Do Doctors Live Longer Than the Rest of Us ?

In a newspaper interview last year , celebrated Japanese surgeon, Dr. Koichi Ito,  remarked that most doctors live long , healthy lives . Speaking to Judit Kawaguchi of the Japan Times , he said ” The joy we get from helping and healing people keeps most of us doctors healthy and working until late in life. The beauty of our profession is that we can help people as long as we are healthy ourselves. My father is 87 and works full-time. So are my professors in Japan and those in the United States. My mentor, Dr. Edwin L. Kaplan at the University of Chicago Medical Center, is 74 and performs 220 surgeries a year.”

My initial reaction was that there was a lot of truth in his remarks . I remembered 97-year-old Dr. Shigeoki Hinohara , a Japanese physician who still puts in a full day’s work and who seems to be gathering steam as he grows older. In my post in March 2009, I mentioned that Dr. Hinohara “sees patients at St. Luke’s International Hospital in Tokyo ,teaches at St.Luke’s College of Nursing and is on the Board of Trustees of both institutions. Since the age of 75, he has published 150 books , one of which , ” Living Long ,Living Good” , has sold more than 1.2 million copies.”

With examples like that of Dr. Hinohara , it is difficult not to agree with Dr. Ito.  But , to change the topic slightly, ” Do doctors live linger than the rest of us ?”

I really don’t think so . For one thing , I don’t feel that doctors are as altruistic as they are made out to be . Perhaps Dr. Ito is ; perhaps Japanese doctors , as a whole , are focused on a life of service . That is certainly not the case with doctors the world over . Most people in the medical field in the U.S or in India or elsewhere entered the profession because it afforded  them a lucrative career . Nothing wrong with that but it means they are no different from the rest of us .

It’s also a myth that doctor’s lifestyles are  healthier than the norm because they are better informed about health matters . I remember when my brother-in-law had a heart problem and was at his cardiologist’s . ” You will have to completely change your habits ” , that worthy advised  ” No more smoking , ever …” He made this pronouncement while he himself was puffing on a cigarette , thus undermining the gravity of his edict . My own cardiologist takes great relish in telling me what I must not eat ; meanwhile , he looks as though he has never said no to a cannoli . No , doctors may know what’s good for health but , more often than not , they don’t follow their own advice.

Good health and long life are generally attributed to the following factors : a healthy diet , good exercise habits , avoidance of stress and of , course good genes . The last named is out of our hands : our genetic make-up is what we are handed by our parents. As far as stress is concerned , doctors do experience a lot of stress since they are always being called to make decisions about the well being of their patients .( One source even cites an undocumented statistic that ER doctors lives  are , on average , seven years shorter than the rest). On the other hand , doctors  have fewer economic worries , once they’ve paid of their student  loans, and they have a life long career. It can be argued that people in other professions are always under the gun , particularly in these difficult times , that they don’t have nearly the same economic security and that they will have to change their careers several times in the course of a lifetime. On the issue of stress , therefore , I think it is a wash.

As far as diet and exercise are concerned , it is an individual matter. As a class, doctors are no better and no worse off than the rest of us.I think that it’s a myth that doctors live longer than the rest of us .

P.S There are some who claim doctors lives are shorter than the norm because of the stress. One joker moans that ” … the MCAT took three years off my life . My first rejection  , my first interview and  the agonizing wait thereafter have taken off another 5 to 7 years … I’m screwed even before I’ve started  … ” ( LOL)

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Name Brands , Fakes and Obvious Imitations

For many people , acquiring luxury  brands is a must , perhaps because it somehow validates their sense of self-worth . ” Look at me , I can afford this so I must be doing well “. The Japanese are the prime examples of such acquisitiveness, or at least they were . Until recently , Japan used to be a major  market for luxury brands in spite of its relatively small population . However , even before the tsunami and its aftermath , the Japanese have  been moving away from this obsession  .

The ” luxury brand ” mindset is not peculiar to Japan . I see it here in the U.S too . Thus , on TV I watched one of   the ” Real Housewives of New York ” buying a handbag for $ 1, 600 and remarking that its her ” B- list  ” acquisition and that she doesn’t feel right about spending $ 6,000 ( as one her friends did ) , because it doesn’t seem right in these difficult times.  To people like me , such spending is incomprehensible . What could possibly make a handbag worth $ 6,000 , or even $ 1,600 ? I know there is a certain cachet to the name  but , in other respects , there is no difference between those handbags and a knockoff that costs a twentieth as much. For that reason , I’m not as outraged by knockoffs as many people are.

