“Would you like to go with me today? I have to drive to Fredericksburg.”

Never let it be said that I don’t do stuff with J. Driving (or riding) and I don’t get along. It’s that combination of boredom and sitting that I find unsatisfying. However, sitting around or sleeping through the morning isn’t exactly a “stroll down the promenade with a fine lady and her white poodle”, as Harvey Keitel’s character, Herr Ludwig, declared in The Grand Budapest Hotel.

So a road trip with the Little Woman seemed like a good idea. After stopping at two Publix in Richmond, we drove to the one in Fredericksburg where J has to check on sun care and premium hair care items. It wasn’t a bad drive. I am glad I don’t do this for a living anymore.

Truth be told, she just wanted me to hang out with her.

Later This Afternoon

Upon arriving at our next to last stop, #2 Son C, with his uncanny sense of bad timing, calls to talk about gun control and the dearth of candidates to his liking in his particular part of Henrico County. I just don’t want to have these particularly useless, pointless discussions right now. He did tell me he is going to the 🇩🇴 Dominican Republic tomorrow for his cousin’s destination wedding. This is one of the times I am glad his mother’s family wants no part of me. He will return in time for Thanksgiving dinner with my family.

The drive on I-95 up and back from Fredericksburg was short, and the traffic moved rapidly and relentlessly. I am glad I am retired, the principal take away from today. The role of the automobile in transportation policy is another fruitless topic of discussion. We have to accept the automobile’s limitations when we accept its benefits.

Now I am reading The Craft Of Intelligence by Allen W Dulles, the CIA Director JFK fired after the Bay of Pigs invasion of 1961. It is an interesting book if one is curious about how we got to where we are today. Arguably the CIA is part of the legacy of bad foreign policy decisions of the Post World War Two period up to today.

The mind is working overtime. Later, folks.