Please spare us on National Nude Day

And public nudity does have its adherents. It doesn’t seem to matter that the bodies involved are too often less than stunning. In fact, it’s often the case that it would be beneficial if those doffing their duds kept their clothes on. We don’t want to see them jiggling out there in full public view.

But that’s one of the aspects of National Nude Day. It’s scheduled for July 14. It’s supposed to be a date to celebrate the human form in all of its sublime glory, the storied stuff of master painters and sculptors.

We will beg off, however. No one wants to see what lurks sans our shirt, pants and, heaven help us all, undergarments. It’s not pretty. Far too much flesh has gone south over time. Six-pack abs are MIA. In fact, they never were there in the first place.

Muscle tone, such as it was, has been replaced by a distinct suggestion of terminal sag. It’s a sight no one wants to endure for long, if at all. Your correspondent will not be observing National Nude Day. You can thank us in advance.

SERENDIPITY ON THE BAYFRONT: On the subject of personal attire — or the lack of same later this month — we got lucky last weekend outside the Embassy Suites Hotel in Burlingame. By sheer happenstance, we wandered into the midst of a splendid fresh-air Indian wedding along the Bayfront.

It was a magnificent Hindu-based affair. At least 200 people were in attendance. All were dressed in spectacular, flowing Indian formal finery. The colors were brilliant, the headgear striking. The mood was joyous. There was music. There was food. There were flowers.

The groom, who reportedly was not of Indian extraction himself, rode to the ceremony on a white horse while the happy assemblage swayed and sang along with the husband-to-be on his rented steed. His Indian bride patiently waited for his arrival while remaining inside the hostelry. Onlookers paused to take photos with their phones. There was enthusiastic cheering from the hotel’s upper floors as well.

Somehow, on the nation’s 250th birthday this week (and with the 2026 World Cup in progress here as well), the Indian event — three full days of celebration — seemed to be a hopeful, healthy metaphor for the all-embracing, ever-changing ethnic/cultural nature of the country itself, especially in high-octane, immigrant-fueled Silicon Valley and its productive immediate environs.

All in all, the entire spectacle was, in a word (to borrow from the Brits), brilliant.

HE DROVE THE EXTRA MILE(S): Bill Gray does not forget his roots. The former North County teacher and coach drove roughly 1,200 miles west from his current home in South Dakota to attend last week’s Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame induction ceremony in Redwood City. A Terra Nova High School football player, Anthony Gordon, was an honoree at the event conducted at the San Mateo County History Museum. Gray, a member of the Hall of Fame himself, still holds the county record for prep football victories, a total of 256. He accumulated those wins at Oceana High School and Terra Nova, both located in Pacifica, over a period of 42 seasons. In retirement, he has been an assistant football coach for the last several years at tiny Chamberlain High School in South Dakota. The school has a student body of barely 200 teens.

TWO LANDMARK CLOSURES: Aldo’s Pizza is shutting down. The San Mateo dining spot has been in operation since 1958. Located in Shoreview off South Norfolk Street, the place has become a much-loved landmark on the east side of town. Its specialties have satisfied patrons from throughout the area for what amounts to at least three generations. But what are said to be rising costs and changing times have forced the closure, according to the owners who announced the end of the line in a recent Facebook post. It is expected to shut its doors for good later this summer. Meanwhile in Pacifica, the final day of culinary service at Vallemar Station, a go-to establishment for decades that once housed an Ocean Shore Railroad depot, will be July 12.