I want what you're hiding, hiding out of frame

[sovay]

Today's moment of public service: explaining American dollar coins to a pair of confused young Canadians in Davis Station. Their fare vending machine had cashed out their change in a mix of Susan B. Anthonys and Sacagaweas. I was able to reassure them that the coins were real legal tender, after which they were fascinated. "You have dollar coins?" I felt useful.

I love the closing image of this interview of Jan Morris whistling "Oh, How I Hate to Get Up in the Morning." I learned that song from my grandparents. I never heard a recorded version until 2005.

Co-signed by Autolycus and Hestia: "Black cat bring good luck."

Comments

[moon_custafer]

I believe it is sadly no longer true that the slot machines in Vegas pay out in silver dollars.

When my father was a child in the 1950s, his family did a road trip one summer that I believe took them through Vegas (?) You know, I think it must have been Atlantic City, because he mentioned finding the silver dollars mostly on the beaches. Anyway, it almost made up for his worries that people would mistake my grandfather for a gangster—which sounded absurd to me, but some years later I saw some slides from the trip, and Grandpa owned a pinstripe suit in those days which I suppose did make him look a bit sinister (actually he was a perfectly amiable clergyman in the United Church of Canada, which is roughly the same thing as the United Methodists).

[sovay]

You know, I think it must have been Atlantic City, because he mentioned finding the silver dollars mostly on the beaches.

That's a great road-trip memory to have.