A Night at the Airport...

Last night my honey returned from his week long visit to Utah. He had a great trip.

The drive to the airport was fun in its own rite. With my left arm mostly non-functional, a pouring rain, and an idiot truck driver weaving in and out between cars already going 70 mph in that rain, I was extra grateful to pull in the parking garage at Cincinnati's airport.

I entered baggage claim which is the level where you can first meet your returning passenger. Then I checked the board to be sure which baggage claim area his stuff would come to. That is when I noted his plane was about 15 minutes late. No problem, I found a chair, whipped out my Sudoku book and settled in for a bit of quiet.

That is when I became aware of life when the airport is closing down. I've seen this before but it was amazing to watch it again. We're all so familiar with life during the day in businesses we frequent. Sometimes we don't remember that many of those same places of business have a different flavor when the guests leave.

The first thing I noticed was the guy riding the lawn mower type vacuum/carpet cleaner. I'm musing...I think that might be a fun job. He definitely had a certain pattern to his work so he knew where he had vacuumed and what was left. I also noted he was really cruising on that vehicle. He had his head tilted to one side and it stayed that way the entire time I was in the airport. Made my already sore left side more so. Still, I think that might be a cool job.

It was closer to time for Claude's plane to land so I tucked the Sudoku book in my purse and headed to the escalator to wait. There was another couple there so I picked a spot to stand on the other side of where you step off the escalator.  They were a bit more fidgety about their guest getting there than I was. They kept walking back and forth to that board to be sure the plane was still landed and then to the baggage claim to see if the bag got there before their family member. In addition there were two limo drivers with their little signs at the ready to pick up their charges. The big guard was walking around with his clipboard checking off things.

I was a bit alarmed when I saw all these bodies coming to the base of the escalator and stepping on to ascend to the baggage claim area. They looked like a military unit. It made one wonder if something was amiss at CVG.  Then it came into context. Claude's was the last plane to land. They had just finished parking the plane. They were the ground crew. They had a much more robust personality to their group than those on the cleaning crew. Maybe part of it was their shift was over and the cleaning crew's shift was just beginning. I was relieved there was no emergency.

Then...enter my dream job...

In Terminal 3 there are four escalators. Two coming up from the underground walkway and two going down to the underground walkway. On either side of each of these sets of escalators there is metal framing about one foot wide. This shiny metal surface is at foot level. It needs to be dusted and polished. How to do that you might ask?  A strapping young man with a dust mop places said mop on the flat metal surface, steps on the escalator, and while the escalator ascends he holds down the dust mop. Then he gets on the first down escalator and repeats the process. Now is that a cool job or what?!?!?

Meanwhile the lawn mower/vacuum/carpet cleaner is looping around the carpets at the escalators. Such a ballet of cleanliness. I just grinned while watching it all happen.

Soon my honey was at the base of the escalator grinning as he ascended to a very happy wife.

I was able to report to him that the doctors office called. My X-rays, taken that morning, revealed no broken bones in my shoulder. Yeah!!  It is severely strained and twisted and needs about 4 days rest to start its healing process. If it is not better in that amount of time, I'm to head back to my doctor.

Life is now back to whatever is normal of Claude and me. He is off to the Family History Center with Papa and I'm awaiting the arrival of my annual piano tuning with Daniel Kidd.