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Wednesday, June 8, 2011

Smooth Operator

Amongst our local politicians, one of the smoothest is Councilor Rita Mercier.

I say that because sometime over the weekend I accidentally called her on the phone.  I didn't realize I had called her, but I heard my phone beep in my pocket and pulled it out to see Rita's name showing.  I thought for some reason she had called me, and since it was a City Councilor calling me, I immediately called back.

What I didn't realize was that I had called her in the first place.  I was sitting at the kitchen table, with my iPhone in a front trouser pocket.  My wife told me to look at something under the kitchen sink and I twisted around 180 degrees in my seat and it appears I went through about five interlocks to turn my phone on and call Ms Mercier.  I have her name in my address book, although I call her home about once every two years.

It turns out she missed the first call and had stepped into the house just as the second call came in.  In my ignorance, I asked if she had called me and she said she had not; that she had been outside working.  But, she made me feel like she was glad to talk with me none-the-less.

It was a nice conversation and then we rang off.

This reminded me of a city council meeting several weeks ago.  I think it was when Move Lowell Forward was presenting a paper to the City Council, which the Council passed on to the City Manager for review.  As I recall, Councilor Mercier is the one who moved that the paper be accepted and passed on to the City Manager.

At the end of the meeting Councilor Rita Mercier came up to me and handed me a magazine.  This was an aviation magazine that I had handed to a someone else several weeks before.  It had an article on how the P-51 had been given field modifications in England to improve its value as a fighter aircraft, including the addition of the Malcolm Hood (or canopy), to improve pilot visibility.  The magazine had gone from this person to Ms Mercier and then back to me.  And, she was aware of and knowledgeable about the article in question, as she showed in talking to me as she passed me the magazine.

Rita is a natural politician.

Regards  —  Cliff

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Anyone who has a deep affection for the P-51 is a good person. She obviously displays similar characteristics to the airplane.....

Jack Mitchell said...

Put me in the Vought F4U Corsair camp.

Anonymous said...

The bentwing was indeed a winner.....a bit skittish on those long thin mains with a short fuselage to the tail wheel. I am told that it would ground loop in a NY minute. I am also told that the torque produced by the engine was incredible. Having felt the torque on the Merlin in the P-51, and having been told the F4U was worse....I imagine Corsair guys had one very well developed right thigh.