Circling The Wagons
One of the things that I used to write about rather frequently in this blog (Pre-Virus) was my early morning Playgroup at St. Arbucks, AKA – “The Usual Suspects.” It was my wife, the lovely and always welcome, Dawn, who named this gathering of Geezers as my Playgroup. I came up with “the “Usual Suspects.” I think her choice is more accurate.
We are a bunch of mainly retired gentlemen who get together to get out of the house and give our wives some peace. Our ages range from early 60s up to the mid 80s. Some of us were teachers while others were Chiropractors, Store Owners, and Whatever I was. We have one fellow who is still working. The rest of us look down on him. We had one female member of our group, but she wised up and moved out of state.
Almost everyday of the week we meet over coffee to discuss just about any topic except politics. We have that restriction as a health measure to avoid heart attacks and assault and battery issues. If one of the crew does start to bring up something political I will loudly interrupt with, “How about them Cubbies?” just to change the subject.
During this time of restricted social gatherings and face masks our normal meetings inside the nearby Starbucks were seriously disrupted. An alternate solution was called for.
Fortunately our Chapel of St. Arbucks (Patron Saint of Jittery People) is located adjacent to the parking lot of a Strip Mall that can accommodate several hundred parked cars. Each morning we would get our coffee via the Drive-Thru Lane and then move over to the larger parking lot. We circled our wagons (SUVs and Sedans), pulled some lawn chairs from the trunk, and carried on without missing a beat. On most mornings we had a circle of 5 to 7 vehicles. The only problems that ever arose with this arrangement were the occasional rain and swarms of gnats that found us much too attractive.
Actually there was one other problem that plagued our Parking Lot Playgroup. One of our noble Geezers had a real hearing problem and maintaining a good Social Distance caused a lot of shouting of “WHAT?” It wouldn’t have been so bad if he had remembered to put in his hearing aids. His hearing was bad, but so was his memory. Too many mornings he would leave his hearing aids at home on the kitchen table so everyone ended up shouting at him over their coffee.
A couple of weeks ago our prayers to Juan Valdez were answered and we were blessed when the Starbucks reopened the doors to their cafe. So far the weather has been pleasant and we have been meeting on their outdoor seating area. The lawn chairs are back in the trunk and the gnats haven’t found us. As far as I’m concerned this arrangement has an even better positive aspect: By ditching the Drive-Thru lane and ordering inside I am getting my iced coffee free refill once again. That’s all that is really important.
Life as we know it on this planet will continue.
Down the Hall on Your Left 
Glad to hear you are experiencing progress–or in this case, regress. I went to a Books and Beer group last night that has been only virtual for the past four months. It was delightful to be with old friends by means of personal corporeal presence.
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Not going for coffee was the hardest part of lockdown for my hubby. I made hin coffee at home with tasty fresh baked treats, but he said it wasn´t the same. Oh well, I tried.
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It was more the time spent with the Usual Suspects than the coffee.
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I love this idea. I have been the chief monthly organizer of our retired teachers’ group. We get together once a month (so we don’t get sick of one another) 😎, but I now I can see the light. What we’re missing is a cool nickname. I’m going to work on it since “Old Farts” just doesn’t have the same ring to it that “Usual Suspects” does.
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My wife refers to these guys as my “Play Group.”
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Aren’t you glad that the Playgroup namer contacted the Brain Trust namer and found out they were meeting again? And, yes, you were more pleased just to be back with your gang, but you did get excited when you were able to get your free refill, too. On behalf of all the wives, we appreciate the peace, too!
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Thanks for the great laughs, John. You never come up short. Good news on your playgroup!
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