Everybody wants to get back to normal, but what really is normal. Getting outside to play on your phone is that normal? I guess not wearing a mask is normal.

Surprise

People hospitalized with COVID-19 now have one overwhelming thing in common.

Wait for it…..

They’re not vaccinated

We’re not out of the woods yet, stay safe my friend

Max, our brilliant youngest son, gave me this book today. I told him I looked forward to reading it.

Turns out I read it six months ago. I started reading it again anyways. A gift from one’s son carries plenty of weight.

I am feeling a new found brilliance on a second reading.

Around The World in 80 Days -Jules Verne

This book was so ridiculously awful that I found in uproariously entertaining. To be honest, I did not Seek out this book rather this book found me. One day it was sitting on the bedside table so of course I had to read it.

Warning this review contains spoiler alerts. Phileas Fogg is an idiot. He spends every single day doing the exact same thing which includes playing some inane card game buddies in a rich man’s club called the reform club. Anyone who belongs to a reform club has to be an idiot.

Predictably he hires a servant named Passepartout who is also a well trained idiot. Phileas bets his friends at the Reform club he can circumnavigate the world in 80 days.

So he takes a bet with his card playing buddies that he can make it around the world in less than 80 days. The idiot never stops to take in the world but is fascinated by time and day much like he was in every day life.

He meets a young lady whom he saved from a near certain death as she was part of a human sacrifice. It was during a shortcut they took through India. You live by the shortcut you die by the shortcut and he ended up meeting the woman of his dreams. I’m not even sure he realized that Or whether he actually dreams. That would upset the rhythm of his day.

Fogg and Passepartout reach Suez in time. While disembarking in Egypt, they are watched by a Scotland Yardpoliceman, Detective Fix, who has been dispatched from London in search of a bank robber. Since Fogg fits the vague description Scotland Yard was given of the robber, Detective Fix mistakes Fogg for the criminal.

This leads to a ridiculous three-way subplot With detective Fixx trying to get the reward and at other times helping Fogg along the way.

It is considered Verne ‘s masterpiece and I find it ridiculous and laden with privilege. Then again I read this book in a world record time as the story was kind of mesmerizing and addicting. And I hate to admit at times somewhat enjoyable. It was worth a good laugh and the adventures were admirable.

As a spoiler, the idiots do make it around the world and mostly because of their ineptitude. They thought they had not made it but due to a recalculation because of the rotation of the earth they had made it in with 24 hours to spare. Of course they weren’t smart enough to realize it.

Yes the man finds his woman. They do get married and my guess is she is a woefully unhappy woman. I hope he fits her into his schedule. Once again, another human sacrifice and an appeasement to the gods.

Yesterday I’ve made a phone call to check on a financial transaction. I was surprised when the person on the other end of the line picked up on the first ring. I am one for small talk, and eventually asked where this person was calling from.

She said she was calling from Pennsylvania. I said that’s cool I grew up in Pennsylvania. I jokingly said I bet you’re calling from Reading Pennsylvania.

“Yes I am”

I said that is where I grew up. She responded by saying she is calling from Glenside a small little battered suburb of Reading.

“That’s funny my grandmother lived there her entire life and I went to Glenside elementary for a few years.”

Did you have Miss Caffarelli in the fifth grade.?

“No I did not as she was out on some leave for a mental issue.“ Yup that is how I remember that. It probably had something to with a crush my Uncle has on Mrs C. On a side note, I was not a big fan of Mrs c.

A question or two later, I found she was calling from a few houses down from my grandmother‘s house. I asked her if she knew a few of the neighbors and she did. I confirmed I had a crush on a girl named Katie who lived on the street and she seemed to have a crush on her brother.

I asked her about her favorite sandwich shop in Berks county and she said it was V&S. She was adamant that it was not the downtown location, rather than one in Temple.

She stated a mild dislike for Screpsi’s.

You cannot make this stuff up. It’s a small world. She did note the first lightning bugs of summer had made a brief appearance.in Berks county.