When I started combing through the pictures I took of the meeting with former co-workers, one thing became quite obvious. And, you may remember that some of the girls complimented my ballet flats. Nothing else “girly” was commented upon, despite my purse and women’s shorts However, when I took a look at the pictures, I noticed one thing which was “bigly” amiss:
Did you notice that my legs were noticeably un-tanned? That “winter-pale” appearance may be what drew their attention down to my feet. You might say that “it’s the light!” Yes, some of it is definitely the light – there wasn’t much of that. The man next to me is standing in even a bit less light. However, not that much less. And in better light, his legs were still much more tanned than mine. Might have something to do with the pandemic, and my not having been out to enjoy the spring weather.
But now my task is to slowly (without getting burned) get out in the sun for a cursory attempt to make the sun be my friend…and without stirring up a melanoma. When I wear skirts and dresses, I really don’t want my legs to be so jarringly pale!
Recently I had occasion to attend a retirement party for a former co-worker, in a northern suburb of Baltimore. Whenever I have to cross the Bay Bridge, I figure out other “new to me” sites to visit. This trip, I had only a short window of time, thus I decided on a quick stop at Fort Howard, on the North Point peninsula.
This required a trip across the Francis Scott Key bridge. Having lived in the area for so many years, and having never before stopped at the adjacent park (a former military fort) on prior trips for a side-view picture of the bridge, I took a chance and ventured into Fort Armistead Park to get it. This park is notoriously not well maintained, contains areas where amounts of graffiti are massive, and there are alleged criminal issues requiring police attention. (One site on-line had even recommended that females not go there unaccompanied! Thus up to now, because my appearance is feminine, I’ve stayed away.) But I wanted the picture, so I went to on-line mapping programs, and found a quick-in, quick-out route, where I could grab a quarter-view picture without being more than 50 ft from my car, insuring safety.
Since my ultimate destination was to a place where I’d be mingling with former co-workers, I tried to scale down the feminine look that day and went with shorts, an old work polo top with the company name embroidered on it (kept as a souvenir), bare legs and my ballet flats. (And subseqently, two of the women obviously noticed my flats- they told me how nice they look on me!) When I got to Fort Armistead Park I noticed the nice concrete sign at the entry was well-covered with graffitti, only a few cars were in that parking lot, and no folks were lurking around. Nonetheless, feeling rather insecure, I hopped out of the car, took my picture quickly, and promptly left! No exploring this place! The result of that jaunt is below…side view of a well-lit and very pretty bridge!
Key Bridge from Fort Armistead Park, Baltimore
Then it was off to Fort Howard…
It’s located in the present-day unincorporated community and “census designated place” of Fort Howard, MD, strategically situated overlooking the geographic entrance to the Patapsco River from the Chesapeake Bay at the terminal end of the North Point peninsula. That peninsula is surrounded by Back River to the east, Old Roads Bay to the west, and the Patapsco River to the south, forming its three water boundaries.
Known as North Point in 1793, and named after sea Captain Robert North, Fort Howard is the beach-head location of the British expeditionary marine forces landing of approximately 4,500 as a part of the land and sea campaign to capture and burn Baltimore during the War of 1812 on September 12, 1814 in the Battle of Baltimore. Which, to date, is the largest invasion of the homeland in US history.) In coordination with the Royal Navy bombardment of Fort McHenry (September 13–14), and which was under the command of Lt. Col. George Armistead, British troops were to march up the North Point peninsula and capture Baltimore from the east. But the British advance was demoralized when the commander, Major-General Robert Ross (1766–1814), was killed by a sharpshooter.
The advance was then stalled by Americans’ fierce resistance presented by several regiments of the Maryland Militia in the Battle of North Point on September 12, southeast of the city. After the battle that afternoon, the American left-wing finally collapsed and “retreated in good order” to the far more substantial dug-in fortifications with about 100 cannons and 20,000 volunteer and drafted citizens and militia erected under the supervision of Maj. Gen. Samuel Smith (1752–1839), on the heights east of the city, “Loudenschlager Hill” (later “Hampstead Hill”). When the British, now under Col. Arthur Brooke (1772–1843), perceived the strength of the substantial American defenses and failing to make any successful flank attacks, awaited the reinforcements of the British fleet to come upriver to bomb and shell the Fort and force a passage past the sunken ship obstacles in Harbor channel.
