Stay-At-Home Starting to End?

It almost seemed like a regular Saturday morning on the Washington National Mall today but if you looked closely you could see the masks and attempts to keep six foot away from the next person and a lot less people than one would see on sunny day. But it was good to see ice cream trucks, bicyclists, families, dogs, joggers and frisbee throwers out in the sunshine and trying not to think about going home and being cooped up some more. Also it was just generally quieter, as if we've gotten used to not making a lot of noise. I'd say there were far more cars, trucks and buses about than I've seen in this past week due to the pandemic stay-at-home order. There were at least two ice cream vendors in their brightly colored trucks doing a good business and there was even at least one National Park Service guard walking about.

Teddy Bears for Grown Ups

Car bear

Bears I  nearly bought recently

Cute bears

I don't know why we like teddy bears so much but there's a lot of them lying about my house and, actually, in both of our cars. Sometimes someone we are giving a ride to will inquire about the car bears, as in "Do these belong to your children?" or, upon seeing two or three on the back seat, asking "Do you know your kids left their toys here?"  Most of the time the car bears are just something warm and fuzzy to look at but they have done occasional duty as window wipes and fly swats when nothing else is at hand in busy traffic. (Of course, they get washed in the washing machine occasionally, in case you're thinking EEW!)   I'm sorry to say there's six -- maybe seven -- little and not-so-little bears in our bed also;  they get used as pillows, such as to prop up an elbow when you're reading at night or to keep out the draft around your neck or as extra support to the middle of one's back when lying on one side. And then, there's half a dozen little bears sitting on a table upstairs, just collecting dust and they have a miniature tea set in front of them and appear to sip tea when we're not around. I don't want to think about the other dozen or more teddy bears that got stuffed into a suitcase and stored in the garage in a recent anti-hoarding binge. Nor do I really want to think about the number of bears we've given away in our sporadic urge to purge ourselves or to share with others. And, now,  I'm recalling there's a bear in the kitchen with a chef's hat and there's a giant bear in the man cave upstairs (seriously!), not to mention the keychain koala bear that hangs off my bag. I consider it a good day if I don't see a bear and buy it.  So we're bearing up pretty well with our toys. How about you? Ha ha.

Serious Crash on Route 7 East, Virginia

When I drove home from Leesburg, Virginia today about 5 pm traffic was tied up for about 45 minutes. I suspected an accident but hoped it was just back-up from all the construction going on around Tyson's Corner or maybe just heavier-than-usual Christmas shopping. But about 25 minutes into the 10 mile-an-hour crawl, I saw flashing blue lights and orange blinking lights up ahead and knew that some accident had occurred. By the time I got to the site of the accident they were cleaning it up. The car that had been impacted the most -- that is destroyed-- had been hoisted onto a tow truck. I think there had been ambulances and maybe a fire-truck or two. Apparently a lot of gasoline or oil had been spilled so there was a small crew pouring sand or gravel onto the liquid and then shoveling it up. I couldn't look too long but I was astounded and shocked by what little I was able to see as I drove past (and snapped this photo quickly!). Of course, right after, the road was totally clear and I was able to speed home, at normal speed, you can be sure.  What can the sight of the remains of an accident do for us but remind us at the very least to drive more carefully, more respectfully of each other and to pay closer attention.

Car for Wheelchair Users

You just never know what you will see on H Street NW if you are just walking along but on one particular day VPGAutos had their model car parked outside the Grand Hyatt hotel. They are a new AMERICAN car company that builds a vehicle
that is wheelchair usable, that is, it's so roomy even a large wheelchair can roll right in and be in the front passenger seat. Not only is the floor lower than most cars but the ceiling is higher. I asked the driver if I could step inside and sit down and I did. The experience was a little like sitting in a London taxi and the design of the vehicle, the MV-1, quite reminds me of one of these, although it was perhaps a lot airier and more open in feel than a typical Cockney cab. I  haven't yet figured out how the ramp works or what the price of this car is, but I would hope it comes in colors other than white! What a fantastic surprise!

Vans Full of Money

You see these vans full of money all over the city if you stop and look a while and don't let the hustle and bustle of the traffic blur in front of your eyes. While waiting for the Route 80 bus at the Kennedy Center, along came this big ole Hummer-looking Dunbar money pick-up truck on a Sunday (!) afternoon. It reminded me that in all cities you will see these trucks going by, doing their business. I don't spend much time wondering how much money is in them, or where they are going, or what happens next with the boxes or bags of cash they carry. Is it cash or do they also take checks?  I do observe how there are usually two or three guys guarding what is other people's property and what a responsible, invisible and thankless job they have. I find myself always a bit more alert if I focus on these vans as movies have conditioned me to think of hold-ups and shoot-ups involving money vans. Alas, I've never been a witness, thank God, and don't have to worry about the car plate number of the get-away car or ducking the bullets if they start flying.  But, like the water we take for granted, the bags of money are being moved about within a system of their own. Seeing the van on the street is just the tip of that iceberg, in my humble opinion.

The Riches Under Ground in DC

All over the city there are entrances to DC under ground where we can park our gleaming vehicles safe from the weather, fender benders, thieves, and parking ticket ladies. Down fluorescent-lit, hot and fumy, steeply curved ramps we hide away our cars while we go off and shop, or work, or whatever.  But you do have to calculate in the time it takes to park and retrieve the vehicle whenever you plan an activity, one of which is to be waiting for your car to be brought to you. In fact, I'm sorry to say that I have driven my car a couple of times downtown, parked it underground and gone home on the bus forgetting about my beloved car altogether!  I always feel a bit sheepish about picking it up the next day but I know it's been well taken care of and at least I knew where it was once I got home and hubster asked "honey, where's your car?" Another odd thing is that all these entrances and ramps downward look very similar and there's been a few times when I forgot which underground garage I parked in or how to get back into the garage to retrieve the vehicle. Sometimes the stairways and elevators open up into another building above ground or there's no apparent pedestrian way out of the depths.  Then, of course, there's the problem of remembering which floor level it was parked on if you are allowed to self-park.  There's something very odd about wandering about in an underground parking lot looking for your car even if you do have an electronic key that you can beep for the car. There's just been too many movies or urban legends where people get run over or robbed or shot in parking lots and something about the low ceilings and minimal lighting creates a scary atmosphere. These garages are deep, and if you've seen a building constructed you know how big the hole in the ground is when they plan for these. There's a whole world in DC that's underground, filled with shining metal objects worth hundreds of thousands of dollars in the aggregate, guarded by very few custodians, and that we just take for granted as part of our 21st century world. Just imagine, for instance, trying to explain an underground car parking lot to Leonardo Da Vinci, or Genghis Khan or someone even a hundred years ago. They'd probably say it wasn't possible, even if they understood its feasibility. Another amazing wonder of our city.

Floating Car

I couldn't resist snapping this shot with the miracle of a cell phone camera when I saw this car floating overhead inside the Gallery Place Regal cinema building. It's actually one of those new huge posters you see draped over the sides of buildings, or in this case, draped inside the atrium space. The rest of the space makes it look like the car is being beamed up or held up by some mysterious light force. It just goes to show that your eye wants to make sense of what you see around you. But it's worth remembering that things aren't always what they seem and we should be aware of our perceptions and not take them as fact but stick to the real truth.

World Cup Connections

The World Cup Finals have actually got me watching sports, something I usually don't do but these games are quick and diverse and it's clear millions of people the world over are engaged in this. For my own part,I've noticed how despite being in America, people are drawn to supporting their home country team. Half a dozen people have initiated talking to me about how disappointed I might be because of the U.K. team's lost goal. I found myself high fiving one of the guys in the garage where I sometimes park the car; his car had an Argentina flag hanging from the rear view mirror and I said, "Hey, Argentina go!" or something equally stupid. But he lit right up with a big proud smile, and said "Yeah, we're good" or something -- my Spanish isn't that sharp. Another colleague whose parents are Italian was raving about the Italian team and my neighbor whose father is Nigerian talked about how Nigeria didn't get into the finals. Since our satellite TV basic package doesn't get the cable channel with the games, we've been watching on Telemundo, the Spanish language channel and finding it very enjoyable; we may even be learning a little Spanish alongside. If only all patriotism were worked out through football! Maybe God works that way too, sometimes.

Drivers' Inappropriate Hand Gestures

Image via Wikipedia

Four times yesterday, while driving on Route 95 to and from Pennsylvania to Washington, DC I saw young people drivers who were driving sticking their left arm out of the driver's window and waving it about. Clearly, they were enjoying the feel of the sun and wind on their arms and hands. But what they don't seem to know is that the gestures they are using are actually driver hand signals. Apparently, hand signals are not taught anymore or at least these careless drivers were oblivious or never had driver training. Driving in the left late, one driver was pointing her arm directly out as if she was going to make a left turn! She then slowly moved her to an upright position from, the elbow, a sort of L-shape as if she was now signaling a right turn! Another driver was slowly waving his arm back and forth as if beckoning people to pass him. Of course, this was impossible as he too was in the left lane and there was no way a driver could pass him without going off the road. Another young man, in the middle lane, was keeping his arm upward, again as if indicating a right hand turn but once again there was no right turn to be made. I decided that these YOUNG PEOPLE didn't have a clue about their effect on others, which seems to be the normal state of young people these days, especially when driving. God bless them anyway!

Those Careening Bicyclists of DC

Today it was the bicyclists that got on my nerves. While driving in to work, a fast-moving object whizzed by me on the left side practically taking my side view mirror with him. A closer look indicated it was one of DC's crazy bicyclists. Then, while I was walking on the side walk a bicycle rider came charging at me and then suddenly veered to one side so he wouldn't crash into me, thank you very much. My cab driver commented on the new bike lanes down Pennsylvania avenue stating that the "mayor did that, he's one of them, it's such a waste of space, causes all the cars to use one lane while the bike lane is empty." And that did seem to be the case!
Going home I saw a child perched on a child seat with dad dutifully pedaling away behind him as they made their way through heavily fumed buses, trucks and cars on a bike. While both had little plastic helmets on they would have been no match for a sudden stop or turn by the gleaming gas-driven behemoths around them. I was just glad bicycling dad was in the far right lane alongside the curb,thank God!

Stinky DC Taxi Cabs

Today was too much. I often take cabs in DC because my back hurts from a slipped disk and I can't take the buses as often as I used to. Today I got stuck with three different cabs, all of which were stinky. The first was a ride to the Hill for my job, to meet with some Hill staff on some policy issues I am working on. This cab didn't have air conditioning, the inside of the passenger door was duct taped together, there were fingerprints and smears on everything and the cab smelt dirty. Worse, the brakes were snatching so at every light or stop, the cab lurched, jarring my spine. I thought I'd get better luck in the cab back to the office, but oh no, even though it had air conditioning, something was very wrong. It smelled of fresh nauseating gasoline, like someone had spilled fuel in the cab or there was some sort of leak. I staggered out of that one practically barfing on the sidewalk from the odor and with the taste of gasoline lingering my mouth. My last cab of the day was to go home. It had air conditioning. No duct tape. Brakes worked. BUT once again this one stank. Of driver body odor, half eaten food on the front seat and a dozen air freshener cards dangling from the rear view mirror. By the time I got home my stomach was churning (again) and I had to lie down to recover. I've had good and new clean cabs in DC but today took the cake! Maybe I should just calm down and thank God I have the means to take cabs. Note: the image above is NOT an example of a stinky cab but is an example of one of the good cabs -- clean, AC, courteous driver.