HW GW made me late for church/Notes from the Mall GW made me late for church/Notes from the Mall (9/26/07)
Running on the National Mall everyday has its quirks - some good and some bad. Following is a rundown of some of both.
Lots of tourists who say funny things-
ex: a woman to her husband while catching her first view of Lincoln (at the appropriately named Lincoln Memorial): "Now, Bob, who is this?"
Her husband's reply (with a tone seeming to imply that he has to answer these questions fairly often): "This would be Abraham Lincoln."
Running through random family pictures-
I used to try to avoid people who were taking family and monument pictures but eventually I gave up. Now, I kind of like the idea that I'm in albums accross the country. Look, it's the Jones family in front of the Washington Monument.....and some sweaty girl running behind them.
Haphazardly taking part in events on the Mall-
One day last weekend they were broadcasting the National Opera Company's "La Boheme" live from the Kennedy Center on a big screen for opera fans picnicking on the lawn in front of the Washington Monument. Meanwhile, participants (people and pets) from the Humane Society Walk for the Animals were following their walk route which wound right by the big screen. I don't think the dogs fully appreciated La Boheme...but I don't think the opera audience loved the dogs barking through the performance either. You just never know what you're going to get.
Public Service announcement:While the constant activity is all very entertaining and makes a run more interesting, it's extremely important to continue paying attention so you don't run into any other people or fall into any of the bodies of water on the Mall. Neither has happened to me, although I did, in a moment of complete coolness, get distrated by a squirrel and trip over an ankle-high chain link divider near the Lincoln Memorial. There weren't many people around and I got up pretty quickly and kept running so I thought I had gotten away with it until what appeared to be a stereotypical high school boy yelled "I saw that!"...punk. :)
Horse stuff-
The Capitol Police like to ride their horses for the National Mall beat, which is sort of strange in itself. I guess if you are going to use police horses in DC, the Mall is really the most (or only) appropriate place to do so. I once saw a policeman on a horse in the Georgia-Petworth neighborhood...which was just wrong, "Hey you, I see that drug deal and I'm coming over there...on my horse." Um,no, the bad-ass factor of a horse is not high enough to prove effective in some neigborhoods.
Now, I have nothing at all against the horses, they are nice, gentle animals and little kids get really excited when they see both a police person AND a horse at the same time! My concern is what the horses leave all over the Mall. People get ticketed for not cleaning up after their dogs on the sidewalk on 16th street but police horses can do whatever they want amidst our monuments and it's ok to just leave it there? May I add that horses leave a much bigger mess than dogs.
(I just realized that this particular subject seems to be a reoccuring theme in my blogs...I'll try to stop talking about it)
So, now we get to the most annoying thing about running on the Mall - MOTORCADES-
Last Sunday I was running a great pace down 15th Street, nearing the east side entrance road to the White House. Passing a group of guards I heard the booming announcement accross the waves of all 7 of their radios, "Attention - Charlie departure 1 minute". All of a sudden police cars appeared out of nowhere and blocked the streets in every direction...I was stuck. "Charlie" must be code for the Pres and "1 minute" must be code for 20 minutes because that's how long I waited for his actual departure. Stuck there with boundless energy and approximately 1 city block's worth of sidewalk, I waited...and waited...and waited.
Ok, ok, so I get it. He's the President and, regardless of how I feel about him (or his administration, or his speaking ability, or the decisions he makes, or anything he does actually) he is, in the grand scheme of things, much more important than Faith and her morning run...but, does it have to be so stinking blatent?
If I were the President I wouldn't take advantage of my superior station and the benefits of my job if it meant making people pull over on the highway or trapping them on the sidewalk - heck no! I'd just take the helicopter.
Of course, then I'd miss out on the quirks of the Mall.
Lots of tourists who say funny things-
ex: a woman to her husband while catching her first view of Lincoln (at the appropriately named Lincoln Memorial): "Now, Bob, who is this?"
Her husband's reply (with a tone seeming to imply that he has to answer these questions fairly often): "This would be Abraham Lincoln."
Running through random family pictures-
I used to try to avoid people who were taking family and monument pictures but eventually I gave up. Now, I kind of like the idea that I'm in albums accross the country. Look, it's the Jones family in front of the Washington Monument.....and some sweaty girl running behind them.
Haphazardly taking part in events on the Mall-
One day last weekend they were broadcasting the National Opera Company's "La Boheme" live from the Kennedy Center on a big screen for opera fans picnicking on the lawn in front of the Washington Monument. Meanwhile, participants (people and pets) from the Humane Society Walk for the Animals were following their walk route which wound right by the big screen. I don't think the dogs fully appreciated La Boheme...but I don't think the opera audience loved the dogs barking through the performance either. You just never know what you're going to get.
Public Service announcement:While the constant activity is all very entertaining and makes a run more interesting, it's extremely important to continue paying attention so you don't run into any other people or fall into any of the bodies of water on the Mall. Neither has happened to me, although I did, in a moment of complete coolness, get distrated by a squirrel and trip over an ankle-high chain link divider near the Lincoln Memorial. There weren't many people around and I got up pretty quickly and kept running so I thought I had gotten away with it until what appeared to be a stereotypical high school boy yelled "I saw that!"...punk. :)
Horse stuff-
The Capitol Police like to ride their horses for the National Mall beat, which is sort of strange in itself. I guess if you are going to use police horses in DC, the Mall is really the most (or only) appropriate place to do so. I once saw a policeman on a horse in the Georgia-Petworth neighborhood...which was just wrong, "Hey you, I see that drug deal and I'm coming over there...on my horse." Um,no, the bad-ass factor of a horse is not high enough to prove effective in some neigborhoods.
Now, I have nothing at all against the horses, they are nice, gentle animals and little kids get really excited when they see both a police person AND a horse at the same time! My concern is what the horses leave all over the Mall. People get ticketed for not cleaning up after their dogs on the sidewalk on 16th street but police horses can do whatever they want amidst our monuments and it's ok to just leave it there? May I add that horses leave a much bigger mess than dogs.
(I just realized that this particular subject seems to be a reoccuring theme in my blogs...I'll try to stop talking about it)
So, now we get to the most annoying thing about running on the Mall - MOTORCADES-
Last Sunday I was running a great pace down 15th Street, nearing the east side entrance road to the White House. Passing a group of guards I heard the booming announcement accross the waves of all 7 of their radios, "Attention - Charlie departure 1 minute". All of a sudden police cars appeared out of nowhere and blocked the streets in every direction...I was stuck. "Charlie" must be code for the Pres and "1 minute" must be code for 20 minutes because that's how long I waited for his actual departure. Stuck there with boundless energy and approximately 1 city block's worth of sidewalk, I waited...and waited...and waited.
Ok, ok, so I get it. He's the President and, regardless of how I feel about him (or his administration, or his speaking ability, or the decisions he makes, or anything he does actually) he is, in the grand scheme of things, much more important than Faith and her morning run...but, does it have to be so stinking blatent?
If I were the President I wouldn't take advantage of my superior station and the benefits of my job if it meant making people pull over on the highway or trapping them on the sidewalk - heck no! I'd just take the helicopter.
Of course, then I'd miss out on the quirks of the Mall.
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