After two days and a rainstorm-filled night, disheartened, the British troops withdrew, retreating back to North Point, reboarded their ships leaving Baltimore, not to return.
The site was taken over in 1896 by the U.S. Department of War for the construction of coastal artillery fortifications in the pre-Spanish-American era before 1898. In 1902, reinforced concrete coast batteries were erected at Fort Howard. The batteries were named in honor of famous Marylanders of the War of 1812. Fort Howard, called the “Bulldog at Baltimore’s Gate,” was manned by four companies of Coast Artillery Corps. The guns at the Fort included 12-inch disappearing rifles, 12-inch mortars, 6-inch rifles, and 4.7 and 3-inch rapid-fire weapons. Each battery contained from two to four guns. The gunners who manned these batteries were among the best coastal artillerymen in the world. In 1908 they were credited with setting a world’s record by hitting a moving target over 5,000 yards away, nine out of ten times. The shell that missed was defective.
In 1917, the troops at Fort Howard were doubled and its men were put on a wartime basis due to the concerns of an impending war. To keep in shape, the gunners drilled by mock firing on steamers which were the only crafts sighted in their waters. The artillerymen who lived on the base resided in what was like any ordinary small city. Along the main driveway were attractive officers’ cottages, one of which belonged to the commander of the Fort. The “Bachelors’ Quarters” was one of the four barracks housing single enlisted men, while married men were permitted to live outside the gate.
It was the first headquarters of the newly formed Third Corps Area in 1920, and became the Headquarters of the Coast Defenses of Baltimore in 1922. The nurses’ home was the headquarters of General Douglas MacArthur from 1925 to 1928.
The installation was turned over to the U.S. Veterans Administration in 1940, which still owns the majority of the property, and which established a Veterans Hospital on the site. During WW II it was used as a holding center for German prisoners of war and Japanese and German “enemy aliens” (non-citizen residents of the U.S. who were arrested as potential “fifth columnists” but, in most cases, denied due process).
In the 1960s it was used as an auxiliary training area for the U. S. Army Intelligence School at Fort Holabird in Dundalk. A typical Vietnamese village was built there to train Special Forces (“green Berets”) for counterinsurgency operations in the Vietnam War. The village had realistic tunnels. Instructors acted the part of insurgents who were captured and subjected to training interrogation and often to harsh treatment. Also in the 1960s and until the mid-1970s, other students were trained there in water and land infiltration and instructors were the opposition. When students were caught they were interrogated in the underground coastal defense bunkers. All training ceased when the Intelligence school moved to Fort Huachuca in Arizona.
The portion of the property containing the old coastal artillery fortifications was declared surplus federal land and was transferred to Baltimore County in 1975 for use as a historical park. Interpretive plaques and signs were placed throughout the park explaining the various military fortifications, weapons and their purposes. Two surviving examples of the 4.7” M1906 gun designed and issued by the US Army Ordnance Department in 1906 are on display at Fort Howard.
Fort Howard
This site provided a fascinating visit…clean, neat, and though tourism was not heavy, I noticed women visiting safely. Unfortunately, I ran out of time and had to leave to get to my appointed “meeting” in time. Hopefully I can soon return to finish my visit!
Best wishes for a Happy Independence day! And for those who will be partying just a bit, remember the old saying…if you want to be alive on the 6th, don’t have a “fifth” on the 4th! Stay sober and enjoy!
It’s a Penn Central GG-1 on the point of a passenger train, at the former Iron Road grade crossing in Wilmington, Delaware.
You may recall from my prior post: In 1968 the PRR with its 119 surviving GG1s merged with the New York Central Railroad, to form Penn Central. After its creation in 1971, Amtrak purchased 30 for $50,000 each. Amtrak attempted to replace the GG1s in 1975 with General Electric’s E60, but they were not a success: a 102-mile-per-hour derailment during testing had to be investigated (the E60 used the same trucks as the P30CH diesel then in service with Amtrak), which delayed acceptance, and the hoped-for 120 miles per hour service speed was never achieved.
It was not until Amtrak imported two lightweight European locomotives – one built by ASEA of Sweden and X996, a French design – that a replacement was found. The ASEA design, later commonly referred to often as the “Swedish Meatball”—was selected. Electro-Motive Diesel, then a part of General Motors, was licensed to build it and it became the basis of the AEM-7. With AEM-7s on hand, Amtrak finally replaced its GG1s, with discontinuance of GG1 service on Amtrak on April 26, 1980.
