RAMBLE: Looney Sights

SOURCE:  Google

Is it a full moon out tonight because I witnessed some crazy things during the beginning and end my lunch hour today.

I cut through Iolani Palace grounds to meet my boyfriend for lunch today.  I usually enter through the back entrance on the Capitol Mall area and walk past the parking, the palace, and band stand to exit on the corner of Richards and King Streets.  As I was making my way through the back entrance, I heard a bunch of cheering and hollering going on next to the State Archives.  It sounded like a cheers at a sporting event of some sort.

When I looked to my left to figure out what in tarnation was going on, I observed a bunch of grown men climbing up and swinging like monkeys on the vines of the huge banyan tree next to the State Archives.  Meanwhile, the rest of the adults in their party were cheering them on like they were at a high school track meet!

I realize that perhaps these tourists (yes, they were visitors) are not aware that Iolani Palace grounds are considered sacred and should be respected as such.  However, don't they realize that they are on PALACE grounds?  Would they behave the same if they were on Buckingham Palace grounds?  I suspect not.  It really googled my mind that grown adults would see hanging vines as an opportunity to play Tarzan.  Weird.  Needless to say, the state sheriffs and police officers were not amused and they asked these bozos to knock it off.

After lunch, I was walking along Hotel Street to get back to my office and heard yelling, but this time coming from the corner of Hotel and Richards.  I saw four men who appeared homeless, yelling at each other and before I knew it, they were swinging punches at each other and getting into quite a WWE match in public.  Where in the world are the cops when you need them?

Needless to say, Hawaii people love wrestling, boxing, and MMA.  For some reason they like to watch a good fight whether it's a professional or free to the public.  A group of onlookers already formed to watch the fight.  At that moment, I didn't know what to do.  Should I call 911?  Is 911 the number to call?  Should I run to the District Court House and get a police officer?  Should I run into Alii Place and get a security guard?  While I pondered what the proper thing to do was, I noticed that a bus driver was making a call on his cell phone.  By the time he was done placing a call, the four men stopped beating each other out and then had a shouting match.  After the exchange of a few loud expletives, the four men dispersed and headed in different directions.  Weird.

What disappointed me the most about these two incidents were that they happened in front of other visitors.  The Iolani Palace tour group were getting ready to start their tour of the beautiful historic palace when those monkeys decided to swing to and fro in the banyan tree.  The fight broke out in front of a handful of tourists waiting for their bus to take them back to Waikiki.  What they must think about Hawaii!

My lunch hour was a real head scratcher.