Scene This Week In…

Today, as I was sitting waiting for my lunch appointment to show up, I spotted this gaggle of goslings strolling about outside the Waterside restaurant. It then occurred to me that there were more geese outside the window than there were patrons inside the restaurant.

It’s a shame. The food was good and the setting was terrific but during the hour or so that we were there we were the only patrons. I realize that Monday is traditionally a bad day for restaurants but still….

Walking back along the lakefront I noticed that the awnings had been replaced at the former location of Jesse Wongs Hong Kong. As previously reported on HowChow last month, the new Chinese establishment is called Red Pearl and a sign on the door mentions that they share a pedigree with the “same family that bought you Far East restaurant in Rockville and Jade Billows Chinese Restaurant in Potomac.”

It’s encouraging to see something going up in Town Center instead of coming down.

When the Kryptonite bicycle lock first came on the scene in the late 70’s it was considered the best bike lock money could buy. That held true until 2004 when it was discovered that the super bike lock could be easily compromised with a cheap Bic pen.

The company responded to this problem by establishing “a voluntary lock exchange program and replaced over 400,000 locks in 21 countries for free. To do this, the company redesigned the equivalent of 9 years worth of new products in just 10 short months.”

When I spotted this bike locked to a sign post in Ellicott City yesterday it reminded me of similar scenes I had witneesed in New York. The Kryptonite lock may have kept the bike frame secure but everything else on the bike (including wheels) was fair game.

Ron Fuller, a bicycle guy from Columbia’s early years used to always say that even with a good lock you should never let the bike out of your sight for more than ten minutes.