Wednesday, November 04, 2015

WHAT'S CHANGED?

Pollsters report a few ranking changes in the Presidential candidate political world since my previous post.   Perhaps in the months ahead we'll begin to hear meaningful news reports that all the candidates are primarily only debating the national and international issues that really concern each of us.

Age change occurred when I entered another decade.  I was delighted to celebrate with family from age 4, 20 years and up.  Then, I enjoyed a visit with a decade older cousin beginning her journey to 100.   Finally, a special get-together with college friends I hadn't seen for over fifty years capped my activities.   Wonderful memories!

There were numerous flight delays on my travels due to aircraft mechanical problems.   Little did I know my initial departure on a major airline I hadn't previously used  would be only the first of what was to come.   Just as I settled into my seat, buckled up, ready for take off, the pilot's voice came over the speaker causing me to laugh incredulously to myself.

"Ladies and Gentlemen" ... in a slightly subdued embarrassed sounding tone ... "A knob has fallen off and we've been unable to reach it.  So, we have a contract maintenance man coming to correct the problem.  Fortunately, he only has to go across the tarmac where he can get a pair of needle nose pliers, to bring back here to retrieve the knob."  

I only hoped the rest of the plane would hold together.   I made a mental note to carry needle nose pliers on all future flights to hasten repairs and facilitate on time departures.

Then there were the frantic issues associated with making the next flight's connection.  How could I fully appreciate the stressed out manner of the cart driver transporting some of us, since I didn't know airport police had threatened his job for reckless driving through terminal passengers when he was rushing to meet our plane?   Why couldn't he and we passengers have been told no need to rush as so many from different flights making this connection that the flight was being held?  

I'll spare you the coming home saga of the multiple delays with first one plane, then the replacement plane, all due to mechanical problems.   I took as a good omen a most beautiful red sunset visible through the airport window as we awaited boarding and departure.     A race was ensuing between our flight getting airborne so I could make a connecting flight several hours away and  a hurricane before  the storm arrived there from Mexico.    Even finally arriving home near midnight was not uneventful through no fault of my own.    A few days later I began to feel rested. 

Weather change has come with rain actually finding its way to Southern California bringing snow in our mountains yesterday.  We're hoping for more moisture and snowflakes in the weeks and months ahead.  El Niño is the weather condition expected to provide some relief though won't eliminate our drought condition.





18 comments:

  1. Sounds as though you had a great birthday, able to share it with family. Those decade milestones do sometimes seem to bring a sense of relief... "Alright, I made it!" Having reached 74 myself recently, I tend to breathe a sigh of relief and some sense of accomplishment because I am usually able to convince myself that at this age each birthday that's reached will surely be my last.

    And what's not to love about spending some time with those friends from your college days.

    Haven't flown in years and the given testimony of your latest experience, well it doesn't send any warm or fuzzy feelings of enticement for taking a flight anywhere in the foreseeable future. Maybe I'll just try the train.

    And good luck on the rain situation. Know you folks need it. Just saw a piece on the national news this past week where they are talking about building a lot more dams so as to create more reservoir pools. Hope El Niño provides you all with more relief than headaches.

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    1. I'm not completely sold on the idea more dams are a wise idea due to some of the adverse problems they create. I think there's some consideration to other approaches to create reservoir pools, but we'll see. Now weather reports suggest the bulk of our El Nino rains may not arrive until Jan. and Feb. much as occurred with our previous El Nino year (2002, I think they said.)

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  2. By the way Jorad, this morning I ran across a new word for me that I had never heard before that may be much more common to your area and even somewhat common to Mr. El Niño... that word being "williwaw" I thought it a somewhat humorous sounding word but was curious, is this a term of common usage there on the coast?

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    1. "Williwaw" is indeed a "humorous sounding word" I've never heard before either. But, "no", we're not hearing it in weather reports here in Southern California's Los Angeles area where I live. You aroused my curiosity and I searched a Wikipedia definition similar to that of standard dictionaries says:

      "In meteorology, a williwaw is a sudden blast of wind descending from a mountainous coast to the sea." Also, "The usage appears for winds found in the Strait of Magellan, the Aleutian Islands and the coastal fjords of the Alaskan Panhandle, where the terms outflow wind and squamish wind are also used for the same phenomenon. On Greenland the word piteraq is used."

