Heh-heh-heh
As I mentioned yesterday, Cathy's Uncle Bill passed away last Saturday and Uncle Alfred ("I'll be 87 in October") who lives way-the-hell-out-in-Long-Island is going to stay with us. Well, at about 8:45 last night, after I had just finished reinstalling the electronic and mechanical filters for my HVAC unit and was dripping sweat, the phone rang. "Hi! I'm at the Trenton train station. Can you come and pick me up?"
Drat! He wasn't supposed to be here until Wednesday! "Sure, Alfred. Which Trenton station are you?". There's a new one, well-lit and well-policed in Hamilton, and another, very close to downtown and scary. "I'll ask the cop......I'm at the downtown one." Hmmm. "OK -- I'll pick you up in about 25 minutes." "Thanks. The cop says he'll stay with me until you get here." I breathed a sigh of relief on hearing that; the Trenton train station is no place for a frail 86-year-old to be alone.
So I jump in my TSX and head up Rt 68. "Hmmm", I say to myself. "Where is the station?" I've driven there from our old home in Ewing (north of Trenton) but never from Columbus (south of Trenton). My NJ state map had an inset of Trenton and showed where the station was so I pull back on 68, went north on 206, cut over to 130 and get on I295. Take the exit toward Trenton and get on 29. Will wonders never cease?? Signs to the train station! OK, I follow them and turned on Clinton Ave. First thing I see -- a group of young men loitering on a corner! Aiaiaiai!! I said a silent prayer to Click and Clack that I would not have car trouble or have to stop at a light and continued. Go just a couple of blocks and see, on my left, the station for the NJ Riverline!! Is this what the signs were pointing to??? The signs are new; Riverline is new. S**T!!
So I go another block and realize that the "real" Trenton train station is right there on my right! :-)
Pull in and there is Albert and the cop who was very nice and seemed happy to have kept Albert safe. Phew!
Of course, I did not know exactly how to get home, and back-tracking was foiled by some one-way streets, but eventually I found S. Broad St and got going in the correct direction. 20 minutes later, the adventure was over.
Drat! He wasn't supposed to be here until Wednesday! "Sure, Alfred. Which Trenton station are you?". There's a new one, well-lit and well-policed in Hamilton, and another, very close to downtown and scary. "I'll ask the cop......I'm at the downtown one." Hmmm. "OK -- I'll pick you up in about 25 minutes." "Thanks. The cop says he'll stay with me until you get here." I breathed a sigh of relief on hearing that; the Trenton train station is no place for a frail 86-year-old to be alone.
So I jump in my TSX and head up Rt 68. "Hmmm", I say to myself. "Where is the station?" I've driven there from our old home in Ewing (north of Trenton) but never from Columbus (south of Trenton). My NJ state map had an inset of Trenton and showed where the station was so I pull back on 68, went north on 206, cut over to 130 and get on I295. Take the exit toward Trenton and get on 29. Will wonders never cease?? Signs to the train station! OK, I follow them and turned on Clinton Ave. First thing I see -- a group of young men loitering on a corner! Aiaiaiai!! I said a silent prayer to Click and Clack that I would not have car trouble or have to stop at a light and continued. Go just a couple of blocks and see, on my left, the station for the NJ Riverline!! Is this what the signs were pointing to??? The signs are new; Riverline is new. S**T!!
So I go another block and realize that the "real" Trenton train station is right there on my right! :-)
Pull in and there is Albert and the cop who was very nice and seemed happy to have kept Albert safe. Phew!
Of course, I did not know exactly how to get home, and back-tracking was foiled by some one-way streets, but eventually I found S. Broad St and got going in the correct direction. 20 minutes later, the adventure was over.
posted by Pete Holsberg @ 1:57 PM
2 Comments:
At 11:17 PM ,
Anonymous said...
You'll have a very special place waiting for you in Heaven! :)
Bill
At 10:12 AM ,
Anonymous said...
I've become a total addict to having a GPS receiver in my car. I bought a Garmin GPS III+ back in 1999 for use in sailing and occasionally in the car, and it now lives fairly permanently in a bracket on my dash. When I'm going somewhere new, I either pull the Lat/Long off maps.google.com, or look at a map to get an 'idea' where it is. I have 'home' and other landmarks already into the GPS, so I can go "Hey, I'm only 2 blocks from [xxx]". The director saying "Home is thataway" is great for navigating around new spaces.
It looks like the 'new' version of the one I have is called a Garmin GPS V Deluxe. That' the exact same formfactor / layout I have, but I bet it updates faster than once a second :)
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