When I was working  in New York it was quite common to see street peddlers hawking knock-offs of Coach , Gucci,  Kate Spade and other name brands . Many of them were Senegalese immigrants who  would have their goods spread out on a large  cloth . They would have one eye out for cops and, on spotting one approaching , they would quickly pull the ends of the cloth together, gather up their goods  and scram .Every so often , they would be arrested and their goods confiscated .  It’s a  tough way to make a living but somehow they did .

 There was a story in this morning’s New York Times that gave me a laugh . It seems an undercover cop went into a Chinese owned funeral supplies shop part of whose stock is  replicas of luxury goods which are meant for the departed to take with him on his final journey .The store, Fook On Sing Funeral Supplies, on Mulberry Street, along what is known in Chinatown as Funeral Row, sells traditional objects of mourning, mostly copies of luxury objects. The items are made of cardboard, paper and plastic, to be used at funerals as symbolic gifts for the deceased. The cardboard models are burned as part of traditional Chinese funeral practices. Among the items sold by the store are a  cardboard mansion for $400 and a cardboard flat-screen television for $40. There are stacks of money ($10,000 bills) for sale, as well as miniature sports cars, cellphones, double-breasted suits and even smiling dolls to act as servants in the hereafter. As one of the stores owners explained “When people die, they feel they are going to need things in the next world.”

The items are supposed to be fake  but that did not deter the cop from arresting a shop worker on counterfeiting charges for selling several items, including Louis Vuitton and Burberry handbags. According to a police spokesman , the worker,  Wing Sun Mak, was observed offering to sell three handbags “that bore a counterfeit trademark Burberry” and one handbag that bore a fake Louis Vuitton insignia. He was also observed offering for sale four pairs of shoes and two outfits. He was held overnight in a local precinct house and then arraigned  before being released.He was charged with two counts of copyright infringement in the third degree. ( Is the third degree worse than the first or the second  ? I don’t know .)

Councilwoman Margaret Chin, who represents the neighborhood , said she had requested a meeting with police officials. “You expect the police to be culturally sensitive,” Ms. Chin said. “This has been going on for hundreds of years, the Chinese burning offerings to the dead, and that’s what these kind of stores are for. It’s hard to understand how someone could mistake this for criminal activity. ”  I couldn’t agree more . The replicas are made of cardboard and plastic and could never be mistaken for the real thing . They do not represent an attempt to defraud Burberry et al of  sales and royalties. This is like shutting down a kid’s roadside lemonade stand because she doesn’t have a license. Don’t the police have anything better to do ?

What gave me a laugh was the reaction from Suki Lin, the wife of the arrested man. Pointing to  her own Coach handbag, she said   that it was real and that it was a gift from her husband.   Then, she  motioned toward a cardboard bag and said, “If he gave me that bag, I’d beat him to death.” (LOL)

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Death , Crossing Over and Reincarnation

Last week , I read a news item about near death experiences. It related the stories of people who had been on the verge of death but had made it back to the world of the living. In all cases , they mentioned being aware of a bright light  and of a path or doorway leading towards it . Some mentioned re-connecting briefly with a loved one , usually a mother , who had passed away earlier. Medical authorities try to explain away such occurrences by saying that these are hallucinations , a normal occurrence when the brain is shutting down. Who knows what the truth is  ? No one can say anything with certainty ; it’s all a guess.

I myself have always believed in reincarnation. Partly , it is because I was brought up a Hindu and partly because,  to me , the theory of reincarnation makes the most sense . Logically , the idea of Heaven and Hell does not appeal to me ; I cannot imagine everlasting happiness or everlasting damnation as a consequence of a short existence on Earth . I don’t claim that my belief is  the indisputable truth ; merely that it is what makes the most sense to me . You who are reading this are entitled to your own opinion just as I am entitled to mine .

