IS THAT A PROPER CAT?

If you’ve ever been to England or heard a Brit in conversation, you’ve probably heard a person asking whether something is proper. I like a proper turn of a phrase and this seems to be a proper question to ask when we encounter a person, place, or thing. The conversation which caught my attention was a clip from a Graham Norton show. If you’ve never seen it, I recommend it. John Cleese, one of my favorites, was on the show. Taylor Swift, one of my least favorites, was also on the show. Graham was talking to Taylor about her cat and they showed a photo of the cat. It had these folded over ears and this huge biscuit head with bizarre looking eyes. John Cleese asked, “Is that a proper cat?” Of course, Tay Tay was offended, but I thought it was a very appropriate question.

Anyway, we encountered some very proper places while spending more time in Ventura. As I mentioned in an earlier post, Ventura has a great little downtown area with a street dedicated to pedestrians. It makes for some excellent strolls. One of the highlights for me was seeing the downtown theater which is still showing first run moving picture shows on the big screen. The building is very art deco and is a blast from the past. It’s a proper theater, unlike the megaplexes which show fifteen movies at the same time.

Another pleasure was returning to Paddy’s, which is a bar I mentioned in an earlier post. It’s a bar with a great vibe, plenty of regular characters, a dance floor, pool tables, and a big long bar with a huge mirror behind it to make everything seem larger. A proper bar.

Speaking of proper bars and dives, I had to go to the post office to drop off some old fashioned snail mail. The USPS branch was a tiny little storefront in a very old neighborhood close to where we had put our litter box. Not surprisingly, the US postal worker was very pleasant and no where near going postal. I chalk that attitude up to being right next door to a little dive bar called GiGi’s. GiGi’s has been in operation for over 50 years and I think some of the bartenders have been there the majority of that period. Considering we were NOT regulars, I thought the staff and the regulars were very friendly and welcoming. No pretense. No BS. A very proper bar.

Right across the street from our place we saw Salzer’s Records. A REAL record store along the lines of Tower Records, Turtle’s Records, and Peaches Records. We spent some quality time cruising through Salzer’s. They had vinyl albums, T-shirts, and collectibles like the aforementioned proper record stores. Salzer’s has been in business for over 50 years. Jim Salzer began as a concert promoter in the 60’s, so the store has some of his old concert promo posters. The store sells, buys, and trades. Of course, the store also sells paraphernalia for those who enjoy the cannabis and is planning to partner with another local business to expand into being a licensed dispensary. For now, it’s a proper record store.

I think I mentioned that Betty and I are huge sports fans. In one of my former lives, I was a fan of America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys. I watched all the Cowboys games I could. To give you a frame of reference, I remember watching Dandy Don Meredith, LeRoy Jordan, Cornell Green, and Bob Hayes, the world’s fastest human. Tom Landry was sitting at the right hand of the Creator. I saw the Ice Bowl and lost a few whiskers when Bart Starr snuck the ball into the endzone. Then I followed Roger Staubach, Jimmy Johnson, and Barry Switzer, and their crews while they won some Super Bowls.

Well, I realized that the former center of the universe for training camps was only a few miles from our box. So, I went over to Oxnard and took a peek. The ‘boys were indeed training there but I didn’t feel the earth move. I say former center because my love fest with America’s Team died about the time Jerry Jones purchased the team and started sticking his beak into everything. One of the Titans of teams is now America’s Train Wreck. This is not a proper football team.

That’s all folks!! For now.

Buster

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