The return of the legendary Scribe to the Tuesday breakfast table
PRINCETOWN — This week, the OMOTM gathered at Chris's Chuck Wagon Diner in Princetown. We were treated to another fantastic sunrise which portends some lousy weather is on the way to us, but not before we enjoyed another fine breakfast with plenty of fresh hot coffee delivered to us almost before we sat down.
This feat is made flawlessly and routinely by Ron, who received a special proclamation praising his efforts that was read out loud in front of the entire group. Congratulations to Ron; he certainly deserves it. If we OMOTM don’t have our good, hot coffee before, during, and then after breakfast, we get grumpy, and, as I have told you before, you know what happens when the OFs get grumpy. It is not pretty.
Along with acknowledging the great service from Ron, we had a truly extra-special surprise to all of the OMOTM: John R. Williams, the Scribe himself, walked in and sat down in his regular spot and ordered breakfast after first receiving his hot cup of coffee from you know who!
I don’t want to over-do this, or be too dramatic, but it did take the Scribe some time to eat his breakfast while being welcomed back by a roomful of smiling and happy OFs, who were very glad to see him where he belongs on a Tuesday morning.
The Pinch Hitter, me, was among those welcoming the Scribe back. I handed him the list of OFs present and my notes of the meeting. I should say I tried to hand him these things, as he politely declined my attempts to retire back to the bench. Let me just tell the regular readers of this column a quick story concerning the Scribe that happened just today.
A regular customer at the Chuck Wagon, Richard R., happened to be eating breakfast there this morning. He took note of the group of OFs, 27 of us this morning, in the other room eating breakfast and having a good time.
He recognized us for, as he put it in an email to the editor of The Altamont Enterprise, “He had only read about The Legendary OMOTM!” and here they were! He even said he thought about asking for autographs! That would have been fun.
The point I am trying to make is this: The OMOTM are what they are because of two things, one, because The Altamont Enterprise has been printing this column for all these years and two, because the Scribe, John Williams, has been writing this column for all these years. If any one OF is legendary, it is you, Scribe, it is you.
Pipe-wrench magnet
One of the OFs had what looked like a bright red miniature pipe wrench (about the size of a large ballpoint pen) in his shirt pocket. I think it was probably a manufacturer’s advertising give-away. I think there was a thermometer located at the other end.
He took it out of his pocket and showed it around the table. Then another OF came by and sat down close by and promptly asked about the bright red miniature pipe wrench in his pocket. Our OF took the “pipe wrench” out of his shirt pocket and showed it to the newcomer and put it back in his pocket.
A few minutes later, you guessed it, yet another OF stopped by to ask a question to someone at the table and noticed the “red pipe wrench” in the shirt pocket and, of course, asked about it.
Again, the OF pulled it out and explained all about it and, as he was putting it back into his shirt pocket, he commented that he had no idea that his little red pipe wrench/thermometer advertising give-away gimmick would be the object of so much conversation.
I wonder if the manufacturer had as much success attracting attention with his advertising give-away as the OF got by having it in his pocket Tuesday morning.
Snowbird adventure
A couple of OFs are headed to Florida in the next couple of weeks for a taste of spring and some warm sunshine, as compared to what we are looking at around here for the next few days. This prompted questions about where exactly they were going in Florida — east coast, west coast, etc.
One OF said he used to drive his mother down to Sanibel Island, Florida right after Thanksgiving and then would drive her back in the spring. He bragged about never receiving a speeding ticket in the 10 years or so he made this trip — although he did admit he deserved a few.
He told the story about once, when he was driving through the mountains in Pennsylvania on a four-lane divided highway, he was passing a slower car that was in the passing lane, on the right as they were going around a curve right into a trooper with a radar gun.
The trooper looked up and saw two cars, side by side, one car had a nice young man driving his gray-haired mother in her little baby blue Cadillac in the right lane, and the other car was in the left lane.
The trooper knew somebody was speeding and assumed it had to be the guy in the left passing lane. The OF did slow down and told his mother that he just got caught speeding.
Sure enough, the trooper pulled out with his lights flashing, caught up with them and promptly pulled the slow-moving car that was in the left passing lane over! The OF could just imagine the conversation that occurred between the trooper and the man in the slow car!
All in all, it was another really great breakfast as we welcomed the Scribe back and acknowledged the fine contributions of Ron to our breakfast enjoyment. Tuesday's OFs included John Williams, Harold Guest, Wally Guest, Miner Stevens, Frank Fuss, Marty Herzog, Russ Pokorny, Roger Shafer, Roland Tozer, Jake Herzog, Pastor Jay Francis, John Dab, George Washburn, Wm Lichliter, Michael Kruzinski, Dave Hodgetts, Paul Guiton, Bob Donnelly, Glenn Patterson, Mark Traver, Joe Rack, Lou Schenck, Jack Norray, Gerry Cross, Henry Whipple, Herb Bahrman, and me.