By chance , I was reading,  at the time,  a book by David Kessler titled “ Visions , Trips and Crowded Rooms “; it’s subtitle  ‘ ‘ Who and What you see Before You Die ” succinctly explains what the book is about . Kessler , a well-known expert on death and dying , has worked with the even more renowned Elisabeth Kubler-Ross and the book is a most fascinating read .

The book quotes doctors , nurses , social workers, hospice staff and caregivers on what they have observed when people are in their last moments  on Earth. In brief ,these experiences can be divided into the following three categories. 1) As people are about to die , they have visions of loved ones  waiting to welcome them into the next world . Very often these are of their dead parents , usually their mothers. 2) Many of those who are about to pass over think of their impending death as a journey or a bus trip . 3) The dying often talk about seeing a roomful of people waiting to meet them .

 I’ve read about the first two types of experiences from many other sources but the phenomenon of The Crowded Room is new to me . A typical story goes like this :As the end approaches , those who are dying seem to see a roomful of people . Many of these are departed loved ones , including parents , siblings , favorite aunts and uncles etc. In one case , a school teacher had a vision of many of her departed pupils .

Such visions would argue against re-incarnation because it means these souls were not re-born but were waiting in another world to renew their acquaintance with those who were dear to them . It also seems to mean that the spirit is  tied to its earthly identity, something I find difficult to believe . I also find it difficult to accept that all these visions are overwhelmingly positive . There are few , if any, visions of hell.

Perhaps the answer is that as we lose our earthly bonds , we see what we want to see. Perhaps , also , our puny minds are too small to grasp the great mystery of life .. and death.

 

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The Chef and the Cook : Anthony Bourdain and Paula Deen

Anthony Bourdain , the host of the Travel Channel show ” No Reservations ” , riled not a few people when he criticized Food Network stars Paula Deeen , Guy Fieri , Rachel Ray and Sandra Lee. In an interview with TV Guide , Bourdain  blasted Paula Deen as ” the most dangerous woman in America ” , saying “She revels in unholy connections with evil corporations and she’s proud of the fact that her food is f—ing bad for you. If I were on at seven at night and loved by millions of people of every age, I would think twice before telling an already obese nation that it’s OK to eat food that is killing us. Plus, her food sucks.”He later used Twitter to modify his comments  saying  that Deen is “hardly the worst person in America, just the most destructive influence on [Food Network].”

About Guy Fieri ,  the popular host of “Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives” Guy Fieri, Bourdain said “I’m glad that’s not me”. As for  Rachael Ray, Bourdain asked  “Does she even cook anymore? I don’t know why she bothers. To her credit, she never said she was good at it.” He then discussed an interaction he once had with Sandra Lee, Bourdain stated : “Don’t mess with her. I rarely feel uncomfortable, but she has a powerful force. I hate her works on this planet, but she is not someone to be dismissed, clearly.”
As can be seen from the above , his strongest comments were about Paula Deen and she responded in kind and at  length .

 

On Fox and Friends , she fired back  on  Friday, saying ” I was actually kind of shocked considering I’ve never met Anthony, “I know he’s never been to my home; I’ve never cooked for him. I don’t think he’s been to my restaurant. I was really shocked that such harsh words could be used.Deen said she has no idea what prompted Bourdain to lash out at her, but suggests it could have been a publicity stunt.  “I don’t know if it was a publicity thing or if someone had just peed in his bowl of cereal that morning and he was mad.”  ( LOL)

She told the New York Post that “Anthony Bourdain needs to get a life. You don’t have to like my food, or Rachael’s, Sandra’s and Guy’s. But it’s another thing to attack our character. I wake up every morning happy for where I am in life. It’s not all about the cooking, but the fact that I can contribute by using my influence to help people all over the country. In the last two years, my partners and I have fed more than 10 million hungry people by bringing meat to food banks.” Also, My good friends Rachael, Guy and Sandra are the most generous charitable folks I know. My friends and I cook for regular families who worry about feeding their kids and paying the bills . . . It wasn’t that long ago that I was struggling to feed my family, too.I have no idea what Anthony has done to contribute besides being irritable.”

 

Paula Deen’s response was impassioned but it misses the point .  Bourdain was not criticizing her character ; he was criticizing the food that she cooks . For reasons that escape me , millions of people watch Paula Deen’s  show and get a wrong idea of what they should eat. Her dishes are drenched in butter , loaded with fat , sugar and calories … exactly the wrong things for  our obese nation.

