There are a few levels to the fruit stand. Today, just like yesterday, I was asked to go to another level to see if a door had been left open. It may have been left open but it was not intentional. A delivery is made and when the delivery person leaves the door does not close completely.

So I get a call to check out the other level, walking past a few nondescript people and when I open one to door to check the opther door, there is a vacuum which closes the door that was ajar. Then it’s a walk and a lift to the level I generally work on, past the fruit pickers to tell the security bee that everything is taken care of.

It’s been that kind of day. There was an entourage that strolled in. They didn’t pay much attention to me, and they don’t have to. I am just the gatekeeper at this fruit stand. And I am fine with that position. I’m not picking fruit, i am not planting seeds, I am just manning the fruit stand and whatever requests might come across my way.

Right now the temperature is 95° with a real feel temperature of 105°. Despite that, I did go outside for about a half hour. I sat in the shade and puffed a nice Plasencia cigar. Nice size, decent ring gauge and overall a very pleasant little cigar. I look forward to having one again and again.

I rediscovered the Every Noise at Once website which has just about every type of music listed from around the world. It is sort of a companion to Radio Garden which has radio station signals from around the world, situated on a globe which one can spin and check out music from Dublin, Ireland or Colombo, Sri Lanka, or Montenegro.

The woman who cleans the fruit stand during the day is from Montenegro, so I played a few stations from there. The music was mostly in English and they do like the late Gregory Isaacs and his lovers rock reggae.

Mike is at his crib, Bill is at his gym and I am at the fruit stand. Yancy was here this morning, and it was not as bad as I anticipated, and it is never as bad as I anticipated. I’ve just been snacking all day, opting for fruit from the stand for lunch. A chilled orange and soon a banana.

Marcus has been asking my opinion regarding suits and I advised him as much as I could. He is looking to leave the fruit stand and I am hoping that he doesn’t but he says five years at the fruit stand is more than enough for him and he’s looking elsewhere, to the world of finance where I worked a couple of times in the past.

I told him that it is not as ‘laid back’ as the fruit stand and he realizes that, it’s just that familiarity breeds contempt and he is getting overly familiar with the fruit stand life and all it entails.

Tuesday, July 14. My niece Corinne was born in the 80’s on this day. I can’t really say what the exact year was but I got the date right thanks to social media reminders. It was my niece Kasey’s birthday the other day. I wished her a happy birthday from my file of birthday greetings and I will do the same for Corinne when I get home tonight.

Some families are closer than others. My family is not like that. Distance, time, and life keep us apart. Other families are not like that. They are tight and always in each other’s business. Bill’s family was like that, though the previous generation have faded away, as my family had.

We weren’t close and did not see much of each other. Sometimes, years had gone by. I have no recollection of most of my grandparents. My mother’s father stayed with us for a few days in 1973? 1974? It was around Th

anksgiving. He was an alcoholic and did not have much to do with me. I was assigned to watch him while everyone had their post dinner naps. I fixed him a cup of coffee which he filled with booze once my back was turned. Everyone thought it cute and funny. I was just glad I was not in trouble.

I don’t think my grandfather lasted much after that. A wake in the Bronx, a funeral in Valhalla Cemetary in Westchester. I know I have not gone there since then. I do not even go to the grave of my parents. Annemarie did and Brian has. Not me though. I usually only think of my mother anyhow. I have been driven past it more than I had ever visited.

Today is supposed to be the first day of yet another heat wave. I wore jeans today, though tomorrow I am certain I will be wearing shorts. Yancy will be here once again in the morning. I think he will have a few things to say regarding mistakes that I had made yesterday. Mistakes that were corrected in a minute or two after they were made but the whole rationale is that they should not have been made in the first place.

I tried to cover up and explain as things went on and I hoped that no one from my team took notice of it but the voice in the back of my head tells me, of course they know and I am in big trouble, in danger of losing my job which would be awful.

Now I keep my head down. I had a major request of a couple of dozen names and it was mainly all copying and pasting and that leaves no room for mistakes but knowing me I will always find a way to make a mistake.

I just finished listening to Pink Flag from Wire, a group that sort of resembles the Jack Chicks that I wrote about yesterday. I have to say the comment posted about yesterday’s post was a little bit better than the original post.

It is time to have lunch but I am not hungry. I ate because it was time to eat.

Then a two hour online class about sexual harrassment. Apparently, I’ve been doing it all wrong (insert rimshot) https://instantrimshot.com/
That’s about it. 105° is expected for tomorrow.