But they were impressive in their day…and had a really authoritative horn!
Things are so very quiet nowadays, that I’m going to have to dive into the archives for a post or two….
Below is a picture which can’t be replicated: a Penn Central GG-1 electric locomotive pulling a southbound freight on the Northeast Corridor back around 1972. The location is near Aberdeen Maryland:
A bit of history about the GG-1: It was 79 feet 6 inches long (about the length of a standard passenger car) and weighed 475,000 pounds. The frame of the locomotive was in two halves joined by a ball and socket joint, allowing it to negotiate sharper curves. The body rested on the frame and was clad in welded steel plates. Control cabs were near the center of the locomotive on each side of the main oil-cooled transformer and oil-fired train-heating boiler. This arrangement, first used on the PRR’s Modified P5 class, provided for greater crew safety in a collision and provided for bi-directional operation of the locomotive.
A pantograph on each end of the locomotive body was used to collect 11,000 V, 25 Hz alternating current (AC) from the overhead catenary. In operation, the leading pantograph was usually kept lowered and the trailing raised to collect current, since if the rear pantograph failed it would not strike the forward pantograph. A transformer between the two cabs stepped down the 11,000 V to the voltages needed for the traction motors and other equipment.At the time of the GG1’s introduction, railroad passenger cars required steam from the locomotive to operate heating equipment. The GG1 had an oil-fired steam generator to provide this to the train’s “steam line.”
The mechanical design of the GG1 closely followed the New Haven EP3, which had been borrowed earlier from the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad by the PRR for comparison with its current standard electric locomotive, the P5a. In 1933, the PRR decided to replace its P5a locomotives and told General Electric and Westinghouse to design prototype locomotives with the following specifications: a lighter axle load and more power than the P5a, a top speed of at least 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), a streamlined body design.
The first designer for the GG1 project was industrial designer Donald Roscoe Dohner, who produced initial scale styling models, although the completed prototype looked somewhat different. At some point, PRR hired famed industrial designer Raymond Loewy to “enhance the GG1’s aesthetics.” The final design is retrospectively labeled ‘Art Deco’ – as we know it today.
Both companies delivered their prototypes to PRR in August 1934. GE submitted their GG1 and Westinghouse submitted their R1. The R1 was essentially “little more than an elongated and more powerful version of the P5a” with an AAR wheel arrangement of 2-D-2. Both locomotives were tested for ten weeks in regular service between New York and Philadelphia and on a test track in Claymont. Because the R1’s rigid wheelbase prevented it from negotiating sharp curves and some railroad switches , PRR chose the GG1 and ordered 57 additional locomotives on November 10, 1934.[12] Of the 57, 14 were to be built by General Electric in Erie and 18 at the Altoona Works. The remaining 20 locomotives were to be assembled in Altoona with electrical components from Westinghouse in East Pittsburgh and chassis from the Baldwin Locomotive Works in Eddystone. An additional 81 locomotives were then built at Altoona between 1937 and 1943. and a single (central) control cab.
Incidents were few. Major ones included Train 173, the overnight Federal from Boston, which was approaching Washington behind GG1 4876 on 1/15/1953 and crashed into Union Station. It was caused by a blizzard which swept across the northeastern United States in February 1958. The storm put nearly half of the GG1s out of commission.
In 1968 the PRR with its 119 surviving GG1s merged with the New York Central Railroad, to form Penn Central. After its creation in 1971, Amtrak purchased 30 for $50,000 each
Amtrak attempted to replace the GG1s in 1975 with General Electric’s E60, but they were not a success: a 102-mile-per-hour (164 km/h) derailment during testing had to be investigated (the E60 used the same trucks as the P30CH diesel then in service with Amtrak), which delayed acceptance, and the hoped-for 120 miles per hour (193 km/h) service speed was never achieved
It was not until Amtrak imported two lightweight European locomotives – X995, an Rc4a built by ASEA of Sweden and X996, a French design – that a replacement was found. The ASEA design, initially nicknamed the “Swedish swifty” or the “Mighty Mouse”—and later referred to often as the “Swedish Meatball”—was the winning design. Electro-Motive Diesel, then a part of General Motors, was licensed to build it and it became the basis of the AEM-7. With AEM-7s on hand, Amtrak finally replaced its GG1s. GG1 service on Amtrak ended on April 26, 1980.
