A Day Off

Everybody has a day off today. I know, because they were all at the gym this morning and I couldn't get a machine. Really. This place probably has about 900 machines of all types and every one of them had a sleek young body working out on it. I decided not to wait but to try again tomorrow. After all, at my age I'm in this for my health and one day is not going to make all that much difference.

The athletic young stars of the financial markets were out in force all over town--jogging in and out of Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts, whipping through the parks, the boutiques, the lunch places, and just wait until 5 P.M. when the bars will fill up.

I have a day off every day. I make my own coffee, usually, and eat very little at restaurants ("Why do you live in Hoboken?" you are asking), and avoid the bars. I have carved out a life with none of those things and my time is my own. I just got Christopher Plummer's autobiography (In Spite of Myself) out of the library and am having a great time with that. Not so interesting as The Fair Hope of Heaven, but a good read.

There is truly no such things as a day off. I just got back from the A&P. I have read the New York Times online, and checked the usual blogs including Hoboken Now and Hoboken 411.

Before the day is over I have to make appointments for medical checkups, and order some new movies from Netflix, and see if Dr. Phil or Oprah have anything gripping on their programs. I have the day off, but as you can see, life is a veritable cornucopia of responsibilities. I keep getting emails from Barack Obama, and I must attend to them at once. That election was about me. And then there's the writing of the blog. And the checking on amazon.com to see if any of you are ordering the book. And tomorrow I must go to the gym.

There was good news and bad news at the A&P. The bad news is that they've stopped making wax paper. It's still available in the house brand, but Cut-Rite has disappeared from the shelves (not only at the A&P, but also at Rite-Aid and CVS). Soon I think there will be no such thing as wax paper.

The good news is that you can get Irish Soda Bread already. St. Patrick's day is a month from tomorrow. Corned beef, cabbage, and potatoes cannot be far behind.