Well, Washington DC is making me feel like good ol' CB.
Ok, I'm not really being 'picked on' but I'm sure being 'yelled at' a lot.
Let me explain.
Incident at the Washington Monument.
Like every other tourist in town, we took a pic (or 20) at the WM. All well & good, until we decided to get at bit closer.
BTW, the WM is closed & is circled by a temp. fence. It seems that the area's surprise late August quake really left the world's most famous phallic symbol 'all shook up' to the point of possible serious structural damage.
Engineers are even playing 'mountain climber' to fully assess the damage.
Anyway, a pro photographer asked a Park Ranger if he could go up to the temp. fence to take some close ups. Permission granted. He went & I - brazen blogger that I am - followed.
We both stopped at least 30 feet this side of the fence, but before snapping a single pic another less liberal guard ran towards us, arms flailing & screamed us out of the area.
Ok, this guy IS standing in the shadow of a multi ton structure that may have had enough internal damage to break apart & land on his head. So the stress may have made him snap.
We'll give him a Mulligan.
Incident #2: The Capital.
Minding our own business behind congress' home, we're approached by a machine gun carrying guard who demands we leave the area & go across the street.
Sandy, wondering if were in danger, asks if it's normal procedure for guards to have automatic weapons.
She's told it isn't, something is going on but since she's doesn't have intelligence clearance, he's not going to tell her anything & to get moving - asap - across the street.
Hey, Bin Laden's kin could be scuba-ing in the pool behind me.
Maybe - with our still fresh Jersey Shore tans - we were looking a bit too 'middle eastern' to him.
And why give his trigger finger any more itch?
Mulligan part deux.
Incident #3: The White House.
Seconds after this picture was taken, a secret service guard shouted at us - and the 60 or so other folk snapping pics - that the street was now closed and we all had to move.
When we didn't immediately disappear in less than a nano second, he grew louder, more demanding & seemed very, very angry. We moved, but there was a lot of crowd grumble.
I mean, we were all at more than 2 football fields away from the Oval Office. So far away that you can't see the (at least 2) armed guards on the White House roof in this pic.
Ok, granted I'm no security expert, but we were so distant from anything Obama that unless someone in the group had a ground to air missle hidden in his walker, I think the president was safe.
And even if I am wrong about the long term safety issue, the SSG could have at least - at this initial stage of the incident - been polite.
There are no more Mulligans.
Tomorrow will be my Day 2 in Washington. I'm hoping that today was an aberration & that voices, tempers & trigger fingers will mellow.
If not, I'm going to find a burg where the locals are more polite, friendly & really know how to treat outsiders.
You know, one of those warmer/fuzzier places, like - say - Beirut, Devil's Island or maybe even New York City.
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