Legal kept the note short this morning. They seem relieved the campaign is finally almost over. We were inclined to just run it by itself, since it would be shorter. “Change coming. Be aware.”

That seemed to conjoin common sense and social response to the partisan divide. We are part of the end of Journalism. All of us.

Better said, what used to work has changed. Now it doesn’t. or at least who is ding it. We are only now noticing the depth of it as the old networks and newspapers fade into brands, not impartial information streams. We try to observe stuff in exchange for free coffee and the occasional doughnut or bagel with whatever is in those little plastic tubs.

The Legal note summed it up: “Campaign is done. About a quarter of eligible voters have cast their ballots and consider their active role in this extended shared public demonstration to be done. Now, it is what’s next and how it gets played.”

Looking at the candidates, one seems a little tired and the other put on a comic routine in an orange vest as he closed out his attempt to be President again. So, that is over and the next part is in preparation. Reports this morning are that the McDonald’s restaurant closest to the White House was observed having plywood put up over the windows in case there are disturbances next week. We assume for evening next Tuesday, .

The Old Science phrase about all this is relevant. If you spend any time looking at something, you change the nature of what is being observed. The very act of engagement can change the nature of the influencing factors.

So, Splash had the memo when he wandered in late yesterday afternoon. Clouds had returned after a glorious October and a triumphant demonstration of the Harvest Super Moon that brought an icy elegance to the sky about the Big Pink Patio. The new lunar cycle has promise as it slowly exposes itself to us, unfurling in the waxing face, and it is useful to observe what happens.

So, there are also some boards are going up on windows. Are they going to be necessary for safety? We don’t know and hope not. We did ask folks to listen to what is happening around us. The HQ is located along big Route-50, the eight lanes of pale concrete that funnel bureaucrats in and out of the Federal City. The act of observation was in play in the afternoon sun.

The highway is a channel for the sounds of motion, roars honks, beeps and sirens. Noise. There were no sirens heard on the first event yesterday. At least no sirens that signaled anything specific about the intruder reported over at Yorktown High School.

That is twelve minutes by scooter from here, so it went in the “Fifteen Minute File” with no follow-on information, resolved without further disturbance. That was not the case with the fairly major episode of sirens that occurred just after dinner. It started routinely- one of those events in which the sounds gathered together with several mobile units converging at an intersection or address.

Further attention is warranted if we hear aviation in motion. Not unusual here, with the Pentagon and Reagan National just down the street. that noise is an indication of response needed for public safety. None were observed yesterday, and the various noise-makers seemed to disperse. The ones after that event, the audible ones, were at 10:45. They had the characteristics of a public safety event which caused Splash to look at the Arlington County Police feed on his wrist.

The rest of us had gone to bed where things are normally relatively safe. Two groups of young men over on Columbia Pike at the junction with George Mason Drive did not. The fragmentary reporting indicted at least were three wounded in the cross-fire, though for an urban shooting there was an upside. No life threatening injuries reported. But the fact that someone was listening changed the nature of the event. Some of this is regrettably normal, and thus just part of the noise.

But noticing it isn’t.

That was the streaming in the Post local edition this morning and the plywood going up on the windows of a McDonalds near the White House. See? The fast food giant has been part of the campaign noise of late, and the idea that there could be trouble of some kind coming- like fixing the McFlurry ice cream crisis.

Which is to say, we are hoping this works out with some clear statement about where we want to go in the world turmoil, and we get on with solving some real problems. We have done it before and will do it again. So, let’s try that.

But despite good hopes, there is plywood going up on some shops and those neatly stacked little pallets of bricks might show up again. We’ll keep a look-out. Or at least ask Splash to so it after a last swing past the gas station, smoke-shop, Safeway and the ABC Store.

Good time to transition to the season of Thanks.

Copyright 2024 Vic Socotra
www,vicsocotra.com