Happy (Belated) Fourth of July!
(about 10am)
I’m sitting on the couch in the Witkowski’s living room. I just finished watching the Tour de France coverage. It’s sunny and about 80 degrees outside. Andrzej is outside reading the paper in the hammock. Ewa and Katy are in the kitchen speaking Polish and making tea.
My travel post from July 2nd turned out to be pretty accurate with the exception of the car ride to the airport, which took almost two hours due in large part to the fact that our car was hit by a bus while trying to enter the midtown tunnel. It was a low speed accident and no one was hurt, but the front bumper of the car service sedan was peeled off like a banana.
Our driver and the bus driver had a slightly heated exchange. There was brief “discussion” of responsibility but luckily officer Rodriguez, the traffic cop, saw the whole thing and explained to the bus driver that it was, in fact, his fault. Then he explained to the car service driver than although it was he bus driver’s fault, that really didn’t matter because New York is a “no fault” state. This caused confusion all around.
Sensing delay, Katy started to call the car service to a request another car whereupon our driver (Gopal Mundi), at first site of cell phone, waved his arms and yelled “it’s ok, ma’am. It’s ok. We go.” He then started hitting his bumper with his fist, both to knock it back into place and to demonstrate to the bus driver (Carlos Gomez) how damaged it really was. (This seemed to work, BTW. Carlos looked genuinely sorry and even gave the bumper a couple of half-hearted slaps himself.) Katy, suspicious, kept her cell phone silent but flipped open at her side. It was at this point that Gopal cut his thumb while smacking the bumper. A thin line of blood appeared and without looking up, he deadpanned to Carlos “Look. Now I have cut myself.” Katy put away her phone and found a Band-Aide in her purse for Gopal.
The flight from JFK to SFO was a little bumpy, (I hate turbulence) but fast. We landed 20 minutes ahead of schedule. The in-flight movie was “Along Came Polly,” which wasn’t very good. (Although I can’t keep myself from laughing at Ben Stiller.)
* * *
It’s now later in the afternoon. We had a bit of a plumbing problem—a flooded bathroom, unidentifiable matter coming up through the shower drain. The Roto-Rooter man is here now feeding a long flexible wire down the sewer pipe outside. The machine makes an old-fashioned (and not unpleasant) clanking noise. The San Francisco Giants are playing Colorado on TV.
Sunny California has been nice. We had lunch on Saturday with Celina, Katy’s surrogate grandmother, at her home in Berkeley. Celina is over eighty years old and is one of the most brilliant people I’ve ever met. (She’s the kind of person that, when talking to her, makes you realize how much you don’t know.) It was a delicious lunch filled with interesting conversation and both red and white wine. (Of course!) When we left, Celina insisted that I take her copy of “Benjamin Franklin: an American Life.” (I think she felt that I was spending too much time reading about the wrong US presidents—see entry from July 1.)
The Witkowski’s had a party out by the pool on the fourth. Good food, plenty of beer and wine, and some very nice people. No fireworks, but a celebration none the less.
Happy Independence Day!