Monday, December 24, 2007
Christmas Lights
In a quaintly old-fashioned holiday spirit, the local Dunkin' Donuts simply closed from 2 PM today until 10 PM Christmas night. Whatever the owners lose in revenue - which is considerable - they recoop in peace of mind & the good will of their employees, mostly young women. Owned, I think, by immigrant Polish Catholics, the DD has a large Orthodox Jewish clientele that I'm certain isn't the slightest bit offended by the closing or by the many "Holiday Greetings" decorations. It's clean, friendly, & well-run, without the pricy coffeehouse affectations of Starbucks. A model DD.
I made it to the library just before closing, I was out of mystery novels. Then by luck found a fast line at the supermarket. The guy in front of me was purchasing a single bag of Big Boy romaine lettuce & had the zombie expression of a man sent by his wife on an errand he considered utterly pointless but had the wisdom not to strongly resist.
I woke up today with an anxiety attack. This attack was brought on by the sound of a child banging on real drums in the apartment next door. The noise didn't last long, but it tipped me off the presence of the evil things. These are the Haitian neighbors with whom I've had some disputes over the length of time they've played music at a loud volume. Which I'd presumed we'd settled after I'd stumbled over there one morning & informed the Master of the Household that noise is high on our landlord's list of rational complaints, & I did not wish to bring it to his attention. I may also have appeared insane to the man.
Around the corner, a man was on his roof hanging Christmas lights.
"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
I made it to the library just before closing, I was out of mystery novels. Then by luck found a fast line at the supermarket. The guy in front of me was purchasing a single bag of Big Boy romaine lettuce & had the zombie expression of a man sent by his wife on an errand he considered utterly pointless but had the wisdom not to strongly resist.
I woke up today with an anxiety attack. This attack was brought on by the sound of a child banging on real drums in the apartment next door. The noise didn't last long, but it tipped me off the presence of the evil things. These are the Haitian neighbors with whom I've had some disputes over the length of time they've played music at a loud volume. Which I'd presumed we'd settled after I'd stumbled over there one morning & informed the Master of the Household that noise is high on our landlord's list of rational complaints, & I did not wish to bring it to his attention. I may also have appeared insane to the man.
Around the corner, a man was on his roof hanging Christmas lights.
Labels: Elizabeth NJ, holidays
