observations of the day

Observed around Gone West today:

1. Some sort of trash/construction/demolition truck that tried to cross the median on the highway. It was captured by the cables that are intended for exactly that purpose, but I'm not sure I like how far those cables turn out to stretch. 
2. A bus that had been in an accident (the police cars had left and the bus turned onto a side road by the time I inched my way up to the scene).
3. One block further, someone in a Saturn had t-boned one of the police SUVs as it left the bus accident. The officer leaning over to knock on the window of the Saturn did not look pleased.
4. A flat cart tossed down the hill toward the water at the waterfront park. I liked the wheels. If it doesn't get removed, I may take it for the wheels. They seem like they'd be useful someday. Maybe I can make a sidewalk taxi* out of them.
5. An office chair, just hanging out among the benches along the waterfront.
6. A guy on a skateboard with a sword not very well hidden under his shirt, the point sticking up on his shoulder. I didn't say anything, nor did I call the police. He wasn't doing anything but hiding a sword. Totally normal.

Then I came home and made quinoa for a butternut squash salad but ended up eating most of the quinoa out of the pan while the squash was roasting. I was hungry, and the squash was taking too long.

...

* A sidewalk taxi is a thing we used to make as kids in Liberia, where there were no sidewalks.** Naturally. It is a flat piece of plywood with wheels attached. You sit on it and your friends push you around. You can steer it by pushing on the front axle with your feet, the front axle being exposed beyond the end of the plywood. It's hard to explain. I have a picture somewhere, namely, in the Mitten.

** There are no sidewalks in the town where I grew up. Monrovia has some sidewalks.