Lunch Time (3 cents)

Something about Passover makes you want to eat lunch early.

But I was on the phone, so in order to make the Tuesday concert at Epiphany Episcopalian I would have had to walk faster than usual, and even then I would be late. And, besides, did I really want to sit through a concert of Native American flute music, when the weather was so nice? (Not that I have any idea of what this music would sound like) With a pang of guilt, I decided not to go.

So, what to do? Remember, I was very hungry. I decided to get a salad at Cosi, and began walking up Connecticut Avenue, to turn onto M Street and go to 20th. Well, I guess I missed my turn, because before I knew it, I was all the way to the circle.

Then, I remembered that the books at Second Story's table were marked at $2 yesterday, so I thought there was a good chance that a new $4 shipment would be in today. No, the books were still $2, so I spent no time there. Besides, you recall, I was hungry.

So, I walked down 20th Street, past Eli's Kosher Restaurant (closed for the holiday without so much of a sign explaining why the door was locked and the lights off) to the 20th and M Cosi, where I dutifully ate my salad (reading sections 2 and 4 of the Wall Street Journal: how to get a job when you are over 50, what happens when your friend becomes your boss, Museum of Modern Art exhibit on contemporary Spanish architecture, and a few health related articles), having rejected the Cosi bread.

I left the restaurant feeling not quite fulfilled, so I decided to go to the Mud Hut at 17th and M, and get a cup of coffee. Probably the best and most consistently good coffee in the neighborhood (but as a lunch place, the restaurant's unusual menu has not changed in a decade, and many more tables are empty than filled), which I did.

It was too pretty to go back to the office, so I decided to cross 17th Street and walk east on M, past the National Geographic, and the Wilderness Society, and the NEA, and the American Chemical Society, and the Jefferson Hotel, and the American Chess Center and the Madison Hotel, and the Homebuilders, and the Wyndam Hotel, and Thomas Circle, where I had to detour to L Street because of construction.

I walked L Street to, I think it is 10th, where construction intervenes one more time (condominiums galore), and I went down to I and continued, with no destination east on H, where, opposite the Grand Hyatt as I walked along the site of the former D C Convention Center, I came upon a parade in support of Fulan Gong, and a very impressive one it was. Large two and three person banners in Chinese and English, claiming that the Chinese government was persecuting practitioners, putting them in concentration camps, and taking their organs and selling them (sometimes even before the prisoners have died). They tell a horrific, if true, story in a very respectful way. There were, I would guess, 30 or 40 banners. (As to whether the story is true, I had been reading about all of this in the weekly Epoch Times, but that paper has some connection with Fulan Gong, I think.)

There was also a large movie crew on the old convention center site. Trailers and trailers. Including a catering trailer and, by my count, a line up of 80 large bottles of water.

At any rate, after the parade ended, I turned south again and walked down to the DC library (what a depressing, and embarrassing place that is) and went in to see if there were any books for sale that interested me. (There rarely are here). And, the first book I picked up was Bill Gates' book on business practices in the 21st century, signed by Gates with a letter to a Congressman Johnson (not sure who that is, but will find out). Not a book that I will ever read, but for $2...........

Because time was growing short, I was going to take the subway back, but the weather was just too good, so I walked.

I had left my office about 12:15, and returned about 2:10. Not too bad. No concert, no museum. but not too bad.