Philly Lyft Volume II

Lyfting Philly on a Sunday afternoon. Turned onto Lombard with my mellow contemporary playlist merrily shuffling along in the early holiday season. I was on the prowl for “Seat Heat”, that’s right, warm buns on smooth, fragrant, leather. Got a ping on South Street a block over, made a quick loop up 11^th, backtrack Pine, left on South and I’m on her like sweat on a fat Uncles bald head! Drop off 7 minutes later and the hunt is on.

Four minutes, two hundred forty seconds if you like, and I’m on target again. This one’s a big fish too! Premier ride that is, someone who cares just a little bit about riding in comfort and is willing to pay a modest premium on the fare for the consideration. “The Ride” in this case is a black 2105 Cadillac SRX. When it turned out that this Lyft thing was actually profitable, the wife and I decided to consider seriously moving up to a more, “adult” vehicle. Fine, I’m bragging a little, this ride is the bee’s knees!

Pine Street, Panama, Cypress, and Spruce

Potholes that make my lug nuts shake loose

West bound on Walnut make a left down to Penn

Drop off and make ready to do it again

Back to back pickups at the animal clinic/shelter on Grays Ferry. Two cats both trips, one lady with two cats first and then a couple with sibling kittens the next. The first lady had a twenty year old handsome fellow who yowled on and off the whole ride. Nothing grating or objectionable, he just wanted everyone to know he wasn’t happy with the situation. Hope he’s able to enjoy those golden cat years for just a little longer.

There’s a big old historic cemetery on Woodland Ave. Lots of historic dead folks are buried there. Thomas and Susan Eakins, Anthony Joseph Drexel Biddle Jr. & Sr. and almost 30,000 other dearly departed to keep them company. Picked up a neatly attired couple just past the gates for a ride to center city. Took a smooth cruise up the Schuylkill Distressway through the tunnels of Vine as they took note of my informational literature conveniently proffered in the seat pockets. Quick bio, some safety tips, playlist menu, all professionally designed and Vista-printed on glossy stock!

All right, hold on now! Need to lean in and bend this hard to the left around Rittenhouse Square, then a quick flick to the right and steady as she goes please on Locust. A nice Korean couple with the simply stated destination of Chinatown! North on Broad Street and we’ll need some help leaning it around city hall square, this is a fine city but this business of randomly dropping large buildings and parks in the middle of perfectly nice straight streets is tiresome at times.

Eagles game today starts late, still don’t want to cut it too close on time. One or two more and it’ll be time to head for the barn. One reason I want to jot some of this stuff down is to get in the habit of noticing things about people. I do that anyway but I never write it down and it occurs to me that some of the most interesting characters I’ll ever write are walking around right in front of me every day. If some of them are willing to warm my seats and help make the car payment in the process, why fight city hall so to speak!

First thing I notice about this next group is, these are some large people. Two large, one larger and why does the seven foot tall guy always sit in the middle? Look in the rearview mirror and all I see is head. Nice folks, pleasant ride to Christian, you know between Carpenter and Catherine, the three C’s of South Philly. Time for one more? Sure there is! Started a slow troll South towards the Walt and home, didn’t make it but a block past Washington and caught a couple on the way to one of those fancy bistros on Rittenhouse. Home by 3:15 and 55 bucks richer for the effort. Back in plenty of time to watch the Eagles win the game, lock up the division, and lose the quarterback all in one afternoon.

In Nick we trust! Go Eagles!