FREE WHEELING
Even as I write this - an era is ending.
This evening - Friday, October 24, 2003 – the news cups runneth over in praise marking the final flight of the British version of the SST Concord. The graceful preying-mantis-like craft landing gracefully at Heathrow and millions of TV viewers are witnessing films of this final voyage and the last landing of this exceptional aircraft creation of our Time ...a bit ahead of it all, perhaps, in many ways.
On the whole it was a time of good cheer and celebration. I noticed one young boy in the crowd, ten or twelve years of age perhaps, who was sobbing freely, and there are others, I dare say, who view his historic moment with sorrow and regret.
Not so, here in America. I find,judging by today's Direct Mail delivered to our door by government employee,by this morning's television spots and by forthcoming editions of newspapers and magazines, that we are entering a totally new era of personal transportation!
You just watch!
If all goes well for the people who have planned his introductory phase we are, as a nation, going to be up to our ear in motorized wheelchairs before the coming New Year gets old.
It is never called a “wheel chair. Instead, one one manufacturer has harkened back to the days when we could run all over the house and the neighbor-hod on a handy,two-wheeled plank with handle-bar called a “scooter” It has other names making git seem o be the very latest mode of personal transport, especially for the old and ailing, but not necessarily so. The attributes of the mechanism are being lauded to the extreme and most people I know would like to have, at least, one of them. Medicare will pay for it. If not, your supplementary insurance will, or the company will ante up, it is suggested. Come whatever, you keep the cart.
Somewhere along the happy trail, I fear, some one is going to be taken for a ride.
Thing not discussed: How long does a battery last? How much does a re-chargeable battery of the size needed cost? How many watts will it sip when the feeding line is connected at night? Where can I use it? That's something which has not been revealed, too. On public streets? On sidewalks - where kid's bikes are restricted? Shopping at the Mall? Do I need city, country, or state tags? Or, a permit or license of some sort? What about insurance coverage? Is there a change of a new octo-age cart event being added at the local stock car oval so I can can win prize money? What crazy stunt will get me in the Guinness Book of World Records?
And a, major point among all the minor ones, is: Do I have to get a doctor's written approval saying that I need a motorized wheel chair - without calling it a wheel chair, of course?
One era of personal transportation ends, you see, but another begins! It does get complicated at times. Ah! the wonder of it all!
A.L.M. October 24, 2003 [c531wds]