Penn Central went bankrupt in 1970 and its freight operations were later assumed by government-controlled Conrail, which used 68 GG1s in freight service until the end of electric traction in 1980.
Fifteen production locomotives and the prototype were preserved in museums. None are operational, as they had to have their main transformers removed due to the presence of PCBs (a hazardous carcinogen) in the insulating oil.
Onward after my visit to the big box store: to the hair salon. At least that was an uneventful visit! Nothing new and exciting. While at the salon, an email came through showing a reward available for a new purchase at a store in town. And I was looking for a roll of packing tape. So I added that office supply store to my list of places to visit.
Next stop was the electrical supply place, for some lights. I asked the help desk where to find them…and was told where they should be. Addressed as female by a twentysomething male. When I got there, a clerk was stocking shelves. So I asked him (a 40something male)…and he was totally useless. Got a stock answer of “we don’t have those, Ma’am.” (At least he interpreted me the way I looked – with freshly done hair, even if slightly windblown!) I walked around a bit and didn’t see any. Maybe the shelf-stocker was right, maybe not. But I’ve seen them on-line. So they lost a sale.
From there it was off to the office supply store in another town. Was able to get a good deal on the tape (used the coupon), and was even greeted as female.
Then it was home again…after gassing up the car – prices keep rising, so I don’t let the tank go below ½ before I fill up! No issues there, did not even elicit a glance from anyone.
When I arrived back home, I fired up the antique, backed it out of the garage and headed into town to mail a letter. Parked the car in the the lot at the post office and went inside. When I exited, I noticed a 20something guy standing by his newer Mustang, staring at me as I opened the car to throw my purse on the seat. Was he checking out “the car”, or “me?” I’ll never know for sure, but a reasonable theory would be “both.” He continued to stare after I was back in the car, as well as when I headed out the driveway. So I smiled and waved at him – and he waved back! Oops…. Was I perhaps seen as a bit too “flirty?” LOL!
The rest of the day was “at home, and uneventful” Now anticipating my next day “out and about.” Hope it can happen soon!
Actually resurrected my ballet flats today, as it was an early start and a bit chilly out (compared to recent heat.) The rest of my outfit was the usual capri pants and boat-neck tunic, with all my other accouterments. There were a number of stops to make in different areas, and a hair appointment
The first thing I noticed was the excessive amount of traffic on the main roads. And it seemed as though they were mostly “crazy drivers.” With different states’ plates on many of the cars, there’s no way I can blame the locals. And that traffic even extended to some of my “back road” shortcuts, though not quite as bad. Seems like hordes of people are out traveling – regardless of the pandemic, and there’s no way to know which mask-less, non-socially-distanced folks are fully vaccinated, or which have just decided to give up the battle and take their chances. Ugh.
So I’m driving down a residential street en-route to the shopping district in an area town, and though driving, I noticed a scruffy male standing in a flower bed, in close proximity to the 6-steps-up-from-the-sidewalk front porch of a house, with his arms at his side but his hands toward the front. I did a double-take, because as I got closer, he moved his hands away from his front, and carefully backed out from the flower bed. As I passed in the car, he began walking away from the house, on the sidewalk by the street. OMG what did I just see? Could it have been a homeless man “taking his morning leak?” Wow…I thought that was a big-city issue…maybe not so much!
One of the errands was to pick up some feminine hygiene products for wifey and redeem coupons for them at a big box store, along with buying some other things. I’ve purchased those products there before, and never had any issues. But this time, I couldn’t find them…apparently they were out of stock. So I went to find the second item, some shampoo, which also had a coupon, and then headed off for the other items. I tried self-checkout but had trouble with the machine, so summoned help. She got the machine working, and almost immediately, the shampoo coupon failed, just as she asked me if I “found everything I needed.” At that moment I relayed that I couldn’t find my feminine hygiene product, and now the coupon for the shampoo failed, so this visit was an absolute disaster. She noted that the coupon would work if I buy 2. So I ran back to the shelf – and lo and behold – there was no other stock of that fragrance of shampoo.
