I have a vision of San Jose burned into my mind, the way it was back in 1982. What’s really amazing me here is not what’s changed, but what’s stayed the same.
At the corner of Branham Lane and Almaden Expressway there was a Jack in the Box. It’s still there.
The Pearl Avenue library still looks the same as when my grandfather and I would go in and check out dozens of books at a time. Our old church? Still there. My middle school? Looks exactly the same.
But when I drive down Pearl Avenue, expecting to go around the curve to the left and around to the K-Mart, I’m thwarted by a new freeway that gums up my memory. Then there’s that huge mall that has sprung up.
The traffic lights, which used to be horizontal, are now vertical just like everywhere else.
U-Turns, which are almost verboten in Virginia, are commonplace here — but unlike Maryland, another U-Turn capital, the turns here are at dedicated left turn lights.
Just an aside: this morning I saw a sign on the back of a truck that said something about how men who use the finger have the ability to use tools… but ability was spelled “abilility.” I guess one of the tools they can’t use is a dictionary.
Well, I now have a 408 phone number, a 408 mobile number, and a mailing address. Next up I suppose I should brave the DMV…
