Sunday Morning Post (V2, #9): Drat and Double Drat!

Thank you once again to all who consoled me after my anxious post from last week.  This past week was better…to a point.  I took one day as a vacation day to among other things, come up for air.   I already had a doctor’s appointment lined up and a monthly AAPC (American Academy of Professional Coders) meeting that night.  There was no way I was going to get a full day of work in between.   So, what the hell.

I had hoped to visit one of my favorite Chinese buffets prior to the meeting.  This particular buffet was located near my meeting place, and had the obligatory peel-n-eat shrimp which I relish.   This buffet had something different from other buffets:  a nice beef roast which one could slice off however much they wanted. This offering was always tender and much like the roasts mother would cook in her pressure cooker.

It also had an indoor koi pond at the entrance.  You would have to use a bridge between the vestibule and the dining room to walk over the pond.  Once on the other side you could purchase pellets from a gumball machine and toss these to the fish in the pond.  The fish were always appreciative and would swim over each other to get to the pellets.

Well, all of that is nothing more than a sweet memory now.  I drove to the shopping center in North Wales (PA), and saw a hand printed message on a red poster board stating that they were closed for renovations.  I was heartened to see the word renovations since the buffet seating area had seen better days.  The seats in some of the booths were split, and some of the wood work finish on the tables was worn off in some places.  The place was in bad need of renovation.

Then the message carried this ominous news:  they would reopen, but not as a Chinese buffet. A huge banner above the door announced that they would soon be something called Hot Pots which, from what I could gather, is some variation on Vietnamese or Thai cuisine.   I having nothing against either one of these cuisines, but I fear they will not include my coveted peel-n-eat shrimp.

So somewhere in the world some shrimp are rejoicing that there is one less venue in the world where they can be boiled, deveined, peeled, pulled apart and dunked in cocktail sauce.

I was disappointed, but I shrugged and went to the other side of the shopping center to a diner which has a sumptuous salad bar. There I could satisfy my jones for stuffed grape leaves, which I covet nearly as much as shrimp.  So, the evening meal was not a total disaster.

Then, the next morning, more bad news. Mrs. Teasdale stopped by to advise that Ambassador Trentino did not want war neither (nee-ther). President Firefly corrected her and said he doesn’t want war neither (nigh-ther).   Oh, skip it! 

Ha!   Just kidding!   I only wish that was the news I had gotten that morning. 

The morning news had an item that one of our local radio stations would stop broadcasting at the end of April.  WNPV (Lansdale, PA) is a Fox News affiliate (read: conservative) station in an otherwise liberal-rich suburb of Philadelphia. The station has been in business since 1960, and considering this political climate, it’s a wonder it’s lasted this long.

Warrior Queen and I don’t listen to the station for its conservative talk shows (heaven forbid!), but we have been listening to their Sunday evening show, Echoes of an Era. The deejay is a record collector who spins the recordings from the Big Band Era, or roughly the 30s and 40s.  This includes the works of Goodman, the Dorsey’s, Artie Shaw , Ellington, Basie, et al, and vocalists like Crosby, Como and Fitzgerald (Ella).  One hour of the show is devoted entirely to Glenn Miller.   The show always ends with a selection by the Nat King Cole Trio. We have loved this show for years!  It is usually on when not pre-empted by a NASCAR race broadcast.  Now it seems that this show may also become another memory, unless it relocates to the Internet.

Less shrimp and less Big Band.  Drat and double drat!  This is too much bad news in too short of a time.  Oh well!   At least we have a leader who is conducting a mature, consistent, cohesive response to the coronavirus crisis...

Oh, wait...

(Thank you for reading.  RIP Jim’s Buffet, WNPV, and common sense in public health and safety.)