I don’t know if Jamie really did it or not, having watched three of the four episodes of award winning Adolescence last night. Hopefully, we will find out tonight by watching the final episode, but I have to salute the creators of at least the first three episodes. For those who don’t know, the show focuses on a 13 year old boy (boy, not young man) who is accused of stabbing a female classmate Kate to death. He is arrested, held first in a local lockup (we are somewhere in northern England) and then in some sort of juvenile detention facility, awaiting trial. Other main characters are police officers, a psychologist, classmates, and his parents.

What makes the show special are the direction and cinematography, which are so tight that you feel you are watching a documentary, and the absolutely superb acting by absolutely everyone.  On Netflix.

Today is the day to get ready for our road trip. Of course, in addition to remembering to take a belt and enough socks, the most difficult part of packing is deciding what books to take. Why this is always so difficult, I admit not to understand. It would be one thing if I thought I was going to read them. But usually (that really means always), I barely open them. For one thing, I find reading while driving to be sufficiently distracting that I hardly ever remember what I have read. If I pull a book out while we are in a restaurant, Edie tells me that, if she didn’t know better, she would think I am ignoring her. If we are with friends, my rule is to start reading only after they do, and they don’t. In a museum, I am generally too busy looking for the men’s room to do anything else.

But I do work hard on what I take. I usually go for a couple of Penguins because they are small and light and make me look very intellectual. I have decided on Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle as one of the two I will bring. As we are heading back to those wondrous days of yesteryear, I think I need to familiarize myself with what I can expect.

As to the second book, I don’t know. Boris Pasternak’s The Endless Summer might be a good choice. I have probably started that book at least five times and have never been able to get past page 10. That does make it a good book to take on a trip where I know I won’t ever want to go beyond page 10.

Of course, I really wish I could bring along Jeffrey Epstein’s memoir, The Extraordinary Adventures of Donald and Me.

Truth is that on road trips, there is a media overload continually. Thank God, we don’t subscribe to Sirius XM Radio in the car, which would only add to the mix. And sometimes, it is true that there are no listenable radio stations, even though NPR funding is still in place this summer. But there are zillions of podcasts and YouTube programming where the visuals are irrelevant. And then there is usually a lady sitting next to me with a New Yorker on her lap volunteering to read something aloud (I usually take her up on that). Finally, there is that other companion I take along with me on road trips. I call him/her Silence. Often, the brst friend to have along.

Reminds me of another thing Brian Kiley said. Paraphrasing: “I have had my best friend since I was a young child, but yesterday he told me something that  really caught me off guard. He told me he was inaginary……I really wasn’t expecting that.”

Okay, time to bring up a suitcase from the basement. I have a number of choices. The battered gray one, the battered green one, or the battered red one. I already brought up the battered brown one for Edie.

And of course, when we are about 100 miles from home, we will remember what we forgot to pack. What do you think it will be this time?