I’m getting ready to hit the road. It’s mid-June in Florida, which means it’s time to decamp to a cooler clime. Since airfares back to the homeland are north of $900, this year I’ll be driving. I just hope the car is up to it. We have two cars: one 16 years old, the other 10. They’re both roadworthy, but they’re also both old enough that I […]
Maybe you should drive
I hate flying. I hate the airline industry. I specifically hate USAirways. I don’t hate the employees of USAirways, just the company itself. It is the epitome of all that has gone wrong with American capitalism. It is a company that systematically degrades the quality of its product while constantly increasing the cost for it. It is a company that treats customers the same way it treats […]
Nothing like Paris
A mile or so up the Champs-Élysées and I’m the only one in sensible shoes. This is Paris. I’m an aging American tourist and can’t stop trying hard not to seem like one. But it’s a vain effort. People on the street seem younger than before. They are still svelte as weasels and still favor tight black apparel. They come in a variety of ethnicities. They wear […]
Autumn elsewhere
So long. Farewell. Auf wiedersehen, adieu. Also, arrivederci. The brunette and I are off to the continent. First to a little town in Italy, and then to a big town in France. We’re calling it a 15th anniversary trip, even though it coincides with a niece’s wedding in Santa Margherita Ligure and some work-related stuff in Paris. They say both are lovely this time of year. But […]
Our overnight anniversary in Savannah
For our 12th anniversary, the brunette and I drove up to Savannah. We stayed at the Olde Harbour Inn (you know it’s old because of the “e” at the end), dined at the Jazz’d Tapas Bar and had lunch the next day at The Crab Shack out on Tybee Island. It was one of those rare excursions where everything went perfectly. I guess we’ll have to do […]
An expedition to the mountains
You might think I’m just screwing around in Montana, but actually I’m conducting important research. Today, for example, my brother Joe and I hiked up to Jewel Basin because we’d heard there was still enough snow up there to close some trails. As a result of our investigations, I can report that that the snow thing is untrue. Yes, there’s an unusual amount of it remaining for […]
I remain on summer vacation
People often ask me: How does one go on vacation when one doesn’t really have a job? It’s easy, really. You do it on the cheap. You stay with your brother and borrow his car, and occasionally allow him to buy you lunch at Subway. You don’t feel too bad about it, because you tell yourself you’d be just as generous were the roles reversed. Anyway, I’m […]