RANT to people who cough into their hands rather than into their elbow or sleeve. Yuck for everything you then touch. Did you forget everything we learned during COVID?

RAVE to Seattle and the Seattle Sounders for putting on a great show on the world stage with the FIFA Club World Cup! And a special shoutout to all of the volunteers! What a treat to see such avid fans for Urawa Red Diamonds and Club Atlético River Plate. Makes me excited for the World Cup next year!

RANT to a major airline that now requires me to get my international boarding pass only after I have scanned in my passport on my phone, with no way to get it at the airport, even though I have entered the information on my account and also called in the information for my adult daughter. Catch-22?!

RAVE to the staff at the Ballard and Queen Anne Trader Joe’s — and probably their other stores, too. The workers there are kind, helpful, efficient, patient and cheerful. They go out of their way to find information and answer questions about product availability.

RANT to everyone who doesn’t pull up their foxtails and puts dogs and cats in danger.

RAVE to the kind people at the Little River Band concert on June 13, who saw that my wife was having difficulty when we tried to return to our seats. They offered her their seats, tried to calm her down and reassure her that everything was fine. Unfortunately, she has dementia, and we could not put her at ease. It certainly restored my faith in the kindness of strangers, even though we had to make an early exit. You all are the best.

Advertising

RANT AND RAVE Rant to “takeovers” by preteen kids! The behavior I saw in a Starbucks was really disturbing. Taking drinks you didn’t pay for, bouncing balls inside, being extremely noisy and a lack of respect! This behavior would not be tolerated at school, why should it be at a place of business?! Rave to the poor employees who have to deal with that!

RAVE to those who helped me up after my peripheral neuropathy caused me to fall several times while running the Seattle Marathon 10K at Seward Park the other day. Raves especially to the two young men (I’m 78) at the end of the race who walked with me, each holding an arm. 50 yards from the finish line, I told them I wanted to run this last part myself. I started running, and to my surprise, they each ran beside me. Just before the finish line, I started to fall again, and they each grabbed an arm and carried me over the line. The crowd cheered.

RAVE to the runner who stopped when he saw that I turned into a road with a telephone wire hanging in the street, and came over and lifted it up so my car could go underneath. Such a small act made me smile the rest of the day! Thanks for being part of the Seattle culture I love!