Urgent business summons us to the nation’s capital. Not our nation. The one below us.

Urgent business in Washington, D.C.? You!? Who are you trying to kid?

Well, my friends. It’s the final weekend of the Cherry Blossom Festival, the Nationals have a home stand against the Phillies starting Tuesday and if this whole government shutdown thingie actually happens, I may be able to slip into the Smithsonian when no one’s watching, and get myself Fonzie’s leather jacket that I’ve had my eye on for about 30 years or so. How’s that for urgent?

Besides, D.C. is one of my favourite… oh, sorry… favorite cities despite the fact that it’s in America. It has the historic grandeur of some of Europe’s finest capitals. I have stood, humbled into awe, in front of the Vietnam and FDR memorials, mourning the loss of the cherished principles that served as their inspiration.

D.C. also has some of my favourite watering holes as well as one of the best places to observe our primate brethren in captivity. (Don’t hate us because we still go to zoos.) I also love the D.C. metro. As strong a symbol as there is about what you can do when a federal level of government gets involved in public transit.

So we here at All Fired Up in the Big Smoke will be dark a few days, maybe squeezing in a post before our return next week. We may take to the Twitter if we have a mind to. You don’t know.

To the Potomac!

— Jimmy Stewartly submitted by Cityslikr