Jun

25

Yet more construction

Filed Under on the street | Leave a Comment

It seems of late that you can’t go anywhere in downtown Seattle with running into construction of some sort. Hotels, and hotels with condominiums, condo hotels, are springing up everywhere.

Bus routes are forever being re-routed to go around the work, there are plans afoot to replace the aging viaduct with either another over the street roadway or a tunnel. When that starts it will be hell getting through down town.

At this rate I’ll have to get up even earlier to get to work on time!

Jun

18

Tourettes guy thrown off bus

Filed Under on the bus, on the street | 6 Comments

I’ve mentioned the guy with Tourettes Syndrome that gets on the bus, rides a few stops then gets off. Usually he grunts and jumps about but is okay.

Today must have been a bad day for him, once on the bus he was swearing at the top of his lungs.

“Fuck!”

Several people told him to be quiet, one woman was quite firm, “If you’re mad you should get off the bus.”

“Fucker!”

He wasn’t listening and a kid on the bus was getting upset so the driver stopped and asked him to get off.

I felt sorry for him, he can’t help the way he is, not sure if there is medication for his condition.

Jun

2

Homemade swing

Filed Under on the street | Leave a Comment

Walking past a house the yesterday, they have a large unfenced front yard and a big tree growing in the center of the lawn. Hanging from a low branch is a swing, I say swing, but really it was one of those white plastic chairs you get with the cheap patio furniture sets.

It had two pieces of rope tied to the arms then the rope was tied to the branch.

It looked fun.

A major hospital visit waiting to happen.

But fun.

May

23

Marco frickin Polo

Filed Under on the street | 3 Comments

The swimming pools have been filled, conditioned and heated up and now the Memorial Day weekend is upon us, the pools are now open for use. Coming home tonight already the kids were splashing around screaming “Marco Polo.” Maybe it is just me but I fail to see the bloody point, noisy bar stewards.

Hopefully if the weather holds out I’ll take a late evening dip, the pair of ducks who have been spending time in the pool have departed to escape the screaming kids.

Max our rabbit likes to watch out the window. His cage was on the floor but now sits on a foam mattress on top of the spare bed box spring. He likes to jump from one shelf to the other as the cage bounces on the bed, or he will sit staring at me on the computer, “I see what you’re looking at Dad!”

So, anyhoo, what is the point of Marco Polo?

May

20

Gasoline cigarettes and zits

Filed Under on the street | 2 Comments

Standing at the bus stop this morning awaiting my bus to work, I was rubbing my chin and felt the telltale lump of a zit forming. Dang, I prodded and poked at it as you do, wondering when it will be ready for bursting time. I have been fortunate not to have had to suffer much in the way of acne during my life, no need to waste my money on lotions, scrubs and natural acne treatment stuff.

‘Cause now I’ve just jinxed myself!

I made myself stopped prodding my chin and took in my surroundings. I was standing near a 76 gas station. When there were no customers the girl behind the counter came outside to share a coffee with her boyfriend. I assumed he was her boyfriend, either that or he is very affectionate kissing everyone he meets.

I noticed he had a cigarette in his hand, surely it isn’t lit, I thought. But he flicked the ash off the end of it, come one. Gasoline and naked flame, not a good combo methinks. They even have signs up about switching off your engine and to extinguish all cigarettes don’t they?

I am sure the gas companies make their equipment as safe as possible but there must be some risk. If I drove and smoked (I don’t do either) I certainly wouldn’t get out of my car as a t gas station with a lit cigarette.

A woman pulled up in her truck and she got out and I saw that she too had a cigarette in her mouth.

I was glad to get on the bus before the whole place went up in a ball of flames.

May

13

Aroused cooking

Filed Under on the street | 6 Comments

I walked past a downtown restaurant and noticed they had painted a big mural on the side of the building. Bright red brickwork with their big logo and the legend underneath said;

“Icon Grill - Aroused Americana Cooking.”

I’m not quite certain what Aroused cooking is!

Maybe they sprinkle their food with liberal quantities of aphrodisiacs, something like a heap of powdered Blister beetle1.

If you’re looking for a website to review the various pills available, check out Consumer Price Watch.net, they rank various diet and other pills on all sorts of criteria, pills like Phentermine for instance.

  1. commonly called Spanish Fly [↩]

Apr

25

Being aware

Filed Under cell phone, on the street | Leave a Comment

Whenever I am out on the street and my cell phone rings or I get a text message, I always make sure I pay attention to my surroundings while using the phone. I will usually stop where I am and talk or reply to a text message. I never continue walking in case I am distracted, I certainly won’t try and negotiate my way across a road while on the phone.

Getting across the street under normal circumstances can sometimes be precarious. In France I have had to rush back across a pedestrian crossing because I realized the crazy French drivers who were hurtling towards me had no intentions of stopping to allow me to cross.

Here in the States I have been in the middle of a crossing on the “Walk” signal when a guy in a Dodge Ram turned left and run me down, luckily he stopped so he didn’t go right over me. I only chipped a bone in my left hand from that so consider myself fortunate.

So I certainly won’t let the cell phone be a distraction that could endanger my life.

Unfortunately an item on the local news the other night shows how a cell phone can be a dangerous distraction. A girl was walking alongside railway tracks talking on her phone. So engrossed in the conversation she never heard a guy in his truck blaring his horn at her or the train driver sounding his horn as a warning to her, she walked right in front of the train and was killed.

No phone call is that important you can’t call back at a safer time. Don’t get me started on drivers who drive while talking on their cell phones!

Oh, Carolyn’s birthday is coming up next week, time to check out a gift basket methinks.

Apr

16

There but for the grace of God go I

Filed Under on the street | 9 Comments

Walking to my bus I realized I had some change in my coat pocket, mmm, candy bar and soda sounds good I think. I look around and I walk with the coinage in my sweaty mitt. Usually at these times I get accosted by someone asking for spare change, I usually end up giving it to them too.

walking towards the store I see a gaggle of homeless guys and expect to get asked for money. But they are too involved with some beer can wrapped in a brown bag and I slide by and get to the store.

Coming out I have two Hershey bars and a Coke Zero, one of the guys breaks away and approaches me, too late mate I think.

This guy has the most wrinkled face I have ever seen, he looks like he has been left out in the sun and gone all leathery, his face has deep creases, the best wrinkle cream would have no effect on that mug, heck an industrial steam iron would be hard pressed (ha ha) to smooth out that face. I am imagine all manner of stuff grwoing in the creases and then I stop myself and think, there but by the grace of God go I.

He asks me for some spare change, I tell him I have none so he then asks for a dollar. I told him I had no money on him and offered him one of my Hershey bars.

He looked at it like it was something nasty and smelly off my shoe and turned his nose up and returned to his mates and took a swig from whatever brew they were sharing.

Dang, I tried! Least I didn’t contribute to their beer fund.

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