”Nothing happens unless first we dream.”
Today is warmer than it has been and will even get as high as 59°. That sounds like a day for a ride.
When I was a kid, this would have been a perfect Saturday to ride my trusty steed, my bike. I seldom had a destination in mind. I had special places like the zoo, the train station, the lake and all around up town. I’d bring my lunch, always a sandwich and cookies if there were any left. Sometimes my mother would give me a nickel, a wealth of money. I’d usually buy penny candy or two for a penny candy if I was lucky. I liked the hard candies, the ones which took time to eat. I remember Mary Jane’s, Squirrel Nut Caramels, Bit O’Honey, Mint Juleps and Banana sort of Juleps in the yellow wrapper. Fire Balls were my favorite. I remember at some point I had to take the ball out of my mouth to give my mouth a break from the heat. I liked it when they got small enough to bite. Even now I sometimes buy a package. They last a long time, far longer than when I was a kid.
I have traveled to amazing places. Ghana will always be my favorite. I actually lived in Africa. I never would have expected that when I was eleven and vowing to travel. Another memory is when I stood on the equator with one foot in each hemisphere. The best ride was on the train from Quito to Guayaquil. The train was about the size of a bus. People were standing in the aisle. Nothing stopped the train, not even people or animals on the track. They got a whistle warning. The people moved. Some animals didn’t. I saw bananas growing and mountain tops covered in snow. We traveled on a switchback, up a steep hill and back down again. I think I held my breath.
I have seen the pages of my geography book in real life. I can’t think of anything more spectacular.
keepthecoffeecoming.blog 
April 27, 2024 at 12:20 pm
Hi Kat,
Today will be a repeat of yesterday’s weather with more thunderstorms forecast.
When I was a kid my bicycle was also my key to freedom. I would also pack a similar lunch and head out in the morning. When I moved to NYC at age 13, I didn’t need the bike any longer because I had the entire NYC transit system at my disposal for just fifteen cents. I road the trains and busses everywhere including to school when it rained or snowed while in Junior High. My High School was only a few blocks from my aunt and uncle’s house.
I never got to stand over the equator, but I did stand over the Prime Meridian at the Greenwich observatory just outside of London. Have you read the book, “The search for Longitude”? It’s about how the king of England, in the late 1600s, offered a large prize for anyone who could come up with a reliable method of keeping track of a ship’s longitude. Eventually, John Harrison developed the sea going chronometer and received a portion of the prize. Interestingly, today we still navigate by using atomic clocks which are sending time stamp signals from satellites to GPS receivers globally. With Wide Area Augmentation, your iPhone can locate you anywhere to in the world within about a meter distance.
April 28, 2024 at 12:11 am
Hi Bob,
It actually hit 60° here today. I was out for a while. I couldn’t resist. The rest of the week will be in the 50’s. Spring has arrived on Cape Cod. Because of the ocean, our spring is always later.
I rode or walked everywhere. We did have a few buses that stopped in the square. They went to the towns around mine while one did go to the T station where I could catch the subway.
I also stood at the Prime Meridian on one of my trips to England.
Thanks! That was really interesting about longitude. I knew nothing about that. We live in the age of electronic miracles!
April 28, 2024 at 10:39 am
I’m surprised that you never heard of the prize for longitude. The museum at the Greenwich observatory displays replicas of Harrison’s various clocks and also sells the book. Maybe, you visited before Dava Sobel wrote the book.
A friend of mine is a fan of astronomy and he subscribed to an astronomy magazine. A reader sent a letter to the editor describing standing on the prime meridian while holding a portable GPS receiver. The GPS said that the prime meridian was actually located 300 ft. from the observatory’s location. Not too bad for the technology that they had more than three hundred years ago. 🙂
April 28, 2024 at 2:24 pm
Bob, I looked up the Sobel book, and it was published in 1995. I think I didn’t remember the museum as my trip to Greenwich was probably in the 70’s.