A fruitless search for a neighbor’s bomb shelter
Back in the bad, old days of the Cold War, it was not uncommon for some worried homeowners to build bomb shelters in an attempt to protect themselves from the ravages of a feared nuclear attack.
It always had been rumored that our little Peninsula neighborhood contained at least a couple of such underground structures, essentially concrete bunkers stocked, at one time, with provisions suitable for survival.
When extensive renovations were underway at a home just down the block, it was strongly suspected that such a facility was hidden beneath a portion of the backyard landscaping.
With thoughts of nuke-rattling by the leadership of North Korea in mind, we did a cursory examination. Why not? It couldn’t hurt. But nothing of a tell-tale nature turned up.
It fell to construction workers to make the definitive call: Sorry, no dice. As far they could tell, there was no bomb shelter anywhere on the property. It was rather disappointing.
Oddly, there was a certain cachet attached to the notion of an underground bunker, any vague references to Dr. Strangelove-type behavior notwithstanding. It wasn’t necessarily romantic by any means; but it was intriguing nonetheless.
That became particularly relevant more recently when analysts who are paid to know about this stuff, concluded that the regime in Pyongyang had made significant progress in developing a missile capable of striking the U.S. West Coast — in other words, yes, Silicon Valley, the very nerve center of American ingenuity and innovation.
Might be time to consider doing some serious digging out back.
Share the road
It was probably the last thing I expected to encounter on a recent bayfront stroll. The snake seemed to arrive on the pedestrian scene almost out of nowhere.
It wasn’t particularly large, perhaps two feet in length and not at all threatening. There wasn’t a hiss to be heard or a fang to be seen.
But the reptile was definitely out of place there on an asphalt trail near a Millbrae hotel. It popped into view shortly before noon on a midweek morning, slithering along rather quickly, its mottled brown appearance blending well with the grass and rough foliage.
It appeared to be a common garden snake, a docile creature that tends to avoid human contact if it can. In this case, it was simply one more example of Peninsula wildlife in surprising places. And it had the right-of-way.
So tread lightly. You never know who, or what, is attempting to share the road, or path, with you.
PayLess podcast
A preview of a new podcast involving a shocking 1979 triple homicide in San Mateo will be held at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 27 at the Main Library in that city.
The murders of three young people occurred at a former Payless drug store. There has been no resolution to the case, although it has come tantalizingly close to being solved in the past.
Belmont author John Christgau has written extensively on the subject and, as the producer of the podcast, he is scheduled to attend the preview event later this month.
More information on the crime and this month’s event is available on Facebook at “The Payless Murders Podcast.” John Horgan’s column appears weekly in the Mercury News. You can contact him by email at johnhorganmedia@gmail.com or by regular mail at P.O. Box 117083, Burlingame, CA 94011.