Brian - part 1
Brian:
For the first week of my Sophomore year of University, we noticed one of the Freshmen had his father staying in the dorm with him. The dad also was wearing a winter parka with a fur lined hood. That would be fine, but it was 80-something degrees out. This was our introduction to Brian.
Fortunately for him, his dad soon left and we could really get to know Brian. Kim and Ari and Brian and I became great friends. Brian and I were of roughly the same physical strength, so we’d have great wrestling matches in the dorm, much to the detriment of the walls and doors of the building. Once, we were in his dorm room, and we were practicing flipping each other over our shoulder. I take him by the arm, and throw him over my shoulder into the wall with a great crash, and he’d land on his bed. Then he’d do the same thing with me. After a little bit of this, his next door neighbors, 2 girls we didn’t really get along with, came over screaming. It seemed that all their pictures and anything else on the wall had come crashing down as well. We stopped for 10 or 15 minutes to rest, then did one or two more, and left before we could be yelled at more. Sure, in retrospect, we were being obnoxious, but that’s university for ya.
We’d follow these gladiatorial contests with eating matches of a similar magnitude. Brian was one of the few people who actually got his money’s worth from our very expensive all you could eat dining service. The pizza place and the convenience store next to the dorm got a lot of business from us, as well, that year.
Brian was also a big walker. We walked pretty much everywhere in Philadelphia. One time, we walked over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the side with a pedestrian walkway. Then, we got to one of the cross bars with the lights on it to indicate which lanes are open and which are closed. The other ones had a locked gate preventing access, but this one was open, so we crossed over the bridge, the wrong way. That was pretty cool until we tried to get back. Unfortunately, the pedestrian walkway stopped part way back. We had to climb up on some cement traffic barricades to stay out of the busy lane of traffic. After a little bit of this, some police came along. The car at the street down below the bridge got on its megaphone and told us to get off the bridge. We yelled that we were trying to. The police car came up and blocked our lane of traffic, so that we could get to the part where the walkway continued, up ahead. We waved our thank you.
Then, there was the time that we went to NYC with Kim, and we came out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brian wanted a Snapple, which weren’t that common in those days. He knew a store down in the east village which had it and got us to start walking there. Had we known the city well, we would have taken the subway, but he talked us into it. 4 miles later, we finally got his Snapple.
When Melissa and Brian and I went to London over our spring break, we were down visiting the Tower of London, and we wanted to go to Greenwich, so we asked someone what direction it was to get there. They told us the direction, but suggested that we really should take a cab. We said we were fine and headed off. Every time we asked directions, they told us where to go, but suggested we take a cab. After about an hour, they stopped suggesting we take a cab. And I’m sure we made it in under two hours. We saw some parts of London that no one else would see. We had some great fish and chps wrapped in newspaper. It really turned out to be a great walk. However, we took a cab back.
Greenwich was great. We were happily sitting on the Prime Meridian, with one cheek in one hemisphere, and one in the other, when a middle-aged fellow walked up and started chatting with us. He was joking with us that it wasn’t that sensational a monument for how important it was. He figured that in America, we’d have lasers and a light show around it. He asked where we were from and we said that University of Pennsylvania. It turned out that his son went there as well. It also turned out that he was the curator of the Greenwich Museum, and he gave us a private tour! Very cool!
So Brian’s long walks generally turned out for the best, and helped to keep us nice and healthy. Even our walk to Patsy’s Pizza in Spanish Harlem, from the lower East side, crossing Central Park 4 times, turned out ok in the end…It was good pizza.
For the first week of my Sophomore year of University, we noticed one of the Freshmen had his father staying in the dorm with him. The dad also was wearing a winter parka with a fur lined hood. That would be fine, but it was 80-something degrees out. This was our introduction to Brian.
