(Known attorney Liz-S returns behind the bar for one last shift on Saturday night. Heather turns in her Manager’s clothes for the bar uniform to accommodate the crush of patrons. Photo Socotra).

OK- so it is Monday, and the Lieutenant jets in this afternoon after two years forward-deployed in the Far East. It is fortuitous timing, since we start the End of Days today- for Willow, anyway.

This will be the last Monday of operations. I anticipate the crowd will be large this evening as it has been since the announcement of the impending closure. The restaurant did 300 dinners or something on Saturday, a volume that, had it continued, might have saved the institution regardless of the outrageous rent.

Oh well. Carpe Diem, right?

I have some other things to accomplish this morning. I was going to consider the Fall of the West that appears to be in progress, or the overthrow of Liberal PM Tony Abbott down in OZ by his own party, or the implications of the chaos in the cyber world that is putting the mighty and the meek at equal risk.

But frankly, I am still chilled from the seventy minutes I swam yesterday. The water was 80 degrees, and not that bad, but the breeze was brisk, actually causing me to drift before its power across the deep end, and by the time the book-tape ran its course and the murder mystery solved, I was shivering in the water and then almost catatonic when I got out.

A scalding hot shower did not completely bring me back, though a stiff drink helped as I fired up the television. The stupid Redskins- can I still say that this season?- lost the opener.

So we lurch into Fall. A week from today everything will be the same, but completely different. Pool and Willow both closed. What is a city mouse to do?

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303