 

 In a conversation with Bill Moyers , the food activist Michael Pollan made these points : The food supply system in the U.S is incredibly wasteful . The huge government subsidies benefit giant agri- businesses more than they do family farms . These corporate giants grow food far from where consumers live and spend incredible amounts of fuel to get the food to market.More fossil fuel is used to produce and distribute food than  any other activity, including driving to work. The five crops most heavily subsidized are corn , wheat ,  soy , rice and cotton. Much of the corn is  used to produce high-fructose corn syrup  and ( along with the soybeans ) cheap feedlot meat. The food distribution system has become highly centralized and dangerously vulnerable to contamination .  In recent years , Americans have increased their daily caloric intake from 2,000 to 2,300 calories, much of it from corn syrup and fat  and this , coupled with a sedentary lifestyle ,has caused severe health problems .  Americans born today will be the first generation to have a shorter life span their parents and ,of those born in the year 2000 , one in three will have type 2 diabetes .     

And that is why Bourdain went off on Paula Deen. Because her cooking glorifies all these things that are bad for us . As he himself later admitted, he was guilty of hyperbole when he called her ” the most dangerous woman in America ” , but I understand where he’s coming from. And , by the way , I don’t care for Paula Deen’s Southern charm . I think it’s put on and it leaves me cold.

As for Guy Fieri , I enjoy watching ” Diners , Drives and Drive – Ins ” , once in a while , and he seems like a fun character but I’m appalled by the  food that he showcases — huge portions , laden with fat and sugar and meat. These dishes are all right once in a while , as a special treat ( and in smaller portions ) but I don’t think viewers understand that . This , and other programs like Man vs Food, foster the notion that eating more , a lot more , is fine and somehow even heroic.

 Bourdain’s comment that Rachel Ray is not a chef brooks no argument. I once saw an Iron Chef America  episode in which she and Bobby Flay took on Mario Batali and Giada de Laurentis . I was shocked at how amateurish the two women appeared in contrast to their partners . I don’t think Rachel Ray herself would claim to be a chef. She is a very successful talk show host and a celebrity who can cook and she has a perky , very pleasant personality but a chef she is not .

Indeed , in my opinion , the word ” chef ” has been tossed about too freely. In my book , a chef has a deep understanding of the cuisine and the ingredients  and his dishes are as beautiful to look at as they are good to eat .  A cook also prepares food and may have some of the mechanical skills that a chef does but that’s about it . His food is less complex , less imaginative and his presentation inferior.

Morimoto is a chef . Mario Batali is a chef . Anthony Bourdain is a chef ( though nowadays , he’s more of a TV personality and food writer). Paula  Deen , however , is not a chef. She is to be admired for the way she has worked her way up from modest beginnings and become a successful TV personality but a chef she is not . As far as food goes , she’s a cook and , in my opinion , not a very good one .   

 

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Those Marvelous British TV Period Dramas .

When it comes to big budget extravaganzas and shoot ’em up flicks Hollywood has no equal. But , after a while , one gets tired of all the car chases and the explosions and the serial killers and the computer graphics  . Perhaps it’s just that I’m growing older but, more and more , I yearn for feelings , for characters who are true to life and who stir the emotions . That is why I find myself drawn to British TV shows particularly the dramas set in the past.

What I like most about them is that they are about characters I can identify with in locales that I’m familiar with through my reading . They are not about the rich and the beautiful or the weird . The storylines engage my interest because I am interested in finding out what happens next , not just to the lead characters but to all the others who people the story. In the period dramas, little bits of history are woven into the story ; not only do they make the story more authentic to my eyes but they create a little frisson of excitement when I recognize them . What sets these shows apart is the excellence of the acting and the wealth of detail lavished on even the lesser characters , something very unusual in American TV.

At one time I used to be turned off by all the British imports on PBS, especially Masterpiece Theater ; now I seek them out . Luckily , all of them are available on Netflix , many of them online streaming , and I’m avidly enjoying them one by one . Some of those I’ve enjoyed, with their ratings , are as under. Ratings are on a scale from 1 to 5 stars, with 5 stars being excellent  and 3 stars worth watching  I don’t think I’ve watched anything in this genre that merited less than three stars .

