I'm stuck and I can't get out
I'm stuck in the years 1971 through 1973.
Today my son called me and said he needed a ride downtown for a meeting. My other son hadn't returned with his car. So I left work at 10:45 and am back at 12:40. Now I will have to work over tonight - darn.
While he was in his meeting I drove thru and around the OSU campus and then by the townhouse mentioned in the previous post. In less than 2 hours my brain worked overtime.
What do you think about brick streets? I grew up on a street that was and still is brick. I liked driving on brick streets today. They are narrower and bumpy. I was thinking that if all the streets in neighborhoods were brick then drivers would have to slow way down and less kids and pets would get run over.
What do you think about victorian houses? I drove through Victoria Village and Italian Village. We also have a German Village. I love these neighborhoods and the huge brick houses. What are they called - the circular part of a victorian house. The widow's something. I always wonder who had been locked in there during the history of the house.
Then when I drove back downtown I started thinking about city buses. Have any of you had to take a city bus during any part of your life, like before you had a car? I took the bus from the townhouse downtown to my job. Rain, snow, sleet or hail I had to walk 4 blocks to catch the bus home. One dreary, raining evening the bus made a left off the main street and I looked up in a tall brick, run-down building. There was a pregnant woman standing in the window naked. Yep, naked. That image has never left me. I remember thinking at the time; where are her clothes, didn't she have any to fit, had someone taken them, or was she just too hot in the heat to care.
Downtown areas, to me, are the heart of the city. There are people everywhere. What are they all doing? Why are they downtown? Are they visiting? Do they wish they weren't downtown? I'm almost never downtown anymore. Today this young girl was walking down the street eating a hotdog. She was very, very pregnant. She was dressed in a white t'shirt and jeans. Her navel was now inverted due to the pregnancy and it made a bump in her t'shirt. Why was she downtown? Why was she walking down the street between the courthouse and the jail? Was she visiting someone in jail?
And speaking of hotdog stands downtown, have you ever wondered what makes a person decided to buy one and stand downtown feeding people? Would it be fun and interesting? Could I make alot of money doing it?
Did you know that it is cold downtown on days like today? The tall buildings block the sun. I rather like the effect. I remember driving in downtown Philadelphia and noticing the darkness between the buildings.
Why were three guys jogging downtown? What is it in some people that they will change into short, shorty shorts and a t'shirt and run along streets? Is it something they can't help? Does it really help their health that much? Or are they putting their lives at risk running down busy streets in the cold?
Why is there an espresso joint on every corner? For all you coffee drinkers, what is espresso?
It sounds to me like a quick cup of caffeine that tastes worse than coffee.
On the way back Marvin Gaye came on the radio. What's Going On was the song. That song always comforts me. It isn't a particularly comforting song. I think it is Marvin's voice that soothes me. I'm adding him to my 10 crush list. If he were alive, that is. I so loved Marvin. That song reminds me of the idealistic, wide-eyed child I was in my 20's.
What's on your mind today?
Today my son called me and said he needed a ride downtown for a meeting. My other son hadn't returned with his car. So I left work at 10:45 and am back at 12:40. Now I will have to work over tonight - darn.
While he was in his meeting I drove thru and around the OSU campus and then by the townhouse mentioned in the previous post. In less than 2 hours my brain worked overtime.
What do you think about brick streets? I grew up on a street that was and still is brick. I liked driving on brick streets today. They are narrower and bumpy. I was thinking that if all the streets in neighborhoods were brick then drivers would have to slow way down and less kids and pets would get run over.
What do you think about victorian houses? I drove through Victoria Village and Italian Village. We also have a German Village. I love these neighborhoods and the huge brick houses. What are they called - the circular part of a victorian house. The widow's something. I always wonder who had been locked in there during the history of the house.
Then when I drove back downtown I started thinking about city buses. Have any of you had to take a city bus during any part of your life, like before you had a car? I took the bus from the townhouse downtown to my job. Rain, snow, sleet or hail I had to walk 4 blocks to catch the bus home. One dreary, raining evening the bus made a left off the main street and I looked up in a tall brick, run-down building. There was a pregnant woman standing in the window naked. Yep, naked. That image has never left me. I remember thinking at the time; where are her clothes, didn't she have any to fit, had someone taken them, or was she just too hot in the heat to care.
Downtown areas, to me, are the heart of the city. There are people everywhere. What are they all doing? Why are they downtown? Are they visiting? Do they wish they weren't downtown? I'm almost never downtown anymore. Today this young girl was walking down the street eating a hotdog. She was very, very pregnant. She was dressed in a white t'shirt and jeans. Her navel was now inverted due to the pregnancy and it made a bump in her t'shirt. Why was she downtown? Why was she walking down the street between the courthouse and the jail? Was she visiting someone in jail?