      Gore Vidal's first novel was titled Williwaw. Tom Bodett also wrote a novel by the same title. Both novels reportedly used williwaw weather conditions as a significant device in their stories.

      Mostly, our weather reports here are simply called "onshore" or "offshore" winds. I like the winds coming off the ocean which frequently bring coolness where I live about 45 mins auto drive inland from the Pacific Coast. Winds blowing offshore usually bring desert heat east from where I live coming from the Palm Springs and Phoenix, AZ areas.

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  3. Oh, my ...a needle nose plier and all systems go ! Incredible. I used to love to travel by plane but I think those glamorous and EASY flights are a thing of the past. Congratulations on hitting a new decade and so glad you had a good visit with your cousin and got home safely.

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    1. The knob reportedly dropped under a pedal -- down into an important mechanism somehow that the pilot said he couldn't reach, so could have been a more serious problem if they hadn't retrieved it he said. Still, it does give us food for thought that a little knob out of place could ground a large aircraft. Yes, I find the flights pretty utilitarian with minimal comforts, especially compared to what the airline industry once was like.

      Thanks for the birthday wish!

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  4. I think maybe I won’t feel disadvantaged for being unable to travel at the moment. There’s something to be said for staying close to home and hearth.

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    1. I don't make a habit of traveling a lot and while I enjoyed my visits. getting ready to go took more effort than when I was younger. Much comfort in being "close to home and hearth."

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  5. Thank you for visiting. It was good to hear from you and reconnecting. I have been slpw getting back into blogging after an extended absence, Happy late birthday and kudos on air travel survival!

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    1. Thanks for the birthday wishes. There was an element of feeling I had survived when I crawled into my own bed once I was home.

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  6. I thought I left a comment. Anyway, I think it was very funny that a needle-nose plier was all that was lacking and it held up a flight ...but, better that than some of the serious stuff that seems to be happening too often lately.

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    1. Ginnie, you did leave a comment. I was just slow reviewing the comments for publication.

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  7. It's all pretty stressful, flying. We have it down to a science, and still we find ourselves in tight situations sometimes.
    Glad the rains have returned.

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    1. Fortunately, I didn't have a schedule requiring my keeping appointments or needing to be anywhere at a specific time or day as when I worked. So, when we were told we might not make a connection and might need to stay overnight at the airlines expense (because it was a mechanical problem) before an available flight the next day, I just went with the flow. (Ultimately, they held the connecting flight.) A cell phone made it easy to alert those expecting me to what was happening. I've always considered travel, any sort of driving trips, an adventure which includes the possibility of the unexpected -- but then that's life, isn't it? -- so I might as well make the most of it. That's not to say I wouldn't prefer air travel wasn't such a bare bones experience as it has become.

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  8. I seldom travel however, plenty of things go awry around here!

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    1. I expect you've had plenty of travel in years past -- perhaps in the days when com'l flying was a more desirable experience. Are you saying other things go awry besides just flying??? Everything is relative, isn't it!

      Tried to leave some comments at your place and some other Word Press blogs, but didn't take, so guess I must be doing something wrong.....again.

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  9. Thanks for guiding me to this posting, Joared. "The knob reportedly dropped under a pedal -- down into an important mechanism somehow that the pilot said he couldn't reach, so could have been a more serious problem if they hadn't retrieved it he said."

    Knobs, in and of themselves, may not be important; but, the danger they can bring to a flight by being in the wrong place is not to be minimized. One summer while serving my two weeks of active duty for training at Naval Air Station Pensacola, I ran the helicopter mechanical maintenance/repair shop. One of the mechanics, while working on the rotor mechanism atop the aircraft (an HH-46, meaning he was well up from the hangar floor), had the misfortune of dropping a nut driver bit (about the size of a small knob) into the rotor-shaft mechanism that extends through the fuselage. The whole repair crew spent nearly two hours looking for that thing. I could not sign off on the aircraft until it was found. (It was finally found by our chief who had come wandering through - snuggled down into the crack between the back and bottom of the left-hand pilot seat!)
    Cop Car
    P.S. Happy belated birthday!

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    1. Yeah, even a little item like a knob may seem trivial but can be critical as your story confirms. Coincidentally, a dead-heading young pilot with that airline happened to sit next to me on my connecting flight.. He seemed to want to talk so told him the story which he could appreciate for both the humor and seriousness. We discussed the serious nature of the laser lights pilots are having to contend with, also.

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