1. Downton Abbey. ( *****)Set in the years just before the outbreak of World War I , this series debuted in 2010 to huge critical acclaim . As the show begins , the Crawley family is thrown into turmoil because the putative heir to Downton Abbey goes down with the Titanic. Since the estate can only pass on to a male heir , the futures of the family’s three daughters ( one of whom was about to be engaged to him ) are suddenly up in the air.Petty jealousies and ambitions grow among the family and the staff, and  scheming and secrets — both delicious and dangerous — threaten to derail the scramble to preserve Downton Abbey. I’m eagerly awaiting the second season .

2. The Duchess of Duke Street ( *****) tells the story of Louisa Trotter , who rose from poverty to become the owner of the Bentick Hotel and hobnobbed with the rich and famous of London Society.She begins her career  as  an assistant cook , catches the eye of the Prince of Wales and is practically forced into becoming his paramour. She parlays this connection into fame and riches as she proceeds with steely determination to achieve her ambition of becoming the best cook in England . Along the way , she finds  love and heartbreak  in equal measure. Her character is loosely based on the real life Rosa Lewis ( née Ovenden )  who overcame her modest beginnings to become the proprietress  of the Cavendish Hotel. Set in the period spanning 1900 to 1935 , this series first aired in the mid-1970’s and the production values are understandably not as good . No matter , because Gemma Jones is riveting as Louisa Trotter and there is a host of other characters that command our interest and affection .

3. The House of Elliot ( *****)  Its three seasons aired from 1991 to 19993 before the series came to an  abrupt end , Currently I’ve watched all but the last of 12 Netflix disks and I’m completely in thrall. Until I started watching this series, The Duchess of Duke Street was my favorite , but no longer.  Beatrice and Evangeline Elliot are the daughters of a parsimonious London doctor . He dies suddenly leaving them destitute as it transpires that his money has been spent secretly supporting a secret second family. Totally unprepared to earn their own living , Bea and Evie nevertheless struggle to build their own high fashion couture business , The House of Elliot. It is no easy task in the male dominated society of the era ( circa 1915). With pluck and skill they battle their way to the top , overcoming a series unfortunate love affairs , male prejudices , cheats , arson etc. Excellent acting by Stella Gonet as Bea and Louise Lombard as Evie , a wealth of historical detail , beautiful costumes and a compelling storyline make this series a delight to watch . Too bad it ends abruptly.

4. Lark Rise to Candleford  ( ****) . These are the names of two villages eight miles apart geographically but worlds apart in every other way . Lark Rise is a farming village and most of its  proud but poor inhabitants live a hardscrabble existence . Candleford , a neighboring market town , is more prosperous and its dwellers consider themselves a cut above the ir Lark Rise cousins. The series begins with young Laura moving from Lark Rise to Candleford to take up a job in the post office , the postmistress Dorcas Lane being her relative . The series is set in the late 19th century and is loosely based on a trilogy of novels by Flora Thompson. It lasted for four seasons between 2008 and 2011 but  I’ve only watched the first two seasons which are all that are available on Netflix . What I saw was superior : a host of engaging characters , absorbing  storylines which focussed in turn on different characters and  a marvelous attention to detail though the picture of village life is somewhat idealized . The English countryside is lovingly photographed and has never looked more beautiful.

5. Cranford ( ****) based on the novels of Mrs . ( Elizabeth) Gaskell and is set in the early 1840’s. The story focuses primarily on the town’s  female inhabitants who are comfortable with their traditional way of life and place great store in propriety and maintaining an appearance of gentility. Among them are the spinster Jenkyns sisters, Matty and Deborah; their houseguest , Mary Smith; Octavia Pole, the town’s leading gossip; the Tomkinson sisters, Augusta and Caroline;  Mrs Rose, the housekeeper for Dr Harrison; Jessie Brown, who rejects Major Gordon’s marriage proposal twice despite her feelings for him; Sophy Hutton, the vicar’s’s eldest daughter and surrogate mother to her three younger siblings, who is courted by Dr Harrison; and the aristocratic Lady Ludlow, who lives in splendour and perceives change as a peril to the natural order of things.