And speaking of hotdog stands downtown, have you ever wondered what makes a person decided to buy one and stand downtown feeding people? Would it be fun and interesting? Could I make alot of money doing it?
Did you know that it is cold downtown on days like today? The tall buildings block the sun. I rather like the effect. I remember driving in downtown Philadelphia and noticing the darkness between the buildings.
Why were three guys jogging downtown? What is it in some people that they will change into short, shorty shorts and a t'shirt and run along streets? Is it something they can't help? Does it really help their health that much? Or are they putting their lives at risk running down busy streets in the cold?
Why is there an espresso joint on every corner? For all you coffee drinkers, what is espresso?
It sounds to me like a quick cup of caffeine that tastes worse than coffee.
On the way back Marvin Gaye came on the radio. What's Going On was the song. That song always comforts me. It isn't a particularly comforting song. I think it is Marvin's voice that soothes me. I'm adding him to my 10 crush list. If he were alive, that is. I so loved Marvin. That song reminds me of the idealistic, wide-eyed child I was in my 20's.
What's on your mind today?
9 Comments:
LOL! You so silly!
I was born in New York, Queens to be exact. When I was growing up, we had one car which my dad always took to Manhattan or to the park-n-ride to work. Mom did not drive. I lived on busses! That was our main transportation. We could walk to school, church and the grocery store, but for big shopping, we always went into Jamaica (Queens) where there was Macy's and various other department stores.
There was also an el train at the corner, but children could not ride it for free like the bus.
Ahhh! Memories! I have more, but go to get going.
Oh! that hot dog girl? No doubt she was off to visit her babydaddy in jail! *wink*
I live in SF so I am surrounded by Victorians. I love the architecture. Too bad I can't afford one. There is also a brick road or two around town. I think they are pretty but they are hell on the tires.
I take public transportation quite often. I try to avoid city buses though because usually they are not at all clean. Full of icky germs that I have to touch. At least on the train I'm not forced to come in contact with so many germs.
Carey<---germaphobe with a capital G.
"What's Going On" is one of my top favorite songs of all time.
I just love it.
Have a good weekend!
Nutz, you grew up in "New York City". Wow. My childhood dream was to live in the City in a brownstone. I'm gellus.
Carey, I fell in love with SF. I love it so much.
Zombs, yea me too. Marvin sang with such feeling.
Sonya, Good weekend to you.
I just read Supes story. If you haven't read it I highly recommend it. What a great writer he is.
Wow, that's a lot of questions. I can't remember them all.
Brick streets: very cool, yet a repair nightmare.
Victorian houses: I like them only when restored to full luster and with some modern touches.
Espresso is ok. Tastes a little bitter/burnt to me. Good as the base for most foofy coffee drinks, though.
Buses. I never took one until I moved to Madison. The other places I lived never had them (Winona had one...but I never used it). Madison has no parking, so it's become a necessity for me.
Hot dog stands. Genius. I want to own a hot dog stand in downtown Madison at bar time. However, ordinances discourage it.
Running in the cold is for freaks. Really fit freaks.
I *heart* brick streets!
I also *heart* Victorian houses.
I also rode a city bus on my honeymoon. I won't say what happened back there. *grin*
it's a good thing your commenter is a pop-up window or i'd have forgotten all the questions.
brick streets - look awesome, pain to lay down, pain to fix. but i agree... probably people would drive slower. we can also remedy this with speed bumps in residential areas.
victorian houses - LOVE.
buses - cq was born in brooklyn where she lived until 14. her parents did not have a car until she was 12, and then it was only used to drive upstate on weekends to see my godparents. so? i lived on buses. the city bus was how i got to school each AM. i walked home, though, unless it was pissing rain. it never snowed much when i was a kid. i remember one hail. the pregnant woman... probably just thought nobody was looking. i walked around my apt naked a lot when i was pregnant. it was more comfortable.
downtown - best place to people-watch. i love it. it's fun. i used to do it every day at lunch when i worked in manhattan. i was like 18 or so and used to sit outside with a journal, writing down what i thought about while all different flavors of the world walked by.
hot dog stands - would be the greatest places to people-watch. i'd get paid to do something i love. you would make money doing it. you just need a good location. and then you can release your 'memoirs of a hot dog vendor' book and your 'hot dog a day' photo book and be even richer.
cold downtown - yeah that never really happened in manhattan or brooklyn's downtowns because the trains are underground and they make everything hot (and smelly).
short shorts - yuck. running actually is one of the greatest things you can do for your health, so i think it