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Today was a much quieter day at work. When I arrived, the landscape staff was still cleaning up the detritus of the previous night-- the Governor's Palace, where I was stationed all day, was one of the three main locations for the Grand Illumination fireworks, and there was all sorts of crap on the pathways and around the front of the building. I found out from one of the Palace interpreters that the fire department had to go to the Capitol during the fireworks display, because someone forgot to turn off the ventilation system and the smoke set off the alarms. xp

But apart from a whole lot of tour groups-- both school kids and elderhostel groups, kind of an odd mix because there are generally fewer school groups this time of year-- most of the people who'd been in town yesterday had vanished by today. So it would've been a pleasant enough time if it hadn't been for the temperature. It never got out of the low 40's; and while it's hardly the coldest day I've worked, by the end-- with the sun almost down and the air becoming even cooler-- I was definitely ready to go home.

I also had an incredibly boring conversation with a visitor who told me all about his years as a football coach and an AP History teacher in the Chicago school system. He kept bragging about how much money his district had when he taught there, and about all the "innovative" programs they implemented (he must've used that word about 20 times in the course of ten minutes). He was waiting for his wife to return from the bathroom, and showed no interest in seeing anything on the property while she was gone; and since I was trapped, I had no choice but to nod politely as I silently wondered how damn long it was going to take for her to get back.