Rainstorm

There was a huge downpour Monday morning, which led to flooding in the DC area, and to buses being canceled, and Metro trains not running through the tunnels. However, by that time, I was safe in my fifth floor office at the USPTO, and mass transit was transiting again by the time I went home in the evening.

A French Lady

When I was taking a bag of trash to the garbage room a few hours ago, I met a woman on a similar mission. When I held the door open for her to go in, she said, “Merci,” and said it again as I held the door open for her to depart. After saying “Mais certainement, Madame,” I asked, in French, whether she was French. My French, what little I ever knew, is rusty, and she told me that she did not speak English. Nonetheless, I was able to tell her that my grandfather had been French, and that in ‘96 I had bought a book and some cassettes to study French so that I could visit him in France; he spoke English, but I wanted to be able to communicate with other French people.

She told me, in a few words of English, that her son works in Washington and lives in the building; she was visiting him.