Rant & Rave: Reader appreciates runner who pointed out lost phone

RAVE to a young runner. The other evening, at dusk, our doorbell rang. I went to answer it to find a tall young man, obviously out for an evening run. Let me say that we live 35 steps up from street level. He told me that there was a green-cased cellphone at the bottom of our steps, and he was concerned that we might have left it there by mistake. He offered to run down and bring it up, but we made that trip together. The young man went on his way. It wasn’t our phone, but I answered it when it rang, and soon the owner came to the house to pick it up. Two young women out for an evening stroll had set it down. They thanked me for the phone’s return, but I’d like to thank the young man who began the recovery process and braved the 35 steps.

RANT to the ever-changing (and disappearing) options for returning purchases from an online retailer. We get it, you don’t want us to return things. But this makes me even less inclined to buy. If only there were a place I could touch and feel the items before I buy. We could call it … a store! Genius!

RAVE to a flight attendant for stopping to help this 81-year-old when I took a tumble on the escalator at Sea-Tac Airport (not even realizing I’d be on her flight). She gave me another reason to love the airline she works for. Another rave to the gentleman who also stopped to help.

RANT to wind chimes. For all homeowners on small city lots who own wind chimes, this is less a rant than a humble request. Honestly, it’s a plea for help. Would you please give some thought to taking them down to help a neighbor who is in serious auditory distress? Their discordant noise is grating, a visceral irritant to my nervous system, old ears and ADHD brain. Think fingers running down a chalkboard. During the day, I so appreciate the sounds of weather, of pure wind whooshing, rain pattering; the spring calls of the chickadees; the merriment of kids playing in backyards; referee whistles at local playfields. I tolerate barking dogs and backup beeps of garbage trucks just fine. I am happy with the hum and rhythm of city life, natural and simple. However, wind chimes clanging at night make sleeping with the windows open virtually impossible. They stop and start with willy-nilly intervals and with absolutely no good sense for rhythm or reason. And by daytime, they are anything but melodic after they too have had a sleepless night putting their metal to the pedal on the graveyard shift. I have entertained bringing you cookies, making a cold call or coming in person to ask you sweetly, but as a stranger, yet your neighbor, I am a fearful chicken in these modern times.

RANT AND RAVE Rave that Boeing IMAX Theater was sold to a local entity. Rant to not showing feature films. That’s where we go to see IMAX films!