Scene and heard

The young woman to my left was watching TV on her iPod. The 40-something woman to her left, long false nails gaudily patterned, was wearing an above-the-knee denim skirt which rode several inches higher as she sat, legs wide open. I was grateful to not be sitting opposite her. No man who was paid her any attention. A young woman across from and a little to my right nudged her boyfriend. She said something to him and nodded, amused, towards this oblivious or clueless woman. He awkwardly acknowledged before looking away.

A well fed man got on at Dekalb. “Sorry to disturb you Ladies and Gentlemen”’ Like hell he was sorry! I somehow knew what was coming next: “I’d like to sing some gospel for you.” This is when I usually fumble for my iPod, but the battery had died. He began: “Je-sus…” This usually rakes in the money, but somehow, he had the wrong audience this evening and left without a ‘contribution’.

Three pints of cider at a farewell drink were making concentration on my book a little more difficult than usual. They also somehow made the journey a little faster than usual. My bladder, however, was not fooled by the apparent aberration. Home at 8. Relief. Dinner. Talk with Susan. Blog.

This conversation ensued from a discussion about Alan Greenspan not agreeing with George Bush’s tax cuts early in his presidency, in which middle and lower income earners got nothing and the wealthy were given huge breaks, because, as every Republican in denial knows, when you give money to the wealthy, they, in their ultimate kindness and generosity will see to it that everyone else gets some also. Trickle down economics: the fallacy which the wealthy continue to insist is good for the country, when in truth, all it really serves to do is further enrich them, as evidenced by how much more of the country’s wealth is now in the hands of the top few percent. It also denies that the real ‘engine-room’ for economic growth through the ages has come from small businesses and the ‘middle classes’ who spend a larger percentage of their disposable income on non-food/rent items.

Me: Money is the cocaine of the wealthy. Well okay, cocaine is also the cocaine of the wealthy.
J: Everyone likes money and wants more.
Me: But with some of the wealthy, it becomes an obsession. Once they have a lot, they can’t get enough.
J: But we are all capable of being that greedy.
Me: Kind of like a young man with lousy skin, a huge nose and bad breath could potentially be a sex addict, but he’ll never have the chance to find out!
J: Somehow, I suppose I encouraged that comment!

(Why does a picture of Charlie Brown thinking ‘good grief’ suddenly pop into my head?)

I was always taught that the 8th letter of the alphabet was pronounced ‘aitch’. Cockneys have always pronounced it ‘haitch’ or rather, ‘hightch’. Seems that many people in England are now taught this way.

When I was 17, I worked with a very nice Cockney man by the name of Stephen Haxwell. When he was on the phone with anyone who didn’t know him, he always said “the name’s Stephen Axwell. That’s Axwell wiv a hightch”. I still chuckle over 30 years later. I wonder how/where he is now.

The things he took were owned by him, so of course it was OK for him to threaten a guy with a gun to get them. What’s wrong with people for not seeing that!

But seriously folks, I think this whole incident goes to show how acutely prolonged lack of rest can affect a person. It has now been 13 years since he vowed not to rest until he found the real killer. I believe it has impaired his thinking processes, as also evidenced by his disgusting concept for a book. What a conceited, disgusting Human Being he is.

I was feeling very silly, working 5-day weeks, when a TV commercial that has played every other commercial break for the last 18 months had promised that I could start my weekend a day early for only $3.35 a week. Why should other people have this and not me? Of course, I wondered how it works, but as the commercial says, you get the New York Times on Friday, and your weekend begins. I had only previously resisted because it sounded too good to be true.

The day after I placed my order, I went into work happily proclaiming to my manager and colleagues that my weekend now starts on Friday. From their reactions, you’d have thought they thought I was joking! As if I would joke about such a thing! So I patiently described to them how they too could have a 3-day weekend and asked what they were waiting for.

The folks at Head Office were also reluctant to believe me and the started talking about me using vacation days. When I tried explaining that when you order the New York Times Weekender, your weekend starts early, they just wouldn’t get it. They started talking about me seeing my doctor to get medication or perhaps short term disability due to stress. They talked slowly to me, in those strained forced patient voices people use when they think someone is dim-witted; irritation clearly seeping into their voices as I claimed what was rightfully mine. They talked about docking my pay and perhaps ending my employment.

