Is it really worth it?
I heard on the news yesterday that a woman in her 20s was killed by a train. ‘How horrible’, was my initial reaction, until they then added that she was on a bicycle and had gone round the barriers which were already lowered on the level crossing, and was hit by the train. I should have known that that was what had happened, as it seems to be an all too familiar story here. Just last week I heard there were long delays on one train line into Chicago because a man in his car had done the same thing and had been killed. Gordon reckons it happened a lot in the UK too, but I don’t remember hearing about it that often over there, whereas it seems to be at least a monthly event here.
So you have one person who travels a journey that they probably already know in advance involves crossing a railway line, so therefore should just leave home 5/10 minutes earlier to allow for a possible delay if the barriers come down. But instead they obviously do not allow extra time for that, and then decide they cannot afford to spend the time waiting for the train to pass in front of them, so go round the already downed barriers. When you consider the size of a train (and they are sooo much bigger here than in UK) compared to the size of you, in your car, you know that is a fight you can never win.
So then, thanks to the stupid action of one person who can’t wait 5 minutes, the lives of everyone on that train, and everyone waiting for every train due to run behind that one, are affected by much more than just 5 minutes delay. Even if the train itself is not derailed and crashes, the driver is condemned to having nightmares and possibly not being able to go back to doing his job after such a harrowing experience. The passengers on that train and others waiting at the stations are condemned to having hours of delay whilst the whole mess is sorted out. All for the sake of saving 5 minutes. Surely it is not worth it?
Chicago Air and Water Show
The City of Chicago seems to host a lot of free events, and one of these was the air and water show which was all weekend. Basically it is a recruitment drive for the forces, who apparently have had their worst year ever for recruitment so desperately need to garner some interest. They do the whole thing on and over the lake, in front of North Avenue Beach, which is a long stretch of beautiful golden sand.
We went on Sunday, having a very early start as the water part of the show started at 9am, so we got the 7.40 train. But plenty of others had done the same thing, and the beach was already absolutely packed when we got there.
Sitting on the beach would have meant not being able to see the water show, so we made our way into the water, joining many others doing the same thing, and stood knee deep in the cool water to watch water-skiers making pyramids by standing on each others shoulders, (I was expecting Jaws to come up behind them for a snack!) and jet-skiers doing stunts and jumps. The sun was already shining and pretty hot, so it was no hardship being in the water.
We then went to the back of the beach to find a spot to sit and watch the air show. The US Air Force paraded many of their planes across the skies, the Army provided some parachutists, and there were a couple of groups of planes doing stunts and synchronised flying, including the Red Barons which is a group of old biplanes. Also they had a Harrier Jet, which got the most interest and biggest cheer of the day, he sped across the sky a couple of times, then hovered right in front of the crowd, turned to face the beach, and flew sideways from one end of the beach to the other, with everyone waving at him. However there was one group missing, the Thunderbirds (I think), as during their performance on Saturday, a piece of the missile rail fell off (luckily they were over water at the time), so they had gone back to base to figure out the problem.
All in all, it was a good day out, sitting on the beach in the hot sunshine with a nice breeze off the water, and seeing some spectacular stunts.
Ravinia
We had our trips to Ravinia this week as planned, although didn’t get to see Shrek on the outdoor screen, as it rained quite a lot that day so we heard that they moved the screen to an indoor venue, and since we have the movie on DVD anyway, we decided there was no point in going.
Our first Ravinia trip of the week was to see Aretha Franklin. We managed to park in their own car park (they also have several park and ride car parks scattered around the area), and took our picnic into the park. The concert was scheduled to start at 8pm, but we were there around 6.30 to get a good spot. Having only lawn tickets means you don’t get to see the stage, you have to pay quite a bit more for the seating area for that, but there were plenty of speakers around, and we could walk up to stand behind the seating area at any time to see her. At 8pm they announced there was a support group, which had not been mentioned in the programme but they were pretty good so we didn’t mind. But what we did mind was that when Aretha herself came on, she sang for only 30 minutes then had a break. Then in the 2nd half, she spent a lot of time talking rather than singing. Overall, there were a few songs I did not recognise, and in fact she did not perform many of her typical hits that you would expect at all.
The feeling that we had been somewhat short-changed by Ms Franklin was reinforced by the Tony Bennett concert at Ravinia a couple of days later. We turned up earlier as we hoped to get closer to the stage so we could go and see him without picking our way through hundreds of picnickers in the darkness, but as we queued for the main car park at 6pm, they closed the gates in front if us as it was full, so we were forced to use the nearest park and ride, which was actually within walking distance so was easy getting back afterwards, rather than wait with hundreds of others for the bus. The concert was sold out, and we had no hope of getting anywhere near the stage, so just had to find a good spot near the speakers. Again it was scheduled to start at 8pm, and this time there was no support group. He came straight on and performed for an hour and a half straight, with no break. And he sang all the songs you would expect. He was excellent. We managed to catch a few glimpses of him between the heads of others when we went up to take a look, but were thinking we might splash out for seats next year as apparently he performs every year there. I highly recommend seeing him. And, in fact, anything at Ravinia will be good as it is a lovely night out anyway.
Americana
We have done a couple of things recently that have made me feel like I have been in episodes of The Simpsons, or any typical American family programme or movie.
We went to the Lake County Fair, which had all the trappings you would expect, including a demolition derby, livestock judging, tractor pulling, pie eating contest (Homer would have won that one). There was also all the usual fairground rides, so the whole thing was pretty big.
And then yesterday we went to watch the Walker Cup Golf Tournament, which was being held at Chicago Golf Club, which is about an hour south of here. This tournament has been going on for about 80 years, and is an amateur competition, held every 2 years, with Great Britain & Ireland against America. We were there for the final day, but unfortunately GB&I lost by just 1 point. But the reason it made me think of the Simpsons again, was that we were directed to park the car a couple of miles away from the course, and then there were school buses shuttling people back and forth. So we got to go on a real American school bus, which is not something I thought would get to experience at my time of life! God, I sound old!
Tis The Season of Outdoor Events
They seem to host a lot of outdoor concerts and movies around here in the summer, and you just turn up with a picnic and something to sit on. A lot of them are free, and others are pretty cheap. Some local towns have something on every week, and then there is one place called Ravinia, which has its own festival with something on every weekday evening for 3 months, and every weekend as well. They feature a big mix of stuff, with some pretty big names, like Gipsy Kings, Hootie & the Blowfish, Wyclef Jean, The Beach Boys, as well as loads of classical music nights, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra plays there a lot.
So far we have been to a couple of these, and have more planned. We went to the Cuneo Museum, which is a local place that used to be a private house, with lovely grounds, on Wednesday to see a Frank Sinatra tribute singer, who had a very good voice. It was a lovely evening, perfect weather and setting, on the grass between a lake and the house.
Then yesterday I went with a few people from the book club to Ravinia to see the Wizard of Oz. They had put up giant movie screens in the park, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was there to play the music alongside the film. It was very packed in there, but was a brilliant night. I had a great view of the screen, although of course have seen it a million times before, but you can never see it too many times! And there was good audience participation, with cheering when Toto escaped the clutches of the witch, and when the witch was shrunk with the water.
Then this week coming, we are going to Ravinia 2 nights, to see Aretha Franklin and Tony Bennett. And on Thursday we will be going to a local park to see Shrek 2 on a giant movie screen. So a busy time planned, with lots of different picnic foods needed!
