Sunday is nostalgia day for me. Above is my Christmas card to most of you. I have a cane (see the light?) which I brought back from Machu Picchu, and a safari shirt tailored in Bangkok with four zippered pockets. You need to put the camera, iPod, money and other stuff somewhere. I actually have a half dozen of these in different prints, all in really comfortable material. The cane is a self-preservation device for mauling pit bulls and inconsiderate drivers. It's surprising how much they honor your crossing the street. They smile and wave you on. I cooperate by limping more.
I thought I'd start with Senator Dan Inouye's memorial service at Punchbowl. I read that you couldn't just walk up to the ceremonies (which were only a short distance from where I live), so I caught a bus to the Alapai Terminal, which was the only official site to get into the crater. Well, the ceremonies were at 10AM so I got to the bus station at 9AM, and was told that I needed a ticket, but, anyway, the final bus just left. Huh??? I heard that President and Mrs. Obama were there but he felt it best not to say anything.
Oh well, now what? What about walking to my old neighborhood, Kakaako? I tried to find my home, 524A Ahui Street, and the closest I could get was 522 (to the left):
Next, a 5 minute walk got me to the original site of my Pokuhaina Elementary School:
I love that theme: IF YOU WANT TO ACHIEVE GREATNESS, STOP ASKING FOR PERMISSION! Well, that campus is no longer there. It became a school for the handicapped, then, was moved to Kaimuki. Anyway, 690 Pohukaina, the address of Governor Abercrombie's 600+foot sky rise is right here. Across the street is another vacant lot:
I'm all for it, but 82% of locals are against building over 400 feet. Heck, if there is market demand and no earthquake concern, 1000 feet would be fine, as far as I'm concerned. The Burj Khalifa in Abu Dhabi is 2722 feet tall! I'm more and more becoming disenchanted that the people of Hawaii have no imagination and zero vision. We will sink into oblivion unless we make a quantum leap into the future.
I also earlier waved hello to Central Intermediate School, where I spent three of my most immemorable years of my life.
I then walked to the coastline and Point Panic (extreme left), where I once body surfed:
Turning 180 degrees there is Diamond Head:
At this point I notice several large hills. I don't remember anything like this in Kakaako. So I walked up one of them and noticed this pipe:
I noticed there was a similar pipe on the the top of all the hills. Then, my civil engineering expertise came forth and I realized methane was being exhausted. This whole area was the solid waste site for Honolulu with an incinerator. From this vantage spot into town:
You can see my apartment, about a mile or two in that collage of towers. And from the tallest hill:
On the way home I thought I'd purchase a sub from Subway to have with the remainder of the Dom Perignon. These shops are everywhere and seem always to be open. The one in downtown Honolulu was closed. So, as I was going by the Safeway, I had an Italian made for me:
That glass was borrowed from the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel 50 years ago. Hawaii beat East Tennessee State in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
I also earlier waved hello to Central Intermediate School, where I spent three of my most immemorable years of my life.
I then walked to the coastline and Point Panic (extreme left), where I once body surfed:
Turning 180 degrees there is Diamond Head:
At this point I notice several large hills. I don't remember anything like this in Kakaako. So I walked up one of them and noticed this pipe:
I noticed there was a similar pipe on the the top of all the hills. Then, my civil engineering expertise came forth and I realized methane was being exhausted. This whole area was the solid waste site for Honolulu with an incinerator. From this vantage spot into town:
You can see my apartment, about a mile or two in that collage of towers. And from the tallest hill:
On the way home I thought I'd purchase a sub from Subway to have with the remainder of the Dom Perignon. These shops are everywhere and seem always to be open. The one in downtown Honolulu was closed. So, as I was going by the Safeway, I had an Italian made for me:
That glass was borrowed from the Mauna Kea Beach Hotel 50 years ago. Hawaii beat East Tennessee State in the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
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