WAY TO GO

Copyright 1/6/10. WAY TO GO

Hello there, lovely to see you. Phyllis and Ben have arrived, Don.
Come in. It’s cold isn’t it? How did you get here?

Well, Ben said take the number 2 train and get off at Lake View, go down the stairs by that new coffee shop on MacIntyre and walk two blocks to you. But I said, no, don’t lets do that. Let’s take the number 3 train that stops at Water Place by the Starbucks and then walk back just one block to your place. It’s much easier.

Which did you do?

We didn’t do either. Ben was quite tetchy about it, weren’t you Ben? But he’s got over it, haven’t you darling? We compromised, well not really a compromise in that we decided to eschew the train and take the bus. As Daphne says, you know Daphne from the home help office, one meets a better class of person on the bus and one can get a good seat especially on these new hybrid buses using batteries in place of gas. We have to do our bit, I told Ben, didn’t I darling? So what did we do? We took 47B bus which gave us a transfer to the Piggly-Wiggly supermarket liquor store and that appealed to Ben, didn’t it Ben? Well, he’d forgotten to get you some wine and so we were able to pop in there and here it is, a lovely Shiraz, fruity and full as the bottle says. And the advantage of coming that way is that one gets a transfer lasting two hours. So convenient, don’t you think?

I would not have thought of coming to our house like that. I mean, when we visit you, we take the coach at Masterson Road, it costs a bit more but it is express, the seats are comfortable, the heating bearable and they play soft music to keep one in a good frame of mind. In fact we were all given a free bottle of water as we boarded last time, weren’t we Mara?

Well, frankly I look at it this way. I spend a lot of time traveling as you all know so want comfort when I go from place to place locally, like your place, Phyllis and Ben. I use a minicab. You really can’t beat it. It’s cheaper than the regular taxi service that is usually irregular anyway and quite unreliable.

That reminds me. When Phyllis and her new girl friend Arleen came by the other day, they came in a limo. I was very impressed. It turns out that Arleen’s brother is a limo driver and happened to be going that way so of course they took advantage of it.

Being by the river, did you know there is a new ferry service to your place? One boards at the Landing up stream for two stops, then you take the free ferry shuttle to Wandsworth Place and come through those gardens to you. It’s quite an adventure. And if you like bus people, you’ll love boat people, always well togged out in their waterproofs and wellies. When we used the service recently. Oh yes, we tried it. In fact the journey though not long was eventful as we all had to participate in a drill in case the boat sank. It was quite thrilling and Ben looked rather fetching in a sou’wester in neon yellow, didn’t you Ben? I’m going to get another one and we can go out together like the Bobsy twin, can’t we Ben?

Well. I never. You know I have suddenly thought of another way. You know how I’m all for using Shanks’s pony what with keeping fit and firming after fifty and all that. Well, one could go through the golf course, along the edge of the links and take that rustic path to the end of your avenue where the little park adjoins the course. It’s much healthier though of course hard to do it in high heels like Mara’s wearing now. Those sling backs are not made for walking. Thank you Nancy Sinatra! Shall we open the Shiraz?

I don’t see why not. Oh my goodness, look at the time. It’s flown by. Work tomorrow. We’ll have to go.

Oh dear. Well if you must you must. How are you going to get home?