Hi, George!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

GP>  I'd be willing to do a "ride along" with Nora one day
GP>  to her more problematic destinations & show her the
GP>  ways I use to get about. . .


          Thankyou!  I'll keep that in mind....  :-)



GP>  A female bus driver pointed out her ways of allowing
GP>  use of the disabled seats in the front of the bus:
GP>  "if a single mom is pushing a stroller, packing 2
GP>  toddlers, and has a double armful of groceries, she's
GP>  DISABLED, at least at this time!"


          Yes, other Moms & I often exchange knowing smiles when I take
Nora to a public washroom.  They use a stroller for the same reason we use
a wheelchair
... the kid(s) can't walk very well... and they have many of the same
problems. IMHO we have some potential support there, because whatever makes
it easier for us to get out & about makes it easier for them too.... 
:-)



GP>  I'll also say there's a lot of times I'm NOT disabled!


          Agreed.  Many people seem to be handicapped by lack of empathy
and/or by inability to connect the dots, but I wouldn't say that about you.
 I find it easier to be patient when I realize parts of their brains may
not work....  :-)



GP>  I do that in some stores, just knock mid-aisle displays
GP>  willy-nilly -- hey, they shouldn't have put them there!


          It seems to me the stores which have mid-aisle displays are
generally the same ones where you could drive around for hours before
finding a real live employee apart from the cashiers.  So if they want to
put a display where other customers can't miss it... well, you couldn't
miss it either.  Too bad....  ;-)



AH>  I have to wonder, though, about the survival value
AH>  of turning one's back to the world & peeing against
AH>  a tree or a fence post or a wall.

GP>  I doubt, in the jungle, when alertness to all
GP>  directions was an important factor if turning one's
GP>  back on the busy areas was all that important!


          That's what puzzles me.  I'd have thought alertness to all
directions would be important.  The only rationale I can offer is that the
more vulnerable front is protected and/or that it's a way of marking one's
territory.  If a guy jumps out of his car in the middle of the night &
pees on a fence post, as I've seen various people do when they've had a few
beers too many, he may be unaware that he's clearly visible from a nearby
window.  The temptation to yell "That's
*my* fence post you're peeing on!" is almost irresistible at times. 
In view of your comment about safety vs. modesty, however, I wonder how
many city dwellers prefer to have witnesses in case they get mugged or
something....  :-/



AH>  I soon learned to direct the stream where it would
AH>  run downhill away from me... a new twist on the term
AH>  "domestic science".  :-)

GP>  YOU, a female, an direct the stream?


          Only to a limited extent.  When the bladder is full, however...
as it often is if I feel compelled to relieve myself in the woods... I can
put enough pressure behind the stream to aim it as far away as the toes of
my shoes.  :-))



GP>  Perhaps this is how female nicknames(abbreviated forms)
GP>  were invented? So girls could pee their names into the
GP>  snow, too?


          Beats me!  I don't move in those circles... [chuckle].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+