Thursday, April 22, 2004
Today was the first day in the seven weeks since I found out I had to move that approached being enjoyable. & that's mostly because Jeff Jotz (known in these pages as Patrick's dad, Liz's husband, journalist & former WFMU staffer) loaned me his monster beauty '84 Olds station wagon, now parked beneath my window. That put me at last in control of of transferring Chez Rix. Plus, I love driving - which I don't get to do much, & I like station wagons - this one is just an oversized version of my beloved '89 Dodge Colt wagon.
In two trips, I carted over large, medium & small shelves; a cushioned chair; a portable washing machine; a heavy end table; lamp; filing cabinet; assorted boxes & bags. Still made it to a therapist session & did some food shopping. I have three days to finish to job.
Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of heavy lifting tommorrow, with aid of handtruck. But I miss having a car. The Colt was pretty reliable for 3 1/2 years, mileage over a 100,000 when I got it, & I probably paid a few hundred too much. Its gave me trouble in wet weather; drove great in dry. Then a wheel bearing went late one night on a Turnpike exit, the electrical began acting up, I just did not have the money to maintain it. The City of Rahway towed it away after a snowstorm while I was recooping from surgery at my sister's, so I just let it go. I liked to get around; Sewaren boat ramp, Cliffwood Beach, Keansburg, or just park overlooking the lake in Rahway River Park in every kind of weather, reading paper & listening to the radio, or jotting down throughts & observations. Browsing my fav funky stores like Oddjob & Natiional Wholesale without buying anything, like they were just oeculiar exhibitions of consumer goods. & stopping by Edie's house a few times a week for coffee, cookies & Seinfeld reruns, chatting because we'd seen them som many times. & the night after the tornado hit Rahway felling so many grand old trees, power outages, the police had the main streets sealed off, so the challenge was getting to the Quick Check in Clark at 1 am when I developed a craving for Old Mill glazed donuts, & found a few dozen fellow Rahwayans there with similar needs. What I carried around in the Colt I'll certainly have in the next: low beach chair, binoculars, disposable camera, poem anthology, cheap school notebook, fold up kite.
The problem on my corner: There's a bunch of men from Africa who live in my building & some other buildings in the neighborhood. Some of them are married & have children. They are boisterous, friendly, & they never shut the hell up. Right now, Thursday near midnight they're out there shouting it up. The loudness is cultural I suppose, but making the noise on the corner late in the evening, & in the afternoon, & blocking the steps in front, they need to be Americanized, because here it's just inconsiderate, & it is disturbing the peace, & only the cops can learn 'em. The cops came by last Saturday night, said something through the car loudspeaker, & the guys broke it up. That has to happen five or six nights in a row.
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"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free, in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be." Thomas Jefferson
In two trips, I carted over large, medium & small shelves; a cushioned chair; a portable washing machine; a heavy end table; lamp; filing cabinet; assorted boxes & bags. Still made it to a therapist session & did some food shopping. I have three days to finish to job.
Yeah, there's gonna be a lot of heavy lifting tommorrow, with aid of handtruck. But I miss having a car. The Colt was pretty reliable for 3 1/2 years, mileage over a 100,000 when I got it, & I probably paid a few hundred too much. Its gave me trouble in wet weather; drove great in dry. Then a wheel bearing went late one night on a Turnpike exit, the electrical began acting up, I just did not have the money to maintain it. The City of Rahway towed it away after a snowstorm while I was recooping from surgery at my sister's, so I just let it go. I liked to get around; Sewaren boat ramp, Cliffwood Beach, Keansburg, or just park overlooking the lake in Rahway River Park in every kind of weather, reading paper & listening to the radio, or jotting down throughts & observations. Browsing my fav funky stores like Oddjob & Natiional Wholesale without buying anything, like they were just oeculiar exhibitions of consumer goods. & stopping by Edie's house a few times a week for coffee, cookies & Seinfeld reruns, chatting because we'd seen them som many times. & the night after the tornado hit Rahway felling so many grand old trees, power outages, the police had the main streets sealed off, so the challenge was getting to the Quick Check in Clark at 1 am when I developed a craving for Old Mill glazed donuts, & found a few dozen fellow Rahwayans there with similar needs. What I carried around in the Colt I'll certainly have in the next: low beach chair, binoculars, disposable camera, poem anthology, cheap school notebook, fold up kite.
The problem on my corner: There's a bunch of men from Africa who live in my building & some other buildings in the neighborhood. Some of them are married & have children. They are boisterous, friendly, & they never shut the hell up. Right now, Thursday near midnight they're out there shouting it up. The loudness is cultural I suppose, but making the noise on the corner late in the evening, & in the afternoon, & blocking the steps in front, they need to be Americanized, because here it's just inconsiderate, & it is disturbing the peace, & only the cops can learn 'em. The cops came by last Saturday night, said something through the car loudspeaker, & the guys broke it up. That has to happen five or six nights in a row.
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