Potpourri, Word Snapshots Of Events In The Life of a Nonagenarian

By Mario V. Farina

This is a collection of word snapshots of events in the life of the author. The author is 93. The pieces were written during various random periods of time concerning events that took place from childhood to recent times. This is the 196th ebook that the author has written and published in Smashwords.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mario V. Farina
• Release date: Sep 13, 2016
• ISBN: 9781370881857

Mario V. Farina

Mario V Farina has worked all his life, from age 18 to 90. He worked for the American Locomotive Company, served in the U. S. Army during WWII, was employed at General Electric. He taught computers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. After leaving his position with RPI, he became employed with the State Labor Department of New York. He’s a car buff, a pun creator, and a computer enthusiast. He wrote textbooks for the programming languages COBOL and FORTRAN and wrote a book of puns and short stories called, “A Little Light Reading,” as well as over 20 other books. Several of his books were translated into other languages. This is his first foray into the world of digital publishing, with the help of his computer tutor ([e-mail]).

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Introduction

I'm 93, Nonagenarian. I don't know how many people would be interested in the life of an old geezer like me. My life has been unspectacular but I've been happy with it. What you see below is not all of it, but some of the events that came to mind as I wrote these pieces over a long period of time. There may some incidents here that some people might find interesting, perhaps even inspirational. I hope so.

My 1957 Volvo 544 Two-Door Sedan

In 1957, I saw the best vehicle I ever owned when I caught sight of a red 1957 Volvo 544 two-door sedan on the street outside a Chevrolet dealer. The picture shows a sketch of this car. I was driving a 1953 Packard 400 four-door sedan at the time. This was a huge car weighing over 4,000 pounds powered by an 8-cylinder inline engine. The Volvo appeared much different and intrigued me at once. I stopped to get specifics.

The car had just been imported from Sweden. It was about half the length of the Packard, and weighed about half as much. Its cost new in 1957 was $1,995. I made an attempt at dickering but only half heartedly. I knew I was going to buy the car before I had been in the showroom five minutes.

I loved the car from the start. It had a four-cylinder engine at the front and a three-speed transmission. The drive wheels were at the back. The seats were comfortable and there was a small rear seat. The car fit my family well since we had only two small children at the time. I had intended to use the car only for short trips to work and back, about twenty miles of driving a day, but I enjoyed driving the car so much that it replaced the Packard overnight. One of the wonderful effects of my switch was the much improved gas mileage. It gave twenty-five miles to the gallon while the Packard have provided only about twelve.

When vacation time arrived, my family decided to spend two weeks in Canada. I thought it would be OK to drive there in the Volvo. The trunk was small but we were able to pack enough material to take care of us for this short time. At the border we encountered a problem. The attendants at the Canadian side stopped us and said they needed to ask some questions. It seems they had never seen a Volvo and thought we might have an ulterior reason for driving in it into Canada. Our registration was taken but promised to be returned on the way back. The car had been in our possession only a few weeks and looked brand new. The agents might have thought we were contemplating selling it in Canada.

On the following year, the family traveled to Florida. This was a long trip but we made it in a couple of days. Our destination had been Daytona Beach but when we got there we decided to drive to the end of the Florida Keys. We kept on going and drove several hundred additional miles and part of the way down the Keys. We never got to the end since we realized how huge a bite we had undertaken. We turned around and drove back to Daytona Beach. We've remembered that trip for over fifty years.

I enjoyed the car for its unusual features. As an example, it had a radiator shade that we could pull up manually from inside the car in cold weather. Doing this would allow the car to heat up faster. Also, when I drove off in first gear, the engine made a sound like a person giving someone the raspberry. I was much amused by this idiosyncrasy. I have never heard another car