We finally got a piece of the pie

One of my aunts is moving, from her present modest home in Garden City to a modest condo in Garden City. There were various spinoffs of this fact, among them, that she's giving away furniture. My sister-in-law wanted a few pieces, as well as some TV sets (she's got friends and social groups which need a couple sets), my brother in Massachusetts wanted filing cabinets, and there were some things which may be useful to bunny_hugger and me, as well, most prominently bookshelves.

So it was that early Saturday I got up early, to ride with my mother first to Starbuck's for tea and breakfast (they'd forgot to turn on the oven, so, didn't have anything hot; they also had a ``come work for us!'' poster which I joked showed me, a joke that got more alarming when we got nearer and saw how much it does look like me), then to meet my sister at a truck rental place so she --- with considerable truck-driving experience --- could drive up to Long Island.

We had some mishaps getting there. Our worst hap would be the spot where my father's directions said to ``bear right onto'' I forget the name of the road, but it was something like Herricks. The problems: first, Herricks or whatever isn't labelled there. Second: it's not ``bearing'' at all. ``Bearing'' is for small divergences from straight. When the road to turn onto is perpendicular to the current road you ``turn right'' onto it.

But I had my iPad, and so was able to call up Google Maps, into which I had pre-loaded my aunt's address. In quite little time we were ... on a street with the same name, one town over. This lead to a confused conversation with my mother about where the heck we were. It also lead to my trying to find out what the heck is up with Garden City, which is a deeper question than you might realize.

I note that it isn't just my fault. After all the loading up --- which was quicker than I'd expected --- we went out to a restaurant, and driving back, my mother got lost. We got some fine views of the Nassau Coliseum and the Aviation Museum and such attractions, but, what the heck is up with Garden City, anyway?

Trivia: Fred Allen's show switched to Sundays beginning 8 March 1942, at 9 pm, and he remained on Sundays the rest of his hosting career. Source: Fred Allen's Radio Comedy, Alan Havig.

Currently Reading: Microstyle: The Art Of Writing Little, Christopher Johnson.