Of "static on the line", old musty book stores and BART is at it again~~~

Hello Darklings,

Oh yes Rebecca, that book on the Victorian House by Flanders is at the top of my list,  I'll have to see what is offered on Amazon.  

I know I would prefer to go to a local book store, but sometimes they have it and sometimes they don't, and my favorite book store has been closed for a few years, the owner was very up there in years and advertised that he was closing everything 50 to 75% off.  Of course we took advantage of it, it has always been my first place to shop for books, but when I saw how fraile he looked I realized he was doing the right thing.  His son and daughter in law was helping him box and bag books as they sold.  I could see how they were concerned about him,  the daughter in law told me, that ever since the Cat died, its name was Queen Elizabeth, her father in law was not the same afterwards and the Cat was nearly 20 years old.  Very old for a cat.

Then he was selling his book shelves and I put in a bid for 4 of them, so wonderfully old and victorian and got them too,  of course I had to borrow a truck and a friend to help me haul them, and put them into my apartment, now they are in different parts of the house still displaying speical treasures.

I miss Mr. Manning, he reminded me of a faded version of the actor Peter Cushing,  and his book store, it was crowded with books, and delightful things and his cat perched on a speical book shelf on a faded red cushion watching her kingdom, and what made it so speical was the wonderful scents of tea's and such, near his mystery section he also sold teas and tea cups and cozies and tea pots and all kinds of tea things.  I could never leave without buying a tea to try. 

I cannot forget how close to Thanksgiving and Christmas the scent of cinnamon and cloves filled the air, and his huge apolicary jar of ginger candies, "Good for a sore throat or cold" he would say and wrap a few of them in wax paper for me to take, always free.  The spice cookies Phiffin...something, such a treat spicy and sweet with a dusting of powdered sugar to get all over your clothes. 

And Tiffany style lamps to light a dark corner to reveal its treasures.  I would stop there at least once a week especially on my way to work to buy a mystery or informative book,  Mr. Manning knew what bus I had to catch and would warn me so I wouldn't miss it.  If I didn't have time to pay for the book he would hold it for me for next time.     

I miss places like that, if I ever come across a place like that again I would cherish it and support it, but alas, they are disappearing from the scene and will only exist in memory, hidden from view, like Harry Potter's Diagon Alley, a speical memory to go down and re-visit when I open a book, drink a cup of tea and have a ginger candy for a scratchy throat.

***Sigh***

Well now I must deal with the here and now,  I'm glad I only worked a half day today, it gave me a chance to deal with a problem I thought was developing on my phone line and with the rain I was right, the static is painful to the ears and impossible to talk to someone espeically in dealing with business. 

Even Brian at my Sister's house was having the same problem so we knew it had to be a major line across the street where there are trees and branches rubbing, rubbing and wearing out the phone lines, so both he and I put in a "Trouble on the Line" call and I just hate the automatic telephone tree, but at least they have one for static on the line selection, BUT now I have to take tomorrow off because the phone man will be here between 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. HOW DELIGHTFUL!!   Oh well as long as its fixed, that is my concern.

So far though doing e-mail and posting on my blog doesn't seem to be a problem, in the long run I still do preferr a hard wire land line, to me cell phones are not user friendly, the voice keeps breaking up and people have a tendency to wander around their home or office which affects the quality of communication as they fade in and out---I have to keep saying to them that they are fading in and out and breaking up, do they have a spot where the signal is good.  Well of course they do but then they start wandering around again.
I Give Up!!

And its not 'romantic' for me, people do not know how to hold a telephone conversation, or even to say good-bye, or hello,  I had a wrong number call me one time and the man on the other end said to me "Hey Bro!!  Wassup!!  Man I've gotta ...."  and I interrupted him and said, "Excuse me but I do not think I'm your Bro or Brother,  I'm not even transgender..."  and he says "Wha.., What???  Hey ain't youse (insert name here)?"  "No" said I "and I don't even know the person"  and instead of saying "I'm sorry I dialed the wrong number" being apologetic they just hang up.  How Rude!!   Ettiquete decrees that you should aplogize for mis-dialing and bid the person a good day. 

Now I do have to say I have been given a number incorrectly, when I call and its not the right person I always say "I'm sorry but the number I was dialing is (blah, blah) to reach (so and so) have I mis-dialed?"  now usually because I'm so polite the response is either "well you've dial the right number but no such person is here"  or it will be "I'm sorry but you've dialed the wrong number" either way I'll apologize for having bothered them and hang up.  And I have never had a rude response either.   I think because I'm so polite it startles them......

Or maybe they think that a phone call from the past has traverse time and space only to interrupt their lives and leave a puzzelment....I like that idea...sort of shake them up out of their complacentcy.  Considered that's there's been a movie or two about that...Hmmmmm, such fun when you think about it.

And BART...it seems that the BART Directors are saying that there was an error in the already signed contract giving 6 weeks family leave and the Directors are saying that the costs for that will be too high, hmmm why wasn't that caught when they signed off on it, espeically considering that it was signed too by the original negotiator that no one liked...was that revenge on his part??

Now there is really no talk of strike but the possiblity of it is there, but the public is like "I'm so over this, I'm not on the Union's side."   I have to agree, it would be very harmful to strike right at the Holiday Season,  I can just see the public now, storming the BART stations with pitch fokes and torches and the BART offices as well.    O.K. who is going to pour down the boiling oil on the peasant rabble?

And for a while we had a wonderful feel good moment with Bat Kid, and another with a little two year old napping with his 9 week old puppy buddy, kids and puppies and kittens, even I can't resist that.

But the Typhoon in the Phillipines and Tornado's in the Mid-West, a harsh dose of reality to be reminded that life and material things are fragile.

And I just got a phone call from Doyle, I could hear him over the static, he's buying Chinese tonight with lots of Soup, no cooking for Sis and I,  he asked me to check to see if Brian and Louise want to join us,  I think tonight deserves to be with good people.  Don't you?

Later Darklings



I just hate waiting for them to fix the phone lines.