Friday Night Gathering

Our Friday night gatherings cover the waterfront as far as topics are concerned – from the sublime to the ridiculous.  Last night it was a string of stories about on/off switches.

The conversation began when something came up about Potato.  That’s Lena and Dave’s dog whose name was inspired by his looks when he was little – “Just like a baked potato,” agreed Tucker and Carol.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen Potato, but Nyel said he had.  “That morning when Dave and Lena came about the truck,” he said.

Nyel’s Truck

It was a few weeks ago in the early morning.  Dave and Lena (and Potato) came to the door to tell Nyel that his truck radio was on.  He went out to investigate and found (as he was sure he would) that the truck – his old ‘reliable’ ’91 Ford F-150 which has never seen the inside of a garage – was not running.  However, the radio was blaring away.  Since there is no on/off switch for the radio, Nyel had to start the truck (fortunately, the battery had not run down) and then turn it off again.  “Then the radio went off, as usual.  It turns off when I kill the motor.”

“You mean, you had to start the truck to turn off the radio?”
“You mean the radio has no on/off switch of its own?”
“But how did it get turned on when the truck was off?”
“So it’s actually a radio/cd player that you had installed later – an aftermarket deal?”

 November 18, 2016

The answer to each question produced more laughter and, eventually, led to other on/off stories – some involving electrical wiring problems, and some concerning valves and plumbing.  Like the time, Tucker said, at the Oyster Bar when he and a friend, in the process of some repairs, couldn’t turn the cold water tap off.  While they frantically looked for the shut-off, the floodwaters ran through the kitchen and down the hall, rapidly approaching restaurant diners who were oblivious to the oncoming flood.  “Thank goodness we hadn’t started with the hot water,” he laughed.

There were other stories about faulty switches, valves, and maybe faulty repairmen, as well.  And there were plenty of opportunities to mention Mrs. Crouch.  Or even to look at the stories as metaphors for some of life’s lessons.  But we didn’t.