Today is Thursday, July 10, 2025. As I alerted you yesterday, I was going to be absent from this page because I intended to see my Central Islip friend “Jake” and expected to stay out the entire day, and I certainly did. After awakening at 8:15, I got ready to have breakfast out at my usual place of morning culinary delight, the Austin House Diner, and then I was going to take the subway to the LIRR station at Sutphin Boulevard and Archer Avenue since I thought there was no train running from the Forest Hills platform. I later found out I was laboring under a misapprehension since on my return back from Central Islip, I was able to change trains at Jamaica Station to board a train going to Kew Gardens and Forest Hills. I just had to wait around 15 minutes.

I got to the LIRR station earlier than expected: a little after 10. I was to board the 11:24 train to Ronkokoma, but I wrestled with getting on an earlier train, like the 10:50 train, which would have put me at the stop close to 12. So I decided to call Jake and inform him that I would arrive slightly earlier, and he consented to my arriving earlier.

Thus I boarded the earlier train and continued to read The Friday Afternoon Club, by Griffin Dunne. I’ve read about 300 pages already; it’s that readable. I’ve reached the part where Dunne eloquently writes about his sister’s strangling at the hands of a deranged suitor named John Sweeney in 1982. I remember the case and the subsequent trial in which this serial abuser got quite a light sentence for snuffing the life out of this promising young actress who played JoBeth Williams’ and Craig T. Nelson’s older daughter in 1982’s Poltergeist, a popular film in its day with a story by Steven Spielberg and directed by Tobe Hooper.

I was met by Jake a few minutes past 12 after I disembarked from my train. Jake was in his 2002 red Cadillac DeVille. It was as long as a boat, I felt. Our first stop was a Dunkin’ Donuts nearby where I had my third cup of coffee plus a blueberry glazed donut. We sat down at a round table and talked for over an hour.

Soon it was time to get up from our comfortable seats to drive to the Central Islip Central Library where we went up to the second floor to see a free film in a meeting room, Sabrina. For those who know about the film, this version was the most recent starring Harrison Ford, Julia Ormond, and Greg Kinnear. This latter film, released in 1995, is a remake of the 1954 effort starring Audrey Hepburn, Humphrey Bogart, and William Holden. The only thing we agreed on afterward is that the original had more charm than this lackluster incarnation.

After the film, we made our way to the Quiet Room where we talked some more about our last trip and where I showed Jake a few choice pictures from it. Jake was quite impressed by the beautiful scenery captured on my phone.

It was then time to drive to our last destination, Shandon Court, an Irish-American restaurant with a busy bar and comfort Irish food like shepherd’s pie and chicken pot pie. This is where Jake engages in Trivia Night every Wednesday and where I was recruited to play with Jake and his team. But first, we had to have dinner, so we ordered a full bowl of French onion soup to share and then I ordered the chicken francese. Jake ordered the shepherd’s pie for his entree.

Game night promptly began a little after 8, with at least four teams playing. We were the smallest team, with only three members playing. Two or three members were unable to show up last night. These were family members of the third member: “Philip.” So we played with all the gusto we could muster, even though we had fewer members than any other team.

The quiz that we played contained four sections, three sections having 12 questions each, and one section composed of pictures that we had to identify screen duos from films released through the years. This proved to be my greatest strength. I was able to identify 9 out of 12 pictures. Some of the duos included Sid and Nancy, Robin and Marian, Benny & Joon, and so on.

The game lasted close to 2 hours. Sadly, we came in fourth.

Then I became a little worried that I wouldn’t make the 10:57 train from Central Islip. I impressed upon Jake to leave the restaurant as soon as the game finished. After saying goodbye to Philip and other team members, we hurried out of Shandon Court.

We got to the station within minutes and in a blink of an eye, the eastbound train hurtled my way. I hugged Jake and said good night and boarded the Penn Station train. As I mentioned earlier, I got off at Jamaica and waited for the next train to Forest Hills. It arrived around 12:10 a.m. and it wasn’t long before I was back in Forest Hills.

As I got off the train, it began to rain. Luckily, I had my blue umbrella and opened it immediately. Before exiting the platform, I spied a rat at the bottom of the staircase. It scurried underneath some debris. Ugh, what a sight!

It’s getting late and there’s no time to write about what we did today. Maybe I’ll get that in tomorrow.

And so it went!

Here’s a sheet from Trivia Night in which I could answer 9 questions. I couldn’t produce a blank sheet where you could test your memory of famous screen duos through the years – sorry. I couldn’t answer No. 2, No. 9, and No. 11.