When I told her, she had the right supervisory tools to give me half the discount for the one bottle I purchased, as a courtesy. Nice. Fortunately wifey wasn’t out of the feminine hygiene product…we can pick some up at the local pharmacy till stock is replenished at the big box store. But the bonus of the issue about the out-of-stock feminine hygiene product was that I was now being addressed as female! All the way out the door! I hope it “sticks” for the next visit!
The Thomas Viaduct spans the Patapsco River and its valley between Relay and Elkridge, MD. It was commissioned by the B&O Railroad; built between July 4, 1833, and July 4, 1835; and named for Philip E. Thomas, the company’s first president. It remains the world’s oldest multiple arched stone railroad bridge.
At its completion, this viaduct was the largest railroad bridge in the United States and the country’s first multi-span masonry rail bridge to be built on a curve. It is divided into eight spans and was designed by Benjamin Henry Latrobe II, who was then B&O’s assistant engineer and later its chief engineer. In 1964, it was designated as a National Historic Landmark. In 2010, the bridge was designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Thomas Viaduct is now owned and operated by CSX Transportation (successor to the B&O) and still is in daily operation, making it one of the oldest railroad bridges still in service.
The viaduct’s span is 612 feet; individual arches are roughly 58 feet in span, with a height of 59 feet from water level to the base of the rail. Width at the top is 26 feet 4 inches. The bridge is constructed using a rough-dressed Maryland granite ashlar, known as Woodstock granite, from Patapsco River quarries. A wooden-floored walkway built for pedestrian and railway employee use is 4 ft. wide and supported by cast iron brackets and edged with ornamental cast iron railings. The viaduct contains 24,476 cubic yards of masonry and cost $142,236.51, equal to $3,568,301 today.
In 1835 the Washington Branch was constructed, including the Thomas Viaduct. This branch was at Relay, MD, the site of a former hotel and changing point for stagecoach horses. The 1830s Relay House served as a hotel until it was replaced by the $50,078.41 (equal to $1,081,833 today) Viaduct Hotel in 1872. The Gothic combination railroad station and hotel operated until 1938 and was torn down in 1950.
When the Thomas Viaduct was completed, a 15-foot obelisk bearing names of the builder, directors of the railroad, the architect and others associated with the viaduct was erected at the east end in Relay, by builder John McCartney. On one side the monument read: The Thomas Viaduct, Commenced July 4, 1833 Finished, July 4, 1835. He also celebrated the completed work by having his men kneel on the deck of the viaduct while mock “baptizing” them with a pint of whiskey.
Until after the Civil War, the B&O was the only railroad into Washington, DC. Thus, the Thomas Viaduct was essential for supply trains to reach the nation’s capital during that conflict. To prevent sabotage, the bridge was heavily guarded by Union troops stationed along its length.
In 1929, extensive mortar work on the masonry was carried out, and again in 1937. To counteract deterioration, the Thomas Viaduct underwent more cosmetic upgrades in 1938, performed by the B&O. The viaduct is still indicative of the way in which B&O track and major structures were constructed – built to last! At an unknown date, railing blocks were removed from the north side of the deck and a bracketed walkway added giving more lateral clearance.
From the 1880s to the 1950s, Thomas Viaduct carried B&O’s famed Royal Blue line passenger trains between New York and Washington. Until the late 1960s, the bridge also carried B&O passenger trains traveling to points west of Washington, such as the Capital Limited and National Limited, both westbound. With the advent of Amtrak on May 1, 1971, B&O ended its passenger train service, except for local Baltimore–Washington commuter trains. In 1986, CSX acquired the B&O and all of its trackage, including the Thomas Viaduct.
The bridge was designated a National Historic Landmark on January 28, 1964, and administratively listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966. In 2010, the bridge designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Yours truly has been over this landmark a number of times as a passenger, as well as having “looked up from ground level at its beauty.” It definitely is awe-inspiring…but so sad that they tore down the old hotel…it would have been a finishing touch to the scene!
During our most recent trip south to visit our son and his family, we made a “slight left turn” and dropped in on the Tennessee town of Greeneville, which we found has an important place in USA history. That’s because President Andrew Johnson (17th president, 1865 – 1869) lived here…
More about President Johnson…from school history, and a refresher found on Wikipedia. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln on April 14, 1865. Johnson was a Democrat who ran with Lincoln on the National Union ticket, coming to office as the Civil War concluded. He favored quick restoration of the seceded states to the Union without protection for the former slaves. This led to conflict with the Republican-dominated Congress, culminating in his impeachment by the House of Representatives in 1868. He was acquitted in the Senate by one vote.
