Baja St. Martin

I’m back from Florida where I spent several days with friends and family. It was so nice to have so many together. One of the things we did was to tour the Naval Air Museum. That was spectacular. The IMAX show about the Blue Angels was incredible and I was able to watch most of it, closing my eyes only now and then when the motion threatened to upset my equilibrium.
We also spent an hour or more in Joe Patti’s Seafood place and that, too, is amazing. If you’ve never been there be prepared for a madhouse. There are ice-filled trays with just about every imaginable type of fish displayed. You take a paper number and when the guy on the microphone calls your number you push your way through the crowd toward the trays and tell a worker what you want. It looks and sounds like complete chaos in side but I just stood in a corner and watched for a few minutes and could see that the service was really rapid. People were getting their fish or whatever and were out the door in no time.
One side room of the seafood place was for all sorts of gourmet items – breads, jams, gelato, sushi, gift items and prepared foods. That room was a madhouse also, but I didn’t see or hear anyone complaining about the speed of service. A really neat place.
Traffic going to Pensacola on Dec. 22 at 5 a.m. was heavy and the light-to-moderate rain didn’t help. Legal or not, there are plenty of those halogen headlights in use and they are even brighter in the rain. Plus there are too many drivers out there who do not dim their lights in traffic, who don’t use their turn signals or do turn them on but then go the opposite direction.
I saw two or three vehicles nosed down in the median – no visible injury – several cars pulled over on the side, maybe so the driver could text or answer a phone, and sometimes it was obvious they were disabled with hoods raised. Honestly, not all that many State Police cars enroute but lots and lots of big trucks. The latter are terrible when they pass you in the rain, creating sheets of water splashing up.
I was so pleased to receive a Christmas card from a college roommate whom I have seen only once since we graduated in l961. She married, moved to Central America, got divorced, became a school principal back in the states and married again. An alumni newsletter led to our getting back in touch. Hearing from her brings back so many memories of all the fun we had. We roomed together until she pledged a sorority and I moved into an apartment.
I just wish we – she and I – could locate our other best friend and occasional roommate whom neither of us has heard from even once. Fifty-four years is a long time ago!
I occasionally reminisce with my granddaughter and she laughs at the restrictions college students had in the ’60s. Curfew! Housemothers! Saying good night to a date on the dorm steps! Paying back late minutes! Yes, indeed, we had to make up for every minute past curfew! My oh my! We’ve come a long way, baby!

Teche News’ Lower St. Martin correspondent, Linda Cooke, can be e-mailed at lindacooke1939@gmail.com.