepping just into her comfort zone so she stepped back, and glared at
me until her mom came out. Another time
I noticed a little boy wandering on his own and walked on slowly, keeping an
eye on him. The man walking behind me was nearly stepping on my heels. I apologized for being slow and said I was
just trying to see if someone was with the boy.
“Well,” he said anxiously, “is there?”
He had noticed, too, but didn’t think he could keep watch. It’s true, in today’s world, men cannot stop
and watch unattended children without being viewed with suspicion. I’ve noticed other women doing the same
thing, stopping to watch a child until parent or grandparent locates them.
Parents, please keep track of your children. It’s too stressful on the rest of us to see
them wandering around alone.
The Sweetest Smelling Cab in the World
Mr. Abebe (cab # 75786) of Patriot Cabs in Washington, DC has
the sweetest smelling cab in the world.
Honest. When I mentioned it he
said other riders had commented on it as well.
I don’t know what air freshener he uses but it was a refreshing change
from a smelly transit train.
Out of all the hotels I stayed in while traveling this was
my favorite. It’s in San Diego, near the
zoo. The room was spacious and had a
kitchenette. There is a complimentary
breakfast, simple but filling, and a coin operated laundry in the lower
level. In addition to the hotel
restaurant there is a Mexican restaurant across the street, and a 7-11 on the
corner. I loved it.
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