Are Seven's tips for the lazy/busy blogger #16

Analyze one of your urban walking trips for a "Funny thing happened to me on the way to" story. There's always something.

Last night, as my good friend Weston and I headed home from dinner through Dupont Circle, we noticed a man standing just outside the benches on the inner part of the circle. He was, for some unknown reason, holding a full halogen floor lamp, and had it tilted slightly so that the bulb was pointing at us.

He called out, "Could I get some money for the train home?" I replied, "Sorry...", because I feel that it's better to at least acknowledge instead of ignore (even though this can get some nasty responses, like, "You're not sorry...").

I guess I was eyeing his lamp a little too closely, because he said, "You can't have this, it's mine" and then--and I can't emphasize this next part enough--turns on the lamp. Either this guy is Merlin, or there are electrical sockets in Dupont Circle that I wasn't aware of, but either way, it gave his claim to the lamp a very dramatic touch. We had no interest in his lamp in the first place, but after that display of light, we weren't going to touch it.