What I look at day-in, day-out; memory from driving tail of the dragon
It is time to pause for a moment and step back from my
daily routine. For more than a decade I have been writing posts, articles and
commentaries for some really good clients. As I prepare to write I am always
looking out for something to anchor a story line as it is important to grab a
reader’s attention quickly. This time, the impetus for this story line came
from an unexpected source and it was a reminder of just how readily life’s
little adventures can be broken down to fit into a finite set of categories.
Call it the unfair advantage if you like as having an ear for something
different and perhaps a little off-track has been a part of my daily routine
for all of this past decade.
Watching a popular television series, it was in
preparation for a wedding where once again we were reminded of the old adage –
something old, something new; something borrowed something blue. While it is
about the inclusion of items belonging to family members, it is also professing
optimism about the future. The items can come in all shapes and sizes –
arriving at the venue for the union in a blue car is more than appropriate for
some participants whereas for others, it’s wearing a celebratory new piece of
clothing or even items of jewelry purchased new for the occasion.
It may seem an odd way to introduce a posting on
unusual occurrences than happened to Margo and me over the past couple of weeks,
but this old saying resonated with both of us this week. Nothing to do with any
exchanging of vows mind you, but rather we did experience something we easily
associated with each object identified in this simple verse that I am sure we
can all recite by heart. And it struck us how much of life can be broken down
into these simple categories even as some may stretch the meaning just a tad.
So, what contributed to us both thinking along these lines?
Something old?
Boulder’s
empty Greenbriar Inn
When it comes to something old our thoughts drift back
to this global pandemic. Seriously, just watching the constant barrage of news
updates is getting old. We hit the road once again and saw little evidence of
communities doing anything other than going about business as usual. However,
once again, we did experience difficulties trying to come to terms with which
fast food chains were allowing in-store dining and which were only supporting
drive through. McDonalds was one example where one outlet said that they
weren’t allowed to let guests inside when in the same state, only a hundred or
so miles down the interstate, the McDonalds was wide open.
We can only put this down to a continuation of staff
shortages. This was evident even in the cities where normalcy was struggling to
make a return. Margo and I have both received the two shots with no side
effects other than a day with a sore arm. However having said that, on our
return from the west coast, I developed a couple of symptoms that might be
considered COVID-19 related and once again, I was tested. Fortunately, results
were negative; I had caught the common cold.
What might be considered as old is getting back into your car and hitting the highways. However, with our most recent trip to Las Vegas for our first in-person convention, it seemed new. Let me tell you all that we have never seen the highways busier as it appears the isolation many have experienced over the past year has been thrown aside. Vegas was very busy but even here, bars, restaurants and entertainment were significantly curtailed due to a lack of staff. Mandalay Bay Starbucks? First time we paid almost $10 for a Grande Latte (with an extra shot)! It left us with a sense of sadness when we visited restaurants we liked a lot to find we were the sole occupants.
Las
Vegas full Mastros
Once again birthdays were cause to travel further and
this meant another trip to Simi Valley to celebrate a birthday. As the
advertisement said, “Birthdays are just a number and mine is unlisted.” So it
was that we were able to share bubbly with our good friends, the Kennys, even
as it meant a return to Mastro’s Thousand Oaks having already spent an evening
at Mastro’s Las Vegas. Then again, being among good friends, enjoying a fine
steak and a great martini never gets old. Hopefully, Margo and I still have the
time to spend even more time with good friends as our personal mileage keeps on
climbing. After all it was in Raiders of the Lost Ark where our hero responded,
“it’s not the age but the mileage” and that sentiment remains with Margo and me
to this very day.
Something
new?
C5
Corvette in neon suspended above our Jaguar F Type
Spending as much time at home as we have done, we began
to take a second look at our furnishings. A couple of items were repositioned
even as some new items found their way into our home. Small items that were
mostly colorful to just give the place a little lift! However, we finally
admitted to ourselves that our large, very brown sofa had to go – we had bought
it in a hurry when setting up our second home in Simi Valley back in the
mi-2000s – but it just didn’t feel right. So a new sectional arrived and it
significantly changed the look of our main floor family room.
Perhaps the brightest element we added was a new piece
of neon. For some time we have had a neon sign noting how it was five o’clock
somewhere, but we had always thought about adding something different. Maybe a
sign pointing to the bar down-under which for an Aussie seems more than
appropriate. Surprisingly, we chose a
little piece of motoring memorability. Surprised? We have a neon sign vendor
set up alongside one of our major thoroughfares and driving past the display,
we noticed a neon representation of the rear end of a C5 Corvette. How could we
resist? Once unpacked we realized it didn’t belong downstairs in the media room
but rather, in the garage!
Fashions come and go in cycles and it probably isn’t
worth mentioning. For some time we have featured a non-operable turntable above
our stereo components. But enough is enough so we bought ourselves a new,
working turntable for all those vinyl records we still have. Well, to be
honest, the records Margo has kept through the years. I had he great misfortune
of giving my collection to Goodwill when I left California and yes, it was a
sizable collection. Who knew that vinyl would return? Having listened to Joan
Baez on vinyl proved such a delight, I might just have to return to the store
and buy one or two new recordings even if I have to suffer the considerable
negativity that will come from the other half of our family.
What is new can also relate to what has been renewed.
For Margo and me it has been the sense that life goes on and that we do need to
expect the unexpected. Margo never thought that she would be hobbling around
with scrap metal implanted in her leg after the traumatic injury that befell
her the week before Christmas. Even with physio and some additional very minor
surgery, just being able to walk again has been a source of renewal in the way
she now approaches every task. Just the thought that she may have not been able
to walk again is enough to energize her and for her to renew the need to travel
and for us both, this has been perhaps the best new “news” of all of 2021.
Something
borrowed?
A
shady spot that continues to be developed
It wasn’t quite with any resemblance to a sense of
panic but the concerned look on my neighbor Andy’s face warned me that
something was amiss. Margo and I had added a few extra trees between our
neighbor’s house and our own and they were all doing very well. The intent had
been to create a natural screen between the two homes as Margo’s office looked
right into Andy’s office. What brought Andy around to see me was that they too
had brought in a number of trees and had had their landscaper plant them where
we had left space. Unfortunately for Andy, the landscaper had planted a very
nice tree on our property.
“Consider it a loan,” said Andy much to the amusement
of both of us. Unfortunate indeed but as these trees grow either side of the non-existent
fence-line, the branches are going to spread in both directions so there isn’t
any real loss of either of us. As for the shade these trees will provide, it
will be a great help to both parties. But the mere thought of borrowing a tree
bordered on absurdity but nevertheless, the space between our respective homes
has taken on a distinct Colorado mountain feel. For that Margo and I are both
very appreciative.
We often talk about borrowed time just as we think
about borrowed space. There may be a table in a restaurant that is tucked away
affording us privacy and with the isolation, a level of peace and quiet. There
may be a familiar trail we like to walk because we know it will leave us alone
in our thoughts. There are even moments where we often muse on how we need to
get away from it all and find place to relax. However we look at these moments
they are always borrowed. We never get to keep them and in their temporary
nature, the resultant peace and quiet is always fleeting at best. We may be
able to borrow a neighbor’s tree just as we may borrow time but somehow we
always end up giving it back.
In this time of the global pandemic such thoughts are
never far from our minds. The impact on society as a whole has been devastating
even as it has been a reminder to us all that in today’s world that we all
share, there will continue to be a level of unpredictability that will give us
pause to think about all that we have borrowed. Do we ever pay it back? Will
Margo and I be able to return the tree? Of late that seems to be less of an
issue as in reality, we seem to be looking over our shoulders the whole time
wondering what’s to happen next. It may not be the age but the mileage but then
again, when it comes to borrowed time, it’s something we all have in common.
Something blue?
Who
could have guessed? Our blue Infiniti EX35!
No story would be complete without a reference to cars.
I am often asked about the motivation for the attention I give to cars but it’s
all rather simple. Growing up in Australia as indeed Margo experienced growing
up in Poland, cars were for the most part unaffordable. Living in America the
automobile is a necessity and the opportunity to own cars best suited for just
one purpose isn’t unusual. Throughout the history of the automobile much of the
contributions to its evolution have come from the US. After almost a year of
living with just three cars, we added a fourth.
If we were able to remark last year that we had gone
through 2020 without buying a car only to take that all back as we ordered a
Corvette that December, so it was about to happen again in 2021. Another first
for us, perhaps? A year without a car? Our daughter Anna bought a nice Audi A5
Sportback that made her previous Infiniti EX35 redundant. It took a single
discussion between Margo and myself that lasted perhaps only more than a minute
before we called Anna and asked her if we could buy her “old car.”
As you can probably detect from the photo included above,
it’s blue. A metallic kind of blue-gray. When we took possession and after
having driven it for an hour or so, I was pleasantly surprised with how well Anna had looked
after it and I let her know that I was pleased and indeed proud. I actually
had helped her in making a decision to get that very car back in 2008 going so
far as to be with her at dealerships when she was taking a number of candidate
vehicles for test drives. The Infiniti now
has 169,000 miles on it so I had expected the worst but this car has delivered.
A thorough detailing, a check-up from the dealer, a smog test and it now wears
temporary tags that will become real next week. Welcome to the family, PYALLA2
– a tag that was last worn by our C5 Corvette a likeness of which now hang in
the garage in bright neon.
For some time now Margo and I had been bothered that we
don’t have a four door car with room for two additional passengers and some baggage.
With this Infiniti we can pick up friends after they land their plane, leave it
at the airport when we need to travel by air and simply take it to the store
whenever we need a fresh head of lettuce and when it’s snowing the dickens
outside – yes; it’s an all-time, all-wheel drive, cross-over that will not
leave us losing sleep over an errant door hitting the side of our car. It’s
old, it’s blue, it can be borrowed (of course) but it will never be new again.
On the other hand, when all is said and done and we break down our daily lives
and the routines we follow, the car fits so we will wear it and on that
mishmash of metaphors, it’s time to chill out, relax and smell our roses.
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