1) The Lyft driver came for me a whisper before 4 AM, and we ended up having a friendly, active conversation en route to the airport — perhaps a little more conversation than I was ready for at that hour, after very little sleep. When he found out I was an etiquette writer he asked “And are you monitoring my etiquette now?” “No,” I replied smiling. “Do you feel calmer now?” He did.
2) Overheard in the Dunkin’s line in Terminal B: “It’s so much easier traveling without children!” said a young woman to her husband. I refrained from responding that that’s why I always do.
3) There is no graceful way for a man to approach a urinal in an airport restroom with an overcoat and two carry-on bags.
4) The day before I had fortunately been able to change my flights to avoid Winter Storm Iggy. This resulted in a six-hour flight to Phoenix connecting to Palm Springs, and . . . a window seat. Everyone has their preferences, and they are all valid, and mine is the aisle seat so that I don’t inconvenience anyone when I have to get up. My anxieties came to nothing as a) I didn’t have to get up, and b) I was able to time myself to when the couple sitting next to me got up. So — sigh of relief.
4a) The real bonus of the window seat was, no surprise here, the window. Flying over the country, seeing these vast dessicated networks of dried riverbeds made quite an impression.
5) Phoenix airport is about the most crowded airport I’ve ever been in (with the exception of Newark at Christmas, 1985). Teeming with people at every gate and in the few restaurants. I managed to wolf down a sandwich while sitting on a barstool next to a man with a dog.
6) I brought small-sized reading material, and concentrated on The Economist’s special issue The World Ahead 2023, which is rather dense, and a slim yellow book titled Thrust: A Spasmodic Pictorial History of the Codpiece in Art by Michael Glover, which is rather funny.
7) Quite the delegation met me at the airport: Dave, Owings, and also Hochmina, so I felt well and truly welcomed to Palm Springs. We whisked off immediately for lunch at Shermans’s, the deli where everyone in Palm Springs goes, and I had a Cobb salad that reminded me of that book of Kliban cartoons, Never Eat Anything Bigger Than Your Head.
7a) I forgot to take home my doggie bag, darn it.
8) We started the evening early, after unpacking and a NAP, with Fur Friday at a bar called Hunter’s. It made me realize how long it’s been since I’ve been in a crowded barroom. Great energy, fabulous rainbow light bulbs, $2 vodka presses (the local delicacy), and my favorite song: BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM.
8a) Actually, over the bass I heard Abba’s “Gimme Gimme Gimme a Man After Midnight,” and I commented to Dave or Owings “It is not anywhere near midnight yet.”
8b) In other news, I have apparently completely forgotten how to flirt with strangers. #missedsignals
9) After an hour or so we adjourned for dinner at a nearby Mexican place — I remembered going their last winter — and then to Quadz, another bar across from Hunter’s. But this bar was a video bar focused on movie musicals (and movies without music), very much in the style of Luxor 30 years ago when I was young. Mommie Dearest, The Poseidon Adventure, Cyd Charisse, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, Muriel’s Wedding . . . hilarious. And just as crowded as Hunter’s. I loved it.
10) Technology continues to amaze me. Owings was able to begin heating the hot tub during dinner, and by the time we got home it was quite comfortable enough to bubble away in there and talk about the Big Issues for a good hour. But with all the traveling I’d done (plus two vodka presses and a margarita) I was sacked out by 11:45.
