As you know, the family and I spent the weekend down in the nation's capital. I have some random, disconnected (seemingly) observations from my stay there and I thought I might burden you all with them. So, in no particular order:

* There are a surprisingly large amount of homeless people inhabiting the streets around the White House.

* It is, architecturally, a humane city. The buildings are all low, the streets are wide. It does not make you feel closed in.

* As for those wide streets, whoever designed the street crossing system may have been on crack. There is ample time given to cross the smaller streets but the wider avenues require a good start out of the blocks when the light changes and a strong kick at the end in order to make it across the street safely.

* There is great irony to be found. While walking past the imposing headquarters of the AFL-CIO (I could not find a picture of it at their website, I wonder why), you notice the huge banner suspended from the front. It reads: "America Needs Good Jobs". It hangs over the nine off-street parking spaces in front of the building. Parked in those nine spots were: three Volvos; one Mercedes; 4 various Japanese cars; and, one lonely American pickup. I don't need to spell it out any further do I? I was so struck by this that even though I was a tiny bit late to get to the wedding, I stopped to count and then fix the numbers and makes of the cars in my mind for later.

* You can still smoke in bars and restaurants in D.C.? Are you kidding?

* It is a young place. A lot of kids right out of college are clearly trying to make their way. A lot of energy. And they all seem to run on the weekends. Some of them are very cute. Some are not.

* It is a one industry town. I had an argument with the bartender at the Hay Adams about this. The Yankees and Twins were playing on Friday night and we were in the bar for drinks. At one point, the sole tv suddenly stops showing the game. I move over to inquire, gently, and we had the following exchange:

Me: Excuse me. Is there a reason that the tv is no longer showing the game but instead is showing fat people holding up signs showing how much weight they've lost, not that that isn't commendable?

Him: This is Washington. We're going to show the debates.

Me: Sure, but even in Washington you have to admit that when the debate doesn't start until 9 and it is now 8:40 we could still probably have another 15 minutes or so of baseball, right?

Him: [grumpily changes channel back to game]

Me: [continue conversation with friends while casting glance over to game]

Him: [shouts across bar, stopping conversations] Hey, Yankee fan, we're going to change the tv now, since you ain't even watching!

Me: [shouts back] Not watching, huh? How about this, I can't see the tv at all and, let me think, top of the 3rd, 2 outs, Yankees up 3-1, runner on third, and a 2-1 count on the hitter. Am I right?

Him: [silence, of course I was right]

Me: Asshole. [And we leave, as my cousin compliments me on making friends wherever I go]

Posted by: Random Penseur at 10:04 AM | Comments (8) | Add Comment
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