My husband and I take our morning walk
at the same time, but separately, because he walks so much faster than I
do. One morning rain had already started
when we set out. He ended up walking
around a town parking lot with me so that we would be close to the car if it
began to pour. We were joined by a
friend who often walks at the same time.
I had no idea it was going to turn into a history lecture.
John is a person born before his
time. Before touch screens were
invented, he was one. Poke him anywhere,
and an interesting history lesson will come out. He said something about sailing ships near
where we were walking in Stony Brook NY, which our friend Nancy questioned. John said, “I’ve seen a picture taken about
150 years ago from across the street, showing a masted vessel tied up there. This area was almost denuded of trees because
firewood was shipped from here to New York City.”
Nancy said something about coal, and
John talked about different types of coal, some more polluting than
others. Nancy thought it must have stunk. John said, “Coal wasn’t the problem. There is a quote of someone saying they could
smell New York 15 miles to the west – horse manure. One of two major companies had 15,000 horses
in the lower half of the island, and that’s not counting horses belonging to
individuals.”
You can see why I threw away our
encyclopedia. You don’t need one with
John around. The history discussion
ended when lightning began to penetrate the heavy fog.
