Tuesday, May 12, 2015

Visit To Connecticut

Visit to Connecticut 

My wife and I recently visited our daughter’s family in Connecticut.  We usually do this twice a year and try to time it when the grandkids are off and it is not too cold.  This time our timing was off and it was cold.  It didn’t really warm-up until right before we left.

In spite of the cold we had a great time and got to see our granddaughter jump and ride horses: and our grandson play on 3 baseball teams. Of course things did happen to me.

One day, I persuaded (they say took them without their permission) to visit my great grandfather’s farm in Moodus Connecticut, about an hour and 30 minute ride from my daughter.  

Until I was 5, I, my mother, grandmother, aunt and cousin (Rocky) would spend the summers there.  My father and grandfather would come up on the weekends along with my Uncle, Rocky’s father.  My great grandfather, his son Benny and Benny’s wife Esther lived there all year round. Other relatives would also join us there.

I found the farm and knocked on the door to see if anyone was home.  No one was and I walked around the house to see if anyone was around back.  Meanwhile, Barbara and the grandkids left me and went back to the car.  What were they thinking??

 
Ronni, our daughter, stayed with me and she looked up the public records on the house and found it was built in 1820.  We walked down the hill to what used to be a gas station.  There was still an automotive repair shop and I spoke to someone who was approximately my age.  He invited me in and showed me photos from the 1940’s and we talked about what the town was like back then.  He told me the town had been wiped out by a road widening project.  I thought it was unfortunate since the town was kind of picturesque with wooden sidewalks.

Meanwhile, my wife and grandkids were getting impatient.  My wife told my granddaughter to text me to hurry up.  She texted me a tornado was coming and to hurry up and stop talking to people, a common complaint by my wife.

Ronni and I ignored the text.

On the way home, we stopped at New Haven to take a tour of Yale.  We walked around the campus and visited two of the libraries.  

Afterward, we went to what is supposed to be the 3rd best pizza place in the U.S. (It wasn’t) and we were quietly eating pizza there when the waiter approached us.

“Are you the Mayor?”, he asked me, meaning Michael Bloomberg, the former mayor of New York City.

I turned to him and said, “Of course I am”.

With that I heard a voice in the back of the restaurant cry out “I knew it”.

The waiter explained that there were two tables in the back who had seen me come in and had bets going on whether I was the Mayor.  

The waiter returned to our table with a picture of the real Michael Bloomberg on someone’s phone and showed it to me.  I don’t think I really look like Bloomberg except for a general similarity.  

However, not wanting to disappoint, I told him that was a younger picture of me and that’s why there was a difference in our appearances.

A couple at a nearby table started a conversation with me and we talked about my being  mistaken for the mayor on several occasions.

A few people leaving the restaurant said “Good bye Mr. Mayor”, which I graciously acknowledged.  They were the guys making bets.

Of course Barbara rolled her eyes at me and my grandchildren thought it was hilarious.  I had done nothing to initiate the situation, but rose to the occasion when it presented itself.

The next day, Barbara and I took the train into the city to meet a friend of ours.

We arrived at Grand Central, met our friend and went out to stand on the taxi line.  

It was cold and I was in a leather jacket.  The transit cop keeping order on the taxi line, approached me and asked if I would consider trading his transit jacket/vest for my leather jacket.  

“Yes,” I answered, “If you will leave on the badge and insignia”.  He declined.

We had a nice day with our friend and wound up in Ellen’s Stardust Diner on Broadway and 51st street.  The wait staff are all aspiring Broadway Musical Actors and Actresses.  they all sing a song or two to the customers throughout the day.

I excused myself to go to the restroom and upon returning found my wife belting out a Motown hit with one of the wait staff.  I had never seen a patron taking part in the show before.  I mention this because everyone thinks it’s me who always gets in these situations.


On the following Saturday, Barbara, I, our daughter, her husband and children went into the city.  We decided to go to SOHO and walk around.  We slowly made our way to Greenwich Village and then Little Italy. 

It was around dinner time so we were walking towards a nice restaurant in Little Italy.  

I happened to see a camera man and reporter talking with people on the street.  I approached them and asked what they were doing.

They worked for the UN and were doing a documentary for a TV station on “How Ethnic Groups Got Along In NYC.  They asked (or maybe I volunteered, the memory is murky) if I wanted to be interviewed.

I graciously agreed. How could I say no?.

They seemed to like my answers to their question and indicated that would like to use my answers.  The camera man told me I kind of resembled the “Mayor”.   While they were interviewing me, a small crowd gathered and some people were filming me getting interviewed.  I think they thought I was the Mayor.

I asked them when I could see The documentary and what channel it would be on.  Turns out it was for a TV station in Dubai!  I don’t get that channel.

Our vacation progressed and Barbara, Ronni and I went to a mall in Trumble Connecticut.  While there I passed a kiosk that made T-Shirts.  

I could not resist.  I had two T-Shirts made.  One was a picture of me shrugging and the shirt said: “I was just sitting there”.  I wanted another shirt with Barbara’s picture and the shirt to say “And I should have left him there”.  Even though she came up with that saying she refused to have her picture taken.  I chased her around for a while with my cellphone cameral but she managed to elude getting her picture taken.  I eventually settled for putting the saying on the back of the shirt, signed by “His Wife”

The second T-Shirt has the Seal of the City of New York along with the saying “the Mayor is In”.  On the back it says “Three terms were not enough”.

Now I need Bloomberg to become mayor again so I can continue to be the “Mayor”.  

Eventually our trip came to an end and we were on the plane back to Florida.

I was just sitting there watching TV when suddenly the channel kept changing.

Barbara poked me and stated her TV was broken because it would not change channels.  She was changing my channels by mistake.  I showed her the error of her ways and went back to watching my TV.

The channel changed again!

Barbara was bored with her program and wanted something to do on the plane, so she found something.  

Annoying me!