As my company were just so reluctant to see sense, I contacted some head hunters about a new position. I was sure to inform them all about my New York Times subscription and 3-day weekends, but none of them called me back! I don’t understand it!

So I called the New York Times Company and the person I spoke with laughed and treated me as if I was stupid. But I ordered the New York Times, I said. Stupid people don’t order the New York Times, I said. Everyone knows that, I said.

Has anybody else found this problem? If so, would you like to join me in a class action lawsuit? Until then, I am suing the Times for my pain and suffering due to my humiliation. I feel I have lost all of the credibility I patiently built over many years. My life and career are ruined.

Yesterday evening, my colleagues and I went to the Broadway Millennium Hotel in Manhattan, to ‘meet ENC’, the company that now owns my employer, Business Edge. I recognised a silver haired gent in the front row as Dave Cox, formerly a manager at Brown Brothers Harriman, where I had a contract which ended some 18 months ago.

I was surprised when one of the seniors of Business Edge introduced Dave Cox as the person who would be speaking about the acquisition in terms of how it affects us, thinking he had done rather well for himself in such a short time, and gave him a thumbs-up when he turned around. He looked a little nonplussed and I wondered if he remembered me! I was considerably more surprised when the man sitting next to him stood up to make the presentation.

Okay, I realise that Dave Cox sitting next to a complete stranger also named Dave Cox is somewhat more likely then Andy Capaloff sitting next to another Andy Capaloff, but still! He hadn’t forgotten me, and his look was not one of ‘who is this crazy guy who seems to think he knows me’. He was more surprised than anyone when ‘he’ was being introduced!

The last building I lived in had 3 floors, with 2 apartments on each. The heating for all 6 was based upon the temperature in the coldest apartment. Consequently, in the dead of winter, I would leave my kitchen window open a little at all times and still frequently need to open my living room window as wide as it could go for the first few minutes after coming in from work. Even on the absolute coldest days, I would have to open my bedroom window each night. I would still wake up baking at 2am, my throat swollen and parched.

In my office, we had to open windows all winter as the only way to avoid overheating, getting headaches and struggling for consciousness in the afternoon. Now that it is summer, some offices are chilled to the point that people wear sweaters.

The most ridiculous lunch break I ever had was when I lived in New Orleans in 1985. I would always walk from home wearing a t-shirt and carrying a business shirt. Upon arrival, I would shut my office door and change, using the t-shirt as a towel. By afternoon I would be wearing a cardigan. Well, one day, after having washed the cardie, I forgot to take it back to the office. No way could I get through the afternoon without it, so I knew I would have to go home at lunchtime. I slowed down my walking. The round trip took me 50 minutes. I was drenched. Within an hour, I was freezing and wearing my cardigan.

So what is my point? It seems to me that all office buildings overheat and over-chill at least some of their premises, depending on the time of year. And we are worried about global warming. At least sensible people are. So why aren’t existing heating/cooling systems re-designed? Why aren’t all new buildings designed with individual thermostats in each office? Cost? How long would it take to recoup these costs? More importantly, how much unnecessary pollution is pumped into the atmosphere?

I understand this would entail additional hardware in offices, and I understand this translates into less rental space. Landlords will claim that the improvements I hope to see are impossible and will not happen in my lifetime. And I contend that all resistance to eco-friendly solutions must and will inevitably be legislated away. Perhaps there is a better solution that my suggestion. Fine! Do it!!

As for apartment buildings, obviously newer ones should be built more intelligently. But owners of older, steam heated buildings must be given a free and fair choice: Accept a low cost loan to divide their buildings into multiple heating zones, providing thermostats in each apartment, or be fined. I contend that no matter how expensive the work, every penny would be recouped within a year or two at the outside. I further contend that it is hypocrisy for the government to feign concern for the environment and ‘carbon footprints’ and not address these issues.