Doctor Disco

Things I forgot to talk about in the last blog post: Peter Capaldi and last night's "Doctor Who" and my friend Lynne, that lucky lady, eating her way through New York City.

Last night, second part of a two-part episode, even better than the first part. Oh, the Osgoods! Even Clara was good, really good, especially when she wasn't being Clara. And of course, a bonus for us Whovians, the episodes were built on an earlier episode which featured three other Doctors. Four, if you count the Curator.

But Capaldi, that fabulous actor who was born to play the Doctor, is making me rethink my previous   declaration of Favorite Doctor. Christopher Eccleston, you've got competition.

My friend Lynne and I go way back to the mid-seventies, when we worked for a certain large insurance broker. Our office was in the city, on Sixth Avenue (at that time stubbornly referred to as Avenue of the Americas) but we both lived in Howard Beach. That's a long ride on the A train, my friends.  Later on, Lynne moved to a very cool section of Brooklyn. She took me to my first (and only) discotheque, where I sat paralyzed in fear someone would ask me to dance. See, while I love disco, I can't dance. I'm all about the music, but I've got two left feet.  (Someone did ask me to dance. He was wearing a bow tie. Back then, bow ties were not cool. Heck, Matt Smith hadn't even been born.)                         

Over the years, Lynne and I lost touch as we moved away from the metropolitan New York area, and when we finally found each other again, she was upstate New York while I was in Central Florida. This weekend, however, she was in Brooklyn for a friend's event and she told me she was going to eat her way through New York City. She had already started with Spanish food for dinner and a REAL NEW YORK BAGEL for breakfast, and her future plans included Chinese dim sum and stuffed derma (a Jewish specialty that used to be served on every plate at every bar mitzvah and oh, how I loved it!)

What we've got here, folks, is one Brooklyn expatriate with a SEVERE case of food envy.  Lynne, if you are reading this, I expect a full report. As a gastric bypass postie, I've gotten sort of used to enjoying food vicariously. But that's not going to stop me from letting out one long, sad sigh of self-pity.  Just one. Indulge me.

My big cooking is done for a while. I have enough food for 35 people, even if they were to all drop in at the same time. That doesn't include the cooked stuff in deep freeze. So of course, I took the next logical step and started thinking about Christmas cookies.

Rob and I made it to St. Augustine in great time, and made a quick stop for a bite to eat at McDonald's, this one on the corner of State Route A1A, just down the road from Anastasia Baptist Church..  If you are ever in the area, don't stop here. The only time I saw a McDonald's this disgustingly dirty, we were in Mississippi on our way to Little Rock, facing a bunch of snaggle-toothed cretins behind the counter who glared at us because we are a mixed-race family. This was one of only two places where I felt compelled to slip my Star of David inside my shirt collar, the other place being the airport in Munich, Germany.

The problem in St. Augustine wasn't the crew, although they should have had more registers open. And someone on the patio, cleaning cleaning cleaning.  I ordered a 4 piece chicken nugget, ate one and threw the other's out.  It tasted fine but it occurred to me that if the front was that dirty, who knows wat condition the kitchen was in? My stomach turned, and that was that.

The program was fabulous, with many accolades for Rob's cousin Michael, and for Michael's wife Carol, the original inspiration. I do have a question though - it came up briefly, and I've heard before, that when a civilian tells a military person "thank you for your service", it is perceived as hollow, and merely an attempt to be politically correct. Is there a better way for a civilian to show appreciation?

If you are able to view my Facebook page, I have already shared two posts from Michael, with links to a video of the terrific performance by the St. Augustine High School Chorus, and pictures from the event.