Friday OYSTERS

                                      Al's Most Recent

Quote of the day:

A man walked into a bar waving a .45 caliber semi-automatic pistol with an 8 shot magazine and yelled “Who in here has been messing with my wife?” A voice from back in the bar yelled “You are going to need more ammo.”

                                          Anonymous

It is time for all of us to vent our petty irritations...here is a couple of mine.

If you come to an intersection where there is a stop sign or a traffic light there is a broad stripe on the tarmac. What is the purpose of that stripe? It is for you to know where you are supposed to stop your freaking car. I lived in Florida for a while and while I was there the cops in town issued several ads and TV notices that if any part of your car was past that stripe when you stopped you would be charged with a “failure to yield” citation. They let things cool for couple of weeks then they issued a hell of a lot of tickets until everyone figured out that the cops were not kidding and it made me happy. The broad stripe thing was on your drivers license test...don't be stupid.

Another is those that hurry through a traffic light that has just turned from amber to red. The same cops above issued another warning. They had cameras at several intersections and if any part of your car is in the intersection when the light is red they would track you down by your tag number and sent you a citation for running a red light. I totally agree. Is it worth risking a wreck, a hike in your insurance and possible injury to save 3 or 4 minutes? Wake up!

I stopped by my local tavern on the way home from the meeting of one of my social organizations. A man came in and sat down at a vacant table. A little while later a lady came in and he got up and walked to meet her. It was obviously a date. After ordering a beverage they both pulled out their cell phones and began paying more attention to their phones than each other. Eventually their chicken wings arrived and they began paying attention to each other and the wings...that is until they had finished eating and the the phones came out again. What kind of date is that?

Not long a go I was working in Birmingham, Alabama and asked this lady to meet me at an oyster bar that both of us knew and she agreed. We met and sat down at a vacant table. Within the span of 45 minutes she had either sent or received at least ten messages on her cell. I excused myself and told her I was going to the men's room. What really did was go to the bartender and told him to cash me out for what was due up to then and after that my date was on her own. He laughed and said that he had been watching and did not blame me. I left her there with no regrets. If that is not being a “gentleman” then I guess I am not... but good manners is a two way street.

 

I have been writing about Squanto, an English speaking Indian from what is now Massachusetts that was with the very first pilgrims that settled Plimouth (their spelling at the time), Massachusetts in 1620. If there had not been an interpreter there is little doubt that the colony would have failed. Here is the story of Squanto.

The first European to step foot on what is now Plymouth, Massachusetts was not the Pilgrims in 1620, it was the famous John Smith that helped establish Jamestown in 1607. In 1612 Smith went ashore in the vicinity of Plymouth to survey for a plantation that he was contemplating. Smith left his second in command in charge along with one ship and went on another errand. The second in command decided that he wanted to make some money on his own. He captured about 35 Indians, forced them in the hold of the ship and sailed for Europe with the intention of selling the Indians into slavery. He docked near Malaga, Spain and began auctioning off the slaves. But near to the dock was an abbey and the friars came down and put stop to it. Among those Indians was one named Esquantus, or something similar. He ended up in England working for an importer/exporter for a few years and learned basic English. The exporter/importer renamed him Squanto and the name stuck. He was then sent to Newfoundland to assist with negotiations with the local Indian tribes for furs and learned English that much more. In 1619 he learned that a local trader was going to sail down the area of what would become Plymouth to establish trade with the natives. Squanto was allowed to go along for the ride and translate with the local tribes. Squanto was eager to get back to see his relatives. When he arrived he discovered that his entire village had been wiped out by disease, probably smallpox or tuberculosis introduced by John Smith's expedition. The Mayflower arrived the next year lead by William Bradford. He became acquainted with Bradford who was the the governor of the Plymouth colony. Bradford recognized the importance of having a native translator close by as an ally. Somehow Bradford was able to keep Squanto and it was he that established communications with the local sachem named Massasoit who was the chief of the local tribal confederation. If this had not happened, there is little doubt that it would have been Sayonara for the pilgrims. Because of Squanto the Indians did not wipe out the pilgrims right away because they believed the pilgrims could unleash an epidemic at will and they had never seen a firearm. Squanto stayed with the pilgrims for a long time but his relationship with Bradford was not all peaches and cream...more about this later. The question I have is were Squanto, Bradford, Standish, Winslow and the others here at the same point on Earth at the same time by accident? I think not. America is here for a reason. I wonder what it is.

Born on this day:

1906 Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis. He said “If there were no women, all the money in the world would have no meaning.” This is true especially for men to pay alimony and an amount that would provide for a lifestyle to which she had become accustomed, not to mention games of chance, strippers and Makers Mark.

Thanks for listening I can hardly wait until tomorrow