Slugging, Sam and Shoe'fie's

It’s been a great few days of sport but before I get into that, let me tell you about this ‘slugging’. This morning we met a lady for a run. She lives about half an hour out of DC and either gets the bus in to the city or ‘slugs’ it in? We looked at her with frowny faces and said ‘slug’?  She proceeds to explain this concept and we were quite entrigued that this exists. It’s been around for about 40 years apparently and is very much alive and slugging today. I found this info on google.

Slugging is a term used to describe a unique form of commuting found in the Washington, DC area sometimes referred to as "Instant Carpooling" or "Casual Carpooling".   It's unique because people commuting into the city stop to pickup other passengers even though they are total strangers! However, slugging is a very organized system with its own set of rules, proper etiquette, and specific pickup and drop-off locations.  It has thousands of vehicles at its disposal, moves thousands of commuters daily, and the best part, it’s FREE! Not only is it free, but it gets people to and from work faster than the typical bus, metro, or train.  I think you'll find that it is the most efficient, cost-effective form of commuting in the nation.

The system of slugging is quite simple. They have High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes here = you need minimum 3 people in your car to use a certain quicker highway lane. A car needing additional passengers to meet the required 3- person HOV minimum pulls up to one of the known slug lines. The driver usually positions the car so that the slugs are on the passenger side. The driver either displays a sign with the destination or simply lowers the passenger window, to call out the destination, such as Pentagon, L'Enfant Plaza of 14th & New York. The slugs first in line for that particular destination then hop into the car, normally confirming the destination, and off they go. (I’m laughing as I read this, it’s just incredible and I’d love to see this in action !! )

No money is exchanged because of the mutual benefit: the car driver needs riders just as much as the slugs need a ride. Each party needs the other in order to survive. Normally, there is no conversation unless initiated by the driver; usually the only words exchanged are "Thank you" as the driver drops off the slugs at the destination.

There doesn’t need to be any discussion about the destination , such as giving directions, because the drop-off points are generally understood. "Rosslyn" means the Metro station in Rosslyn, not at some other point along the way. The "Pentagon" means the curb along Fern Street, not the North Parking Lot. However, there are a few places where the destination drop-off point is not understood; in these cases, the slug must state where he or she wishes to be dropped off. For example, at "Tackett’s Mill," the driver usually asks "New or Old Lot?" because the driver will take you to either. And there is Crystal City, where drivers drop off slugs anywhere between 12th Street and 23rd streets.

Apparently our friend said the term ‘slug’ came from the busdrivers because cars would pull up next to the bus lanes to pick up people (steal bus passengers) so they called them slugs. While slugs used to be a term for counterfeit coins in the early days (to pay for bus fares), it has taken on the more derogatory meaning now I think. I have never heard of this concept but it just fascinated me. It seems way too friendly, helpful and smart to be true. But here it is. Maybe it’s in Australia, I don’t know but there you have it – slugging. It seems to be safe and very popular but we were both thinking of safety. As Deb and I walked away, Deb said she nearly asked the girl had she not heard of Ivan Milat? Thankfully her inner voice worked today.

So enough of slugging, lets talk sport. The Citi Open tennis tournament is on this week. It would be equivalent to the Brisbane or Sydney International at home. Best things is the tennis centre is 5 minutes from home. So my Aussie mate Bob and I grabbed some tickets and headed out for a full day and night of tennis. Sam Stosur, Bernard Tomic, James ‘Ducky’ Duckworth’ were playing along with a few other Aussies. There was little shade but we managed to score a seat in the shade for most of the afternoon. It’s a small tournament and tennis centre which makes it very personal to watch – so close to the action. The games were excellent, really good tennis. Deb arrived after work as we were all excited to see Sam Stosur. We managed to watch Tomic warming up (Bob wished him good luck) and Guiccioni and Sam Groth. Big guys. The night drew on and the games went for ages so Sam’s game-start was getting later and later. We watched Ducky play and get flogged by the US #1 seed and then watched Tomic beat his US opponent. Bob and I are pretty vocal supporters but we were clearly lonely wolves in the stands. I yelled out to Bernie to ‘get your Aussie on mate’ – to which Bob and Deb looked at me and said what the hell does that mean??  Who cares, it’s better than Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi !!  So I’ve created a cool Aussie chant – get your aussie on mate !

Anyway it got to 10pm and we decided to leave - had a 5am start next day for a run. I would have stayed otherwise.So Sam had still not started. She would be a while (1045 as it turned out). Bob stayed, the tennis die-hard that he is. He saw Sam warming up in the gym and was mesmerized by her muscles. She’s one toned chick. He watched her play for 15 minutes but had to get home himself. He managed to take some good photos and I am very disappointed not to see her play. I could go another day on the weekend but the temps here will be up around 38c so sitting the hot direct sun is not appealing. I'll wait for next year.

So back to our running friend this morning, she taught us a new word - shoe'fie. Apparently this is what runners do ! So our shoe'fie is below.

A shoe'fie

Get your Aussie ON !!

Today, Bob and I followed up our big day/night of tennis and went to our regular baseball game. Nats played LA Dodgers today who are high on the ladder and in reputation. Nat lost Tuesday, flogged them last night but lost today 6-3 (games are played 3 or 4 days in a row). Crikey, I just can't seem to see them win (except for that one time with extra time). I am clearly a jinx to this team when I watch them live.

Another hot day so a cold cider went down well. It was also 'camp' day = lots of kids summer camp groups come to the game (no it wasn't gay day, not that kinda camp). It was like being at a school sport carnival with lots of different coloured shirts grouped around the stadium. And they were LOUD. It was great, kids really know how to get into the game. Baseball is such a good experience for kids.

And of course, the Republican convention is on and Trump has made a prized dick of himself, as well as his wife and other supporters. The convention has been a lot of speakers basically telling supporters to hate Clinton more than Trump. There is not one shred of decent leadership or strategy stated - just negative slander. Let's see what the democrats bring next week.