With the stack of laundry overflowing from my hamper this week, I finally got around to going to the Laundromat. Now normally I’d just drop it off at either the Warwick or Goshen Laundromat for their wash and fold service… That started to add up as if I did it myself, it took no more than an hour to complete and cost less than half. So before I hit the Laundromat I stopped at the local coffee shop and got struck with one of those “Wow” moments. I walk up to the counter and immediately notice a US Army soldier making himself a coffee. He goes to get his money out and I tell him, don’t worry about it, I have this one. Then another counter person comes up to him and I say “I got it, don’t worry about it.” So that’s that, then when he thanks me I have this “Holy SHIT” moment. The soldier was a guy I knew years ago, actually was this scrawny little punk… Now he’s jacked, wearing fatigues, and apparently getting ready to go to Louisiana with his National Guard unit after the rest of them return from Iraq. It totally blew me away how the people I never think twice about end up doing such great things. I wouldn’t want to be in Iraq unless I had to, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want to be in Louisiana unless I had to. The fact this guy signed up to go these places without question, for his country, is why I am proud of each and every individual who wears the uniform.
So on my way home from the Laundromat I pass a local landmark known as “Pulpit Rock.” Now why it’s called that I don’t know, but essentially it is a humongous glacial boulder with a tree growing near it, in the middle of a vast green field. It’s a sight to behold really, but I digress. A few years back the local library which is far too small for the town of Warwick wanted to build their new location on the site where Pulpit Rock is located. There was a big stink by locals (many of which were people who either didn’t use the library or haven’t lived here more than a few years) who knee-jerked into protest. So eventually the Library gave up on moving, and continues to be jam packed in a small historic house in the center of town. I’m driving past the site today, and across the street is a big sign proudly announcing that there will be a new planned community of exquisite homes there.
So let me get this straight. We can’t build a Library, a bastion of education, knowledge, and wisdom… but across the street we can drop in a couple hundred more residents in huge barn-like cookie cutter homes. What a bunch of fucking hypocrites.
Speaking of hypocrites, the street this development will be built on, West St, has been the center of attention lately in regard to speeding. Apparently local residents have complained that the road has become a speedway. Well let me tell you folks something, I was driving down West St yesterday when a common occurrence took place… an SUV shot out of a side street, cut me off, and immediately accelerated to 40mph in the 30mph zone. Here’s the real kicker. I’m behind him on West, I’m behind him on Oakland, I’m behind him into the bank where he pulls away and I go where I was headed originally, the ATM. We end up leaving the bank lot at the same time, apparently they were closed for what he needed to do… as we leave I’m on the left side left turn part of the exit, he’s on the opposite, AND THE DIPSHIT TRIES TO CUT ME OFF AGAIN. Reminds me of a road down in Glenwood, NJ… Everyone who lives on it tailgates. I could do 30mph through Glenwood, past all the signs pleading with drivers to slow down, past the automated radar stanchion which is occasionally erected in the beach parking lot, all the while there is some dumb son of a bitch with Jersey plates who lives on that stretch of road, tailgating me.
Now remember, you must drive carefully because right now is the time when overloaded farm trucks full of little hellspawn more than double the commute time of any unfortunate soul who unluckily ends up behind them. So not only has my commute time and routine been completely destroyed by these things, as I drive along I see parents eagerly waiting at the end of driveways in SUV’s for their offspring to return home…so they can drive them back up the driveway.
What the fuck? I don’t want to sound like a broken record here, but I never had any problem walking to and from my bus stop when I was a kid, despite weather and bullies. Now kids get to sit in the family Navigator for the whopping 10 foot trip up the hill. No wonder so many kids these days are overweight and lazy. Maybe if they had to actually walk to and from their stop, they just might get some exercise for more than their thumbs.
