A Bridge to My Next Hundred Posts; or, The Most Anti-Climactic 100th Substack Post Ever

Fort Hunter Mansion, Harrisburg, PA. Photo by author.

This is the 100th post I have written for From My Bookshelf.

Also the first I have written on my phone. And hopefully the last. I am not much of a cell phone guy. We’ll see how this goes.

I had big plans for Post #100, which was supposed to go live on Tuesday morning. Had the book all picked out, was excited about it—still am excited about it—and pushed hard to finish reading it by supper on Monday.

But life has a way of intervening in our best-laid plans.

Monday evening a college friend of our daughter arrived to spend the night and then drive the two of them to Massachusetts for a wedding.

They both wanted to chat and catch up, so I still had a chance. But I also had sone packing of my own to do, because on Tuesday morning I was planning to drive with my son to Washington, D.C., to help him move into his first post-law-school apartment. I managed to write a few paragraphs but then had to call it a night.

“Never fear,” I told myself, “you can finish it on Tuesday night after you’ve arrived in DC.” I may or may not have believed that myself.

Now, let me tell you something that is not a lot of fun. Driving six-plus hours to Washington—that would be on a good day, with no stops, and I am past the age of no stops—when the temperature is approaching 90 degrees and the air conditioning in your van is broken. That is not a lot of fun.

And when it then starts pouring rain, so that you have to pull off the road temporarily, and you have severe thunderstorm and flash flood warnings the whole second half of the trip, that is even less fun.

And when the cool raindrops hit the hot windshield of the greenhouse-like car in which you are sweating and steaming away, so that the glass fogs up and you can hardly see? Least fun.

When I finally made it, a couple of hours late, I did not feel a whole lot like writing a brilliant, or even a moderately clever, literary essay. I contemplated pushing myself to get it done nevertheless…

…but Providence took the decision out of my hands. Because it turns out that there is not yet any internet service in my son’s apartment. So I was spared the need for such a determined exercise of will-power. (Hence also this first-and-last-ever typed-on-a-phone post.)

So I am leaving you all in suspense about my 100th Substack post, which will no longer be #100, creating some uncertainty about its ontological status. It’s coming soon… still… along with some other things I’m working on… if the fates permit.

In the meantime, as a sorry substitute, I’ll share with you a pair of vignettes from my trip. As I was driving through Harrisburg, PA, during a lull in the rain, an imposing structure caught my eye. I pulled over and discovered that I was looking at none other than the Rockville Bridge: the largest stone masonry arch railroad bridge in the world. Pretty neat.

Rockville Bridge in Harrisburg. Photos by author.

As I drove away, a train even began chugging across the bridge.

I should perhaps note here that it is not generally recommended that you snatch at your phone in order to take a picture while driving in the rain. Ahem. Even if this one is just a bit like Turner’s Rain, Steam, and Speed.

Vignette #2: Just across the street from my son’s apartment building is a row of embassies. Several of which proudly display busts of important national figures. So as I was walking back from my own parking garage this evening, I snapped a few photos. Just for all of you. A pre-Renaissance Renaissance man from Uzbekistan, the Founding Father of Chile, and a Peruvian naval officer and politician.

Trinidad and Tobago had a consulate tucked in there also, but it was bustless, which was rather disappointing.

And that is all for this grand post #100, about which it can truly be said that I just phoned it in. (Now for the big moment when we see if this actually works!)

As always, thanks for reading, and I’ll see you next time for another installment From My Bookshelf. The one you ought to have been reading now!

I don’t even know how to add a “buy me a coffee” button on this thing, which is too bad, because I’m going to need some for the hot drive home. Prayers accepted instead! Or if you really can’t get enough of such anti-climactic prose, and you want more just like it, you could also just…