Doing The Docent Thing

It was only on my last trip to America that I learned the word 'docent'. Its meaning had become apparent from the context in which it arose - as we were being guided around the Palm Springs Art Museum and I assumed that a Latin word had been purloined by a nation anxious to add some gravitas to a potentially modest task. This turned out to be both judgemental and inaccurate. The word and its variants are widely used in Europe to describe various academic posts as well as being used for a museum or gallery guide. Those we have come across, the latest today, are people who do a job wonderfully well with knowledge and enthusiasm. Furthermore, such roles are often filled by elderly, retired but active people whose state of mind and outlook is an example to us all. We arrived today at the Orange Empire Railway Museum which is a jewel amongst museums and yet poorly signposted and not really on the California tourist trail. It had not featured in my plans for our transit from Palm Springs to San Diego; Greg had noticed it on a map. Our first stop, which I had been looking forward to, was a bit of a let down. The March Field Museum is closed Mondays. I got a few photographs but my frustration was doubled by the fact that I needed a bathroom. Had that not been the case, I might have spared Greg another airfield but Perris Valley Airport seemed a destination likely to fulfil our needs for both relief and refreshment. It was so much more than that. It is skydiving centre of extraordinary size with dozens, possibly hundreds of partcipants. Four aircraft were engaged in frenetic activity using both ends of the runway. They were three Twin Otters and a Skyvan. Across the runway a DC9 also converted for skydiving is currently out of use. The groups present included the Canadian Army and representatives of Strathclyde and Southampton Universities. I could have watched for hours. Opposite the airfield entrance the Pomeroy (US Concrete) plant has a preserved caboose which sits on a plinth only a short distance (in a straight line at least) from our railway museum destination.

When no trains or trolleys are running, admission is free. I would gladly have paid. The man who showed us around was utterly engaging and we entered several otherwise locked sheds. Regrettably this facility has, like preserved railways in Britain, suffered from theft, in particular of copper. I was close to heat exhaustion but carried on with further exploration and photography after our tour. To cover the entire site and photograph properly would take probably more than one day and  now time was slipping past. I do not recall previously using a Coco's. Lunch in their Sun City branch was very good. Later, Greg needed a bathroom otherwise he might have escaped our Montgomery Field stop. Photographs there included two San Diego Fire Department helicopters. I was chagrinned to find out on processing that I had slightly cropped one rotor. I might be learning but I am still making mistakes especially when hot and tired. There is huge fire station nearby but I was completely out of energy.

We cruised down into San Diego via its landscaped freeways and reached Harbor Drive for the Marriott Marquis. The elevator had television. In worlds away from southern California, opposing forces traded blows in Libya which in turns pales in contrast to the conflict in Ivory Coast. In Japan the slow recovery continues from near nuclear disaster born of very real natural catastrophe but on my elevator television the Weather Channel was able to confirm that it was raining in Birmingham, Alabama. In the North Tower meeting rooms the penultimate day's proceedings drew to a close for delegates to NAHAD, the Association for Hose and Accessories Distribution. Ladies and Gentlemen, in a world torn by strife and tormented by hunger I give you the comfort of banality.