Fortunately for him, his dad soon left and we could really get to know Brian. Kim and Ari and Brian and I became great friends. Brian and I were of roughly the same physical strength, so we’d have great wrestling matches in the dorm, much to the detriment of the walls and doors of the building. Once, we were in his dorm room, and we were practicing flipping each other over our shoulder. I take him by the arm, and throw him over my shoulder into the wall with a great crash, and he’d land on his bed. Then he’d do the same thing with me. After a little bit of this, his next door neighbors, 2 girls we didn’t really get along with, came over screaming. It seemed that all their pictures and anything else on the wall had come crashing down as well. We stopped for 10 or 15 minutes to rest, then did one or two more, and left before we could be yelled at more. Sure, in retrospect, we were being obnoxious, but that’s university for ya.
We’d follow these gladiatorial contests with eating matches of a similar magnitude. Brian was one of the few people who actually got his money’s worth from our very expensive all you could eat dining service. The pizza place and the convenience store next to the dorm got a lot of business from us, as well, that year.
Brian was also a big walker. We walked pretty much everywhere in Philadelphia. One time, we walked over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge on the side with a pedestrian walkway. Then, we got to one of the cross bars with the lights on it to indicate which lanes are open and which are closed. The other ones had a locked gate preventing access, but this one was open, so we crossed over the bridge, the wrong way. That was pretty cool until we tried to get back. Unfortunately, the pedestrian walkway stopped part way back. We had to climb up on some cement traffic barricades to stay out of the busy lane of traffic. After a little bit of this, some police came along. The car at the street down below the bridge got on its megaphone and told us to get off the bridge. We yelled that we were trying to. The police car came up and blocked our lane of traffic, so that we could get to the part where the walkway continued, up ahead. We waved our thank you.
Then, there was the time that we went to NYC with Kim, and we came out of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Brian wanted a Snapple, which weren’t that common in those days. He knew a store down in the east village which had it and got us to start walking there. Had we known the city well, we would have taken the subway, but he talked us into it. 4 miles later, we finally got his Snapple.
When Melissa and Brian and I went to London over our spring break, we were down visiting the Tower of London, and we wanted to go to Greenwich, so we asked someone what direction it was to get there. They told us the direction, but suggested that we really should take a cab. We said we were fine and headed off. Every time we asked directions, they told us where to go, but suggested we take a cab. After about an hour, they stopped suggesting we take a cab. And I’m sure we made it in under two hours. We saw some parts of London that no one else would see. We had some great fish and chps wrapped in newspaper. It really turned out to be a great walk. However, we took a cab back.
Greenwich was great. We were happily sitting on the Prime Meridian, with one cheek in one hemisphere, and one in the other, when a middle-aged fellow walked up and started chatting with us. He was joking with us that it wasn’t that sensational a monument for how important it was. He figured that in America, we’d have lasers and a light show around it. He asked where we were from and we said that University of Pennsylvania. It turned out that his son went there as well. It also turned out that he was the curator of the Greenwich Museum, and he gave us a private tour! Very cool!
So Brian’s long walks generally turned out for the best, and helped to keep us nice and healthy. Even our walk to Patsy’s Pizza in Spanish Harlem, from the lower East side, crossing Central Park 4 times, turned out ok in the end…It was good pizza.
posted by Jamie at 10:56 AM
5 Comments:
At this point, I wish I could go on a long walk; Doc says to take it easy though.
Probably the best way to see the sites and meet the locals is by way of foot.
Wow. I visited the Tower of London and the Greenwich Museum this past July, but I didn't get special treatment!
Great stuff, Jamie! The walking cure, as it were. I agree that walking is a great way to see cities, and spent a good deal of time doing just that in Manhattan this summer. Cheers, 'E
JR - you'll get better!
Thinker - you need to walk with Brian for these bizarre things to happen
Erik - when you just walked 4 miles to get a Snapple you could have gotten in the corner store, you aren't too happy, but in retrospect it was cool
It is so nice to catch up on the comings and goings of my sons via the blog. As my son-in-law tells me, nothing you can do about it now. It is history. And gret material for family stories! MOM
Post a Comment
<< Home