Johnson was born into poverty in Raleigh, North Carolina, and he never attended school. He was apprenticed as a tailor and worked in several frontier towns before settling in Greeneville, Tennessee. He served as alderman and mayor there before being elected to the Tennessee House of Representatives in 1835. After brief service in the Tennessee Senate, Johnson was elected to the House of Representatives in 1843, where he served five two-year terms. He became governor of Tennessee for four years, and was elected by the legislature to the Senate in 1857. In his congressional service, he sought passage of the Homestead Bill, which was enacted soon after he left his Senate seat in 1862. Southern slave states seceded to form the Confederate States of America, including Tennessee, but Johnson remained firmly with the Union. He was the only sitting senator from a Confederate state who did not resign his seat upon learning of his state’s secession. In 1862, Lincoln appointed him as Military Governor of Tennessee after most of it had been retaken. In 1864, Johnson was a logical choice as running mate for Lincoln, who wished to send a message of national unity in his re-election campaign; and became vice president after a victorious election in 1864.
After Lincoln’s assassination in 1865, then-President Johnson implemented his own form of Presidential Reconstruction, a series of proclamations directing the seceded states to hold conventions and elections to reform their civil governments. Southern states returned many of their old leaders and passed Black Codes to deprive the freedmen of many civil liberties, but Congressional Republicans refused to seat legislators from those states and advanced legislation to overrule the Southern actions. Johnson vetoed their bills, and Congressional Republicans overrode him, setting a pattern for the remainder of his presidency. Johnson opposed the Fourteenth Amendment which gave citizenship to former slaves. This did not endear him to many folks. In 1866, he went on an unprecedented national tour promoting his executive policies, seeking to break Republican opposition. As conflict grew between the branches of government, Congress passed the Tenure of Office Act restricting Johnson’s ability to fire Cabinet officials. He persisted in trying to dismiss Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, but ended up being impeached by the House of Representatives and narrowly avoided conviction in the Senate. He didn’t win the 1868 Democratic presidential nomination and left office the following year.
Johnson returned to Tennessee after his presidency, and gained some vindication when he was elected to the Senate in 1875, making him the only former president to serve in the Senate. He died five months into his term. Johnson’s strong opposition to federally-guaranteed rights for black Americans is widely criticized; he is regarded by many historians as one of the worst presidents in American history. (Wonder where he fits, in comparison with some of our more recent ones?)
The Homestead
The train station
As for Greeneville itself, it’s a lovely town. We found the pretty little train station (naturally), still in use but not as a railroad station. As for his residence “The Homestead”, above left, Johnson owned it for 24 years, and lived here both before and after his presidency. During the Civil War, soldiers occupied the property and left it in disrepair. The Johnsons renovated it when they returned from Washington, filling it with Victorian furnishings and political gifts. Three generations of the family then occupied the home, before placing it in the stewardship of the National Park Service
And a very pretty property it is – that back porch is simply spectacular! It would be fun to go back for a tour when we have more time!
With the improvement in virus figures, and the fact that most Antique car events are held outside, the hobby is beginning to see an uptick in activity out here on the Delmarva. And yours truly finally fired up the antique to participate in one!
It was not a show…just an activity, thus there was no competition for a trophy. And I chose to wear a less feminine polo top with shorts, due to its relatively close-to-home location (yes, I did wear flats as opposed to sandals – in case there was gravel to walk on – which turned out to be an astute decision.) But it provided an opportunity to fire up the old car, clean the dust off, and give it some much needed exercise (something that at 10-12 miles per gallon on premium fuel costing over $3.50 a gallon, doesn’t happen without a purpose!)
Much to my surprise, the first person to approach the car after getting set up for the display, was a 40something guy, bald but with a cap, wearing what appeared to be men’s clothing and flip-flop type sandals. But that isn’t what I initially noticed. It was the fact that his pedicure featured the reddest, most sparkly pedicure I have ever seen on a man presenting as male. I could have stared at it, but didn’t. So I ignored his pretty polish, and went into my usual car-show demeanor, with some unspoken regret about having worn flats. Not wishing to embarrass him (or myself) if he was simply choosing to display fashion freedom, I said nothing about his polish. And sadly, did not remove my shoes.
Mandy's Miscellany 