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From the “Nothing Reminds Me More of Port Orange” Dept:
Yesterday, I was going on about getting the Pfizer COVID-19 jab and a bit of the process I use to relax as it’s being administered and realised there’s another story in there to be told. Key to finding that moment of calm and Zen is having my mind playing a piece of music over and over in my mind so that it becomes relatively easy to tune out everything else that’s going on around me.…
Continue Reading From the “Nothing Reminds Me More of Port Orange” Dept:
From the “Set Pfizers to Kill The Coronavirus” Dept:
This morning after dropping Alex off at school, I received the first dose of the two-dose Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine regime at the building that usually serves as my voting precinct location. Wake County has done a reasonably decent job of cutting down on some of the more tedious aspects of getting the jab…the registration and appointment were made online, a QR code scan and some girls asking questions armed with the contact-less temperature phaser currently…
Continue Reading From the “Set Pfizers to Kill The Coronavirus” Dept:
Walkabout 2021 Now Available
All of the trip reports and photos are now available in the Walkabout section. This six-day journey made a grand loop via Chattanooga TN and St Louis MO and back again through Columbus OH all the way to Washington DC. It was about 2,400 miles in total (when you add the driving round various places in addition to the straight-line distance) and roughly 33 hours in the chair. Enjoy! 🙂
From the “God Save The Queen” Dept:
Today started off with the sad and unwelcome news that HRH The Duke of Edinburgh has passed away at Windsor Castle at the age of 99. Prince Philip as he was also known was a larger-than-life figure who was a decorated veteran of the Royal Navy prior to marrying Princess Elizabeth who ascended to the throne much earlier than anyone had expected in 1952 and has been sovereign ever since. His tireless devotion to his…
Keeping the Promise (Again!)
The final day of going Walkabout was yet another beautiful day in a string of them. Honestly, the only day the weather was lousy was the trip to Chattanooga and even then the worst of it was one downpour that happened to catch me handing over some tax papers to my client! All in all, no complaints at all! The final visit was the one I don’t think anyone had any doubt would happen when…
Here We Go Again (Metro Edition)
On the way to Metro Center station, I spied some lovely carving tucked into the wall of the National Press Building that I just had to capture. Once at the station, the Smartrip card on the phone where the three-day pass was clearly visible still stubbornly refused to open the turnstile gates after being tapped. Yet another station manager (at least much nicer this time) spent a couple of minutes trying to diagnose the problem…
Traversing the Ellipse
After a gourmet lunch of a polish sausage and some pop in front of the Federal Reserve building, I continued on my somewhat diagonal journey that would lead me eventually to the Metro Center station. The Ellipse is directly south of the White House and stands between it and the Washington Monument. A fair heap of it has been turned into an overflow car park for workers at the White House and Executive Office Building…
For Everything There is a Time
Not too far east of the Lincoln Memorial is a monument that I have never visited in all of the times I’ve gone wandering round the District. It wasn’t so much lack of desire to do so but rather a feeling that whilst it was certainly an exceptionally important one and worthy of spending some time to visit, there seemed to be a crucial element missing for me. This is of course the Vietnam Veterans…
Abe’s Place is Still an Adventure!
The last time I was in DC, I didn’t have enough time to spend some quality time at arguably one of my favourite memorials in the city…the Lincoln Memorial at the Potomac side of the National Mall. Getting to the memorial proved to be one hell of an adventure, though…and it had nothing to do with making several laps around it which is what I did a couple of times when Alex was in hospital…
Rolling Down the Old Pike
After a lovely visit atop Mt Washington, it was time to head out for the next leg of the journey to Springfield VA just outside of Washington DC. When staying in the DC area, Springfield tends to be my favourite thanks to the Franconia-Springfield Metro station that is close by. I hadn’t been on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in ages but it’s nice to see they’ve embraced the all-electronic toll collection revolution which is why I…