Philadelphia
So, simplewordsmith and I just got back from a weekend in Philadelphia visiting my grandparents. Normally I don't tend to post about things like this, but this weekend was a little surreal.
First, we got to the airport, and our plane was a little delayed: relatively normal. As we sat there, the time of departure got later and later. When we finally got onto the plane, the crew was obviously just as annoyed as we were and they were getting a bit punchy. Among other comments, they tried to hurry people off the plane by announcing (prior to landing) that the last person off the plane would have to buy the crew dinner.
The next few days were mostly normal, and fairly pleasant. We went to museums, and an enormous Italian Festival, as well as an Israeli festival. We tried to limit the amount of things my grandparents sent home with us, but wound up with two bottles of wonderful tasty alcoholic things, and a rather large cockroach made of metal and a large shell.
On Sunday, after the Israeli festival, we were walking to the bus and we heard the familiar jingles of an ice cream truck. We looked over, and it was painted with advertisements for a local radio station. I thought that was interesting: I had never seen an ice cream truck advertising anything but ice cream before, but it made sense. It's certainly a visible location for advertising. The truck was stopped in traffic, and, as we discussed it, the driver shouted at us "Do you want free ice cream?" It turned out that the truck was an advertisement that was giving out free ice cream. So we went out (still in the middle of traffic) and the truck sat there, in the middle of a busy street, while the driver handed us free ice cream.
Finally, today we got ready to fly home. We got to the airport, and headed through security. I got through, and walked a bit ahead to a place where I could sit down and put my shoes back on. Meanwhile, the security personnel were quizzing John about the luggage. The asked if he had anything with antennae, and he had no idea what they were talking about. As we walked on, he finally realized: their scanner had picked up the cockroach.
Now, we are finally home, and quite happy to be back.
First, we got to the airport, and our plane was a little delayed: relatively normal. As we sat there, the time of departure got later and later. When we finally got onto the plane, the crew was obviously just as annoyed as we were and they were getting a bit punchy. Among other comments, they tried to hurry people off the plane by announcing (prior to landing) that the last person off the plane would have to buy the crew dinner.
The next few days were mostly normal, and fairly pleasant. We went to museums, and an enormous Italian Festival, as well as an Israeli festival. We tried to limit the amount of things my grandparents sent home with us, but wound up with two bottles of wonderful tasty alcoholic things, and a rather large cockroach made of metal and a large shell.
On Sunday, after the Israeli festival, we were walking to the bus and we heard the familiar jingles of an ice cream truck. We looked over, and it was painted with advertisements for a local radio station. I thought that was interesting: I had never seen an ice cream truck advertising anything but ice cream before, but it made sense. It's certainly a visible location for advertising. The truck was stopped in traffic, and, as we discussed it, the driver shouted at us "Do you want free ice cream?" It turned out that the truck was an advertisement that was giving out free ice cream. So we went out (still in the middle of traffic) and the truck sat there, in the middle of a busy street, while the driver handed us free ice cream.
Finally, today we got ready to fly home. We got to the airport, and headed through security. I got through, and walked a bit ahead to a place where I could sit down and put my shoes back on. Meanwhile, the security personnel were quizzing John about the luggage. The asked if he had anything with antennae, and he had no idea what they were talking about. As we walked on, he finally realized: their scanner had picked up the cockroach.
Now, we are finally home, and quite happy to be back.