I know it’s a problem in Florida, but each year I have to relearn to not be in a hurry to do anything. Most of the people down here don’t have much to do, so when they’re out, they take their time. A couple of days ago I had been over talking to brother Bob (aka Bobbie Butane) and, on the way back to the mobe, I decided to stop at the grocery store for some Sweet Baby Ray’s barbecue sauce. I had roasted a chicken the night before and the white meat is often dry when reheated.

It was around 4:30 and the store was busy. I grabbed the sauce and looked for the shortest line. There were only three cashiers open, one of which was in the “express lane” for 10 items or less. It had about four people in line and one of the other lanes only had one in line waiting while the cashier was finishing up with a customer. I chose that line and stood there for a couple of minutes until I noticed that the customer was having trouble swiping his credit or debit card. The cashier was trying to help him, was leaned over the counter trying to swipe it upside down, and wasn’t doing very well either.

I looked down toward the express lane and there were two people in line plus one finishing up. I went down there and waited in line knowing it would be faster. Unluckily, a young guy around thirty was having trouble with his credit card too. After trying it several times and the cashier trying to help him, he said he’d go out to the ATM and get cash. The cashier couldn’t continue until he came back. After four or five minutes she realized he wasn’t coming back and went to get her supervisor to clear her register.

By that time the other lines were packed and I decided to wait it out. I had enough time to look at the cart of the guy ahead of me. He was a geezer (over 59) and had thirteen items. Here I was standing behind an express lane criminal and I didn’t do anything about it. Is that wrong? When it was his turn he slowly, very slowly, unloaded the items from his cart to the belt and was old enough to barely be able to lift the case of beer. When the cashier had run everything through and gave him the total, he slowly, very slowly, reached into his pocket for money.

He had a huge wad of cash and fumbled through it picking out two twenties, a ten, and three crumpled up coupons. The cashier was bagging his groceries, turned around and found the coupons. She had to read each one of them and look through the bags to make sure he had bought whatever the coupons were for. She started to run them through and noticed that one of them had expired three days earlier. When she told the guy he got angry and disgustedly tossed the money at her.

She completed the transaction and we all stood there while he slowly, very slowly pocketed his change and slowly, very slowly put the bagged groceries and his case of beer back in the cart. My transaction took forty seconds and I beat the geezer out the door. There were several times that I wanted to put the sauce back on the shelf and stomp out. But I, too, didn’t have anything better to do, I wasn’t in any real hurry, and, although I was aggravated, I was entertained for free.

A while back I got a notice of a swim from Alcatraz to Aquatic Park in San Francisco Bay. When Diane, Harry and I swam from Alcatraz, we swam to the Cressey Field/Marina Green area. When my son, Matt, swam from Alcatraz last year, he swam to Aquatic Park.

There are several swims from Alcatraz each year, so I looked them up on a Google search. There’s one on July 8th, one on September 2nd, and one on September 16th. On one of those swims you get out at Cressey Field and then run across the Golden Gate Bridge and back. Anyone interested?

Whenever you talk about swimming from Alcatraz, most people think of them as shark infested waters. Matt keeps telling me that there has never been a shark attack inside San Francisco Bay and I believe him. In fact, he sent me an article about some of the beautiful wildlife in and around Aquatic Park. Click on the following link.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/11/16/SEALION.TMP

I’m on my way back to Michigan tomorrow so I’ll see many of you soon. I hope it’s warm since I’ve already become a cold weather weenie.

Just (I’m Still Cold From IM Wisconsin) Jack