Rookie bite —
1) A minor injury to the fingers or palm, consisting of a small (but painful) blood blister caused by the skin being pinched between the release latch and the main upper portion of the grip and/or track brake handle. As the name derisively indicates, this type of injury is most often suffered by inexperienced gripmen and conductors. The wearing of heavy gloves usually precludes any such injuries.
2) A title for a column consisting of several loosely related stories that aren’t really long enough for a column in and of themselves, but rather thrown together in a desperate attempt to fill a page with some kind of entertaining and semi-coherent story line, as opposed to some mindless, meandering rambling that can just go on and on and on…
(Hmmm … half a column already — not bad.)
Mila-no, thank you
California & Market, at the terminal, awaiting departure time. A voice, in a heavy but perfectly understandable Italian accent, comes from behind me.
“Excuse, please, you go to Fish’man’s Wharf, ah, Pier 39?”
The visitor from Milano reminds me of my wife’s attitude toward PCC streetcars. She likes to ride trains, and has traveled with me several times on Amtrak, including all the way to Boston, which is where she lived in the mid-60’s, when the “T” ran “streamliners” on several lines. To her, PCC’s are ordinary transport, not cherished historic relics.