The principal male characters are new arrival Dr Frank Harrison, who is smitten with Sophy but unwittingly becomes the romantic target of both Mrs Rose and Caroline Tomkinson, who often feigns illness to hold his attention; Dr Morgan, an old-fashioned practitioner who finds himself challenged by the modern ideas of his young partner; Captain Brown, a military man whose common sense earns him a place of authority among the women; Edmund Carter, Lady Ludlow’s land agent, a reformer who strongly advocates free education for the working class; Reverend Hutton, a widower with four children whose religious conviction is sometimes at odds with his instincts as a father and Sir Charles Maulver, the local magistrate and director of the railway company. I found Cranford not quite as interesting as the others and its sequel , Return to Cranford is , apparently , a disappointment.

There are other series that I’ve watched and enjoyed but this post has already gone on too long so I’ll write about them another day.

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The Arrogance of Netflix

Last month Netflix increased its monthly charges by up to 60% and  angered customers, thus causing  an unprecedented outpouring of criticism , even rage . Many customers canceled their subscriptions , or at least said they were going to . Some wrote  in to say that they would be switching to other vendors such as Red Box which offer movies for $ 1 / night .Others vented their ire in online protests  to Netflix

I must admit that I too am miffed by Netflix’ actions ,though for different  reasons . That an increase was due , I do not dispute . Considering the quick turnaround , Netflix customers are able to get a movie every four or five days depending on where they live . In my case ( two movies at a time ) , I was able to view between 12 and 14 movies a month . That means most of the erstwhile $15.99 monthly fee went towards mailing charges. When I consider that the price included  unlimited streaming , I have to admit that it was a bargain . So , yes , some increase in prices was understandable .. but did it have to be that much ? 

What turned me off even more was the condescending manner in which the price increase was disclosed to users . The announcement made it seem as if Netflix was doing us a favor in doing so when it was obvious that a) they were charging what they thought the market would bear and b) they were ( are ) going to phase out the DVD’s by mail  part of the service and switch over completely to online streaming . Netflix ‘s online streaming has vastly expanded it’s slate of movies and TV shows but I , at least, am not ready to give up DVD’s by mail . The latter afford me more choices and enable me to watch them  on a large size TV screen . I’ve not yet figured out the best way to get the online movie stream from computer to TV. Besides , DVD’s offer a pleasure that on-line streaming doesn’t ( it’s much like the difference between reading online news and reading a newspaper). Eventually , the mail in service will be a thing of the past , just as newspapers are in the process of becoming … but , not yet , please.

What also bothers me  is the way in which Netflix has reduced the input from its users. About a year ago , Netflix abruptly cut out all the favorite movie- lists compiled by its users. More recently , it depersonalised member reviews by removing the icons that accompanied the reviews . Now it’s impossible to  figure out who wrote  a particular review or whether he has written any others I might be interested in.  Previously , Netflix viewers were part of a large , far-flung family ; now there is no connection between them . I used to write a review when I found a movie particularly good , or egregiously bad , but now there is no incentive to do so since all reviews are , so to say , ” anonymous “. I will continue to rate the movies I see but as for writing a review , forget it.

According to the news , the anger of Netflix users has not subsided , a  month after the price increase. Some may have actually cancelled their subscriptions but not in sufficent numbers to may Netflix take notice. For myself , I will continue to be a member because the service is unparalleled . Right now , Netflix has no serious rivals but monopolies are never permanent . Eventually , some other company will emerge and I hope it is sooner rather than later.

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Random Thoughts On a Morning Walk

Close to where we live is Oak Ridge Park and, on mornings when I don’t go to the gym ,  that’s where I go for a walk .  Until two years ago , Oak Ridge was a public golf course. Then , because of the recession , revenues fell and the township converted it into a park . Good for me and a few others because it’s a wonderful place for walkers . It has a number of walking trails ( formerly paved paths for the golf carts)  of different lengths . The longest, along the periphery, is two and a half miles and there are shorter trails of 1 mile , 1-1/2 miles and two miles . When I do go there , I take the longest trail , the  2-1/2 miles one , and it leaves me pleasantly tired when I’m finished .

There are several nice features about Oak Ridge. First and foremost , it’s a beautiful setting, as might be expected of  a former golf course. The greens are not manicured as they once used to be and the rough is a little longer but so what ? The peripheral trail winds through patches of light and shade , through a couple of  small groves and it has two slight inclines which make the walk a little taxing .There is even a little bench towards the end of the trail .

