Monday June 6 was my first day in DC to do nothing – no tours were booked, no dates were set up, no alarm was set but I did wake up at my usual time anyway. Sadly the a/c in my hotel room is so noisy I have to choose between sort of cool air or music. Other than that Embassy Inn has proved to be a good hotel. Like every hotel I’ve stayed in, hotel maids find it impossible to understand the request – please don’t make the bed. So every day when I do get back I spend five minutes undoing their hard bed making work.My only tentative plan for the day was to check out Union Station. Dipping myself in 110 sunblock I walked over to DuPont Circle & took the Metro – after a couple of trips now I’m feeling more confident on the Red line. Just like TTC transit times are affected by track work delays & users grumble. The system must be wifi ready as lots of people were texting away on various devices.
Union Station (google for real facts) is hub for trains & buses & the many tours of the city. The grand hall is spectacular, columns & imposing statues. Three floors of shopping, dining & of course train platforms. Only ticket holders get as far as those platforms. I took enough pictures to satisfy me. I checked a couple of gift shops looking for the ideal DC tank top – nothing 😦 I did run into Jason Sniderman, one of the Sparkle features & he actually recognized me. We chatted a bit about Fire, the history of paper & the book as a souvenir. A sweet fluke of timing. Before I left I did pick up at the Post Office a mailer for sending some stuff back to TO.
A successful return to DuPont circle, stop for a cold drink, back to the hotel to pack the chap books & poetry collections I had purchased. I’ll have to wait until next week to start reading those. googled nearest PO & it was 14th by the DC Centre. Another dip into 110 sunblock & added my sun cloth – it fits under my hat to cover my neck & ears. What’s more foolish? the cloth or the skin cancer it helps me avoid?
Once my package was mailed (apparently the only DC package I’ll get to open this year, if you catch my drift), I found a shady bench & did a bit of writing. Fire ideas that had to be worked on a little. Back to the hotel once again for real rest up. Unmade the maid made bed, mediated, slept, re-dipped in sunblock & out at 5. Grabbed pizza slices & hit another meeting at the DuPont Circle Club. Enjoy the unison saying of the steps & happy this meeting ended with only the Serenity Prayer. Heat had abated somewhat but more than muggy enough for me. Happy to get back to hotel, undress, take a shower. Transcribed the Fire workshop stuff & some of it is fine & none of it is showing off. Chatted on line with a couple of local lads but no one was willing to go further than chat. Finally crawled into my unmade bed & fell asleep nearly instantly.
one of the workshop prompts was the describe, in seven minutes, the perfect date & include time, setting, food:
Cold Pizza
front porch six p.m.
grass freshly mown
lilacs in bloom
rain an hour ago
me showered
he five minutes late
porch fan rotating
keeping my heels cool
he arrives
freshly showered
pizza ordered
pineapple on one half
bacon on the other
weather talked about
work discussed
bare feet
sweat damp calves
not so timid touching
not so tentative kissing
pizza arrives at seven
table set
shorts tugged off
in the kitchen
the counter the right height
for support
pizza eaten at midnight