COF 243 - dfs-archiver/dfs-archive GitHub Wiki
A few inches of snow had accumulated, and it was a crunchy walk to my bus stop on Saturday morning. On the streets, though, it was compacted, and slippery.
At the corner near my bus stop, the road goes uphill, the corner goes uphill, and the cross-street goes up a somewhat steeper hill. When my bus came around the corner, it didn't make it. For every two feet forward, it slipped two feet backward.
After a few slip and slides, I thought I'd be late for breakfast with the family, but maybe not. Through three or four minutes in the middle of the intersection, the driver wouldn't give up.
My mind flashed back to several times in San Francisco, when the trolley lost power because of dead spots in the overhead wires. I'd hopped off back then, to help the other passengers push, and I wondered, anything I could do to help this bus and driver in any way?
Ah, no. I ain't gonna stand behind a bus that's sliding downhill on packed snow.
An idiot driving an SUV squeezed down the hill between the bus and the curb, which seemed dicey but he didn't get crushed.
And then, the snow physics eludes me, but somehow after about a dozen slip-sliding efforts, the bus caught a smidgen of traction and made it around the corner. As it came toward me, watching from the bus stop, I yayed loudly and made the touchdown sign.
To the driver as I boarded I said, "Heck of a show for $2.75."
He was an extremely nice dude, by the way. Black guy, big smile, youngish. When we got to the end of the line he clicked the public address on to say to everybody, "Thank you for riding me this morning," but I think he was saying it mostly to a pretty lady near the front.
Off the bus and waiting for my next ride at the transit center, a tall skinny man leaned on the wall, wearing loose shorts, no shoes, a thin skirt, and a necktie. A rosy fashion statement, considering it was 33°.
At the diner, serious bad news. A family of six flagged me down as I walked across the parking lot, and the man said, "You're headed for disappointment, friend. They're closed." He'd recognized me as a regular at the diner, but I swear I'd never seen any of them before.
"Water damage," read a hand-written sign taped to the inside of the glass door. "Closed for the weekend." Locked. Nobody inside.
Plenty of people outside, though. As I waited for my sister's car with my momma in it, a parade of cars cruised across the lot, everyone peering into the restaurant, headed for disappointment, too.
When Katrina and Mom pulled up, we discussed the breakfast alternatives, and decided to try El Super Pollo in Burien. Which translates as The Super Chicken, but neither my mom nor sister had heard of the cartoon.
El Super Pollo is a Mexican restaurant that serves American breakfasts, and everyone's breakfast was fine, certainly better than Denny's or IHOP. I can't give it a bad review, except in comparison to Mrs Rigby's.
Ordinary coffee, a bit bitter, in big cups, but with too long a wait between refill offers. The pancakes were smaller, and not as delicious as Mrs Rigby's. And they cheat on the omelets.
I hate it when a diner cheats on the omelet — whipped and fried eggs, but the filling isn't in the eggs, it's added after the eggs are cooked. Between folded eggs, the meat and peppers and onions tumble out, and it's your responsibility to hunt and peck with your fork if you want both egg and Denver in any bite.
All this, for several bucks more than Mrs Rigby's charges.
Nice waitress, though, and El Super Pollo makes very good home fries. Mom and Katrina had fewer complaints than me, but I just hope Mrs Rigby's makes whatever repairs are needed pronto.
As for the conversation at breakfast…
I love these people, dearly, sincerely. I moved back to Seattle, with the intent of being closer to them, in mileage but also emotionally. So here I am, living ten miles from some of them, 40 or 50 miles from others, but I don't feel the 'closer' I was hoping for.
With only one exception, everyone in the family wants to talk only of trivial things — TV and YouTube for the ladies, baseball and football for the gents, and all of them talk about church and the weather, and how cute the grandchildren are, but the conversation stays on the surface, always.
Nobody talks about what they really want, what's in their heads and hearts, dashed dreams and daydreams, and what it all means spending some few decades on this smoldering rock. They talk about nothing, and it's hard talking about nothing so much.
The exception is my mom, who sometimes goes deeper, but with a knife. She loves to ask when I'm going to get my teeth fixed, and why I've put on so much weight, and have I heard anything from that girl who dumped me in the 1980s?
News you need,
whether you know it or not
• New Zealand plans law to require Facebook, Google to pay for news
• Indonesia set to punish sex before marriage with jail time
• France given green light to abolish internal flights
• In the age of megachurches, communion has become a big business
• Rutland Roman villa: More finds discovered beneath farmer's field
• Deadly heat waves engulfed the planet this year
And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because climate change isn't 'coming', it's underway. It'll kill billions, and we're not doing squat about it.
• Florida police chief on leave after flashing badge in golf cart traffic stop
And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because all cops are bastards, or they know who the bastard cops are and do nothing about it, which is the same thing.
• Top Republicans stay silent on Trump's call to terminate the Constitution
And it never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, never stops, because Republicans are the enemy of common sense, common decency, simple truth, and democracy.
Links I liked
• In the wake of the mass shooting at a Colorado gay bar, a reactionary media has blood on its hands
• Changes, by Herb Caen
• How San Francisco's hills saved its streetcars
• Let's hear it for King Kong '76
• Hell Mouth on Golden Gate Avenue
Mystery links
Like life itself, there's no
knowing where you're going
• click
• click
• click
♫♬ Mix tape of my mind ♫
• Cover of the Rolling Stone — Dr Hook and the Medicine Show
• Don't Fear the Reaper — Blue Oyster Cult with More Cowbell
• Golden Years — David Bowie
• Love, Reign o'er Me - The Who
• Over the Rainbow — Israel Ka'ano'i Kamakawiwo'ole
• Yeah Yeah — Cyndi Lauper
The End
12/5/2022
Tip 'o the hat to Linden Arden, ye olde AVA, BoingBoing, Breakfast at Ralf's, Captain Hampockets, CaptCreate's Log, John the Basket, LiarTownUSA, Meme City, National Zero, Ran Prieur, Voenix Rising, and anyone else whose work I've stolen without saying thanks.
Extra special thanks to Becky Jo, Name Withheld, Dave S, Wynn Bruce, and always Stephanie...