 Beside the park is a railroad track and , in the course of my walk , I often see and hear  a freight train to go clattering by. At such times , it is interesting to guess  the number of boxcars and then see if  I’m  close . It’s not a total guess because the number of locomotives gives a clue . The greatest number of freight cars I’ve counted is 104.

I’ve walked the trail both alone and in company and the latter is better. I  may not walk as fast but the relaxed atmosphere makes for some interesting conversation. In fact the park setting  also makes people much more friendly. I was surprised , the first time I walked in Oak Ridge Park , to have fellow walkers wish me ” Good Morning ” . In the New York- New Jersey region , this is unheard of. Previously , I had come across such friendliness only in the South where wishing strangers ” Good Morning ” is ( was ?) the norm .  How to account for such civility up north ?  As yet , Oak Ridge is still very sparingly used ; most mornings there are only about 30 or 40 others in the park . Could it be that people wish each other because there are so few of us ? That their apparent unfriendliness elsewhere is only because most public places are so crowded  that it makes it impractical to wish everyone ?  That New Jerseyans are just as friendly as any one else ? I’d like to think so.

Walking , especially alone , gives one plenty of time to think and all sorts of things come to mind . For one , I’ve a new respect for those hardy souls who go on long , really long, walks . I didn’t particularly think much of Peter Cook , who walked across America coast-to-coast, and then wrote a book about it . Then he turned around and did it again and ,in the process,  acquired a wife. My walk at Oak Ridge take me between 40 and 55 minutes ( depending on the company) and I work up a good sweat. Perhaps I could walk four times as much in the course of a day . That’s 10 miles and , at that rate , it would take me most of a year to traverse the continent . A daunting prospect , even when one does not take into consideration that a cross continental walk would involve great variations of climate and terrain. And that one would be loaded down with at least twenty pounds of gear. Nah … I think I’ll pass.

There are other long walks I’ve read about. There was one gentleman who walked the length of Japan , north-to-south , and wrote a fascinating book about it. And in olden days , many Japanese used to walk around Shikoku , Japan’s southernmost island , on a pilgrimage to the island’s 88 revered Buddhist temples ( That’s one walk I’d have loved to do but I’ll have to content myself reading about it . Speaking of pilgrimages , one of the most famous is The Way of St. James ( El Camino de Santiago) which Christian pilgrims have been travelling for a thousand years . There are many routes but they all end at the  Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela  in Galicia in Northwestern Spain , where tradition has it that the remains of the apostle Saint James are buried. St. James symbol, the scallop shell ( Coquilles St. Jacques), mirrors the pilgrimage since it has several grooves leading to the same point.  Nowadays , that route has become somewhat of a tourist attraction with travelers walking a well-worn path with guides and relaxing each night at well-appointed inns. Yet another long walk was the one undertaken by the travel writer , Paul Theroux , who walked clockwise around England and wrote a book( The Kingdom by the Sea ) about it .  In the course of his walk , he met another writer ( I can’t remember the name ) who was walking around Britain in the opposite direction with exactly the same thought in mind . It’s been many years since I read Theroux’s book and I can’t remember if he actually walked the whole distance or just most of it . Anyway , it was a jolly good read and I must do it again.

To get back to Oak Ridge Park…

Another of its charms is the total absence of Canada geese. Now, I love  birds as much as anyone else and I know there is much to admire about Canada Geese . Their incredible teamwork on their long flights each fall , their faithfulness to their mates etc , etc . However , the fact remains that , as one of my friends said , they are ” ” shit machines”.Other parks I’ve been to , such as Roosevelt Park , have been taken over by these geese and there are goose droppings all over the place . Parks with ponds offer the geese the two things they need , water and grass and they happily settle down in such places . Since they are a protected species , they can’t be eliminated and they just keep multiplying and returning to the same place year after year.I thought that Oak Ridge Park would be safe from the depredations of the geese because it doesn’t have a pond . Wrong…

Last Sunday , as my wife were walking in the park , I heard the unmistakable honking of geese . Guided by the sound , we came across a little depression where there was a small pool There , well hidden by the vegetation , was where the geese had built their nests. On subsequent visits , we saw about thirty geese walking about as if they owned the park. Well , it was good while it lasted.

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