Back when Artwas70, I did a lot more walking around town. Now that Artis80+, I still walk a bit, but now my exercise is more on mechanical devices at home.

There is probably a second reason I walk less now. I used to (because I am me) like to find things on the sidewalk. Could be anything of interest, but usually coins, business cards, and unusual cigarette packages. For reasons that any good sociologist could explain to you in a four credit course, you hardly find anything worth noting on the street anymore.

So  think how surprised I was this morning, about 3000 steps from my house, to find an empty package of Philip Morris cigarettes from (not France as you may think from the front of the pack), Algeria.

I am sure that the Arabic at the bottom is a dire warning of imminent organ failure that the seller of this package knew might be true, but which was ignored by its previous owner. Makes the walk worthwhile.

I do have even more to report this morning. Every two years, if you live in Washington, District of Drumpf, you need to make sure your car isn’t emitting something bad. So you trek down to Half Street SW to get checked. They open at 6:30 in the morning and close at 2. The wait is never too long (it’s not like when they also checked brakes, lights, and wipers), but I wanted to be efficient, so I left home this morning at 6:45 with Edie’s car, and arrived there less than 30 minutes later.

Now, often at 6:45, I am still trying to fall asleep, so this is an unusual time for me to be roaming about these days. Well……guess what? There is an entire 7 a.m. world out there. I went down through Rock Creek Park and along the Potomac, and I saw hundreds (not trying to exaggerate, but I wasn’t counting) of joggers and bikers. I understand that none of them looked to be even half my age (sad, but sort of true), but still…..This must be one healthy city.

Maybe this was to be expected, and maybe even the kayaks and sculls on the Potomac near the Kennedy (soon Drumpf?) Center were not surprising, but as I drove past the Lincoln Memorial, I saw the unexpected. As some of you probably know, that is where the Park Service installed four beach volleyball courts (waste, fraud and abuse?), and at 7:00 a.m. on a Tuesday, they were filled with games in process. Wow!

One more topic for today. Edie and I have never been on a cruise. We like to travel by car, which we have done all over this country, Europe and scattered other places. Ultimate freedom and flexibility.

But yesterday, as I was catching up with some financial stuff, I turned on YouTube and watched two videos about Viking river cruises. One in France and one up the Mississippi. I never wanted to go on a river cruise, and now can tell you this. They looked worse than I ever imagined.

Tight quarters, most meals on the boat, jovial crew members, while all the while you look out the window or off the deck at the places you would like to be. And when you go off the boat, you follow a woman with a red flag in the air that announces you are just passing through…quickly. On board, you can play games in the lounge at night, enjoy a loud combo, and you can listen to your fellow passengers talk about all the other river cruises they have been on. Not for me, thank you.

That’s it. I will now stand up, do a 180, take 3000 more steps, and call it a day.