hack-drivers don't live forever

2007.12.06
I've been taking the advice of a friend and walking to and from Park Street station. It's only a few minutes more than waiting for a green line train, and it's a little activity since I haven't really dared my bike in this freeze.

But you know it's cold when you walk past high-end lingerie joint La Perla and your first instinctive thought about the mannequins is "Poor dears! They must be frickin' freezing!"


Literary Bit of the Moment
They rode half a dozen blocks in silence. The chauffeur said: "Your partner got knocked off, Mr. Spade?"

"Uh-huh."

The chauffeur clucked. "She's a tough racket. You can have it for mine."

"Well, hack-drivers don't live forever."

"Maybe that's right," the thick-set man conceded, "but, just the same, it'll be a surprise to me if I don't"
The book also had an occurrence of "he's good people" -- I didn't realize the phrase went as far back as the 30s. I also learned that "Excelsior" is type of packing material, "slender, curved wood shavings" -- I thought it was just a nonsense phrase by comic writer Stan Lee.