This is being started on Saturday Night but will be completed as the journey
is completed. My daughter Sarah
(my only child as far as I know) is coming to the Philadelphia area
on a route that can only be described as circuitous.
She decided to arrive in Philadelphia from Minnesota
and declined to take a plane. This seemed like a reasonable
and dare I say it “green” idea.
Under expected circumstances
she was due to arrive Friday afternoon.
Well, the Minneapolis to Chicago train was so late
that she received a free nights lodging in Chicago
(and met with one of her aunts with daughter,
I guess that would be her
niece who tramped in from Bloomington).
Not as expected but a bit of adventure.
Perhaps General Motors is running the trains!
Seriously, we need to have dedicated monies to our trains
and they must be a real alternative to cars.
Peak oil, after all, is not a myth but a certainty.
Maybe if we called it “the end of days” for oil
people would actually pay attention.
In conjunction with that we’ve recently
starting biking again which deserves
another blog. I continued Biking after Driver’s Ed (see above).
The next train was overbooked so she
ended up training to New York City where she ends up
Saturday Night staying with Paula’s daughter and will finally
arrive on Sunday, maybe.
Now how are we to encourage anyone else to Train after
this tale of woe and ineptitude. This is like telling someone
to do something because it’s right not because it makes sense.
Maybe if it doesn’t make sense it’s not really right.
That’s yet another blog.
So both her and Tapu have boyfriends named John
and T’s J was working that night so they
could both speak about their boyfriends.
I guess I could say they joined in Johnning but I won’t.
This is the end of the train part or party.
So here we are on Sunday and what happens is…….
On Friday night the dreaded low air ikon indicated
that air was needed on the Toyota Prius.
(I take being a Green Party member seriously!)
On my way to exercise
(Bo McKendrick went to a gym connected
to a cigar bar where he could go after exercising.
Some people know how to live!)
I stopped at Bob’s Lukoil which used to be
Bob’s Mobil but it’s still Bob’s.
And I’m still Bob for that matter.
And Esther still works there.
Anyway, I filled all four tires, figuring
it must be one of them.
I only learned how to drive when I was sober and fourty
so I don’t have that car knowledge that all male
teenagers receive (In High School, the 3rd time
I hit the fence my Drivers Ed teacher walked out
of the car and kept on walking,)
I never had a DUI, either.
They don’t give them out for Bicycle riders
at least not in the Northeast of Philadelphia.
Anyway on Sunday morning the dreaded semi circular light of doom
goes off again and onthewaytothetrain, we stop at Bob’s
only now we can see it’s the right rear (passenger) tire,
that’s the culprit. Fill it up. leave.
On I 95, of course, we see it’s showing again so when
we pick Sarah up and go to the Paki Restaurant on
42 and Chestnut and call Triple A who comes and
puts in the Donut which, of course, sets off the
Ikon again and, even after dropping her off
at my mothers house where I grew up and-,
go to a NE Gas Station where we finally understand
after much confusion and pacing
that only one of the three air (pay) machines is working
and, the woman behind the fortified window
(it must of become a rougher neighbourhood
since my time there) explains, it’s only her third day working.
Anyway, we fill it up and go merrily on our way to i nine five.
So now we return to the i nine five and the blasted ikon is still on.
This is like one of those curses in a Hammer film!!
It’s Sunday Night and storming in Swarthmore.
We return.
By now we understand its not any of the standard
tires but the Donut causing the ikon to gyrate.
Because, of course, it has less air
than the rest being a Donut
(Meaning it’s not its fault)
and not one of the regular tires.
Should we call this a challenged tire?
On Monday morn, after some more driving
in a high state of “nerviousity”, I end up at
Clark’s where they fix the original tire which had
managed to find a tack on the road and…
My next Post will either be about the bikes
or some Recovered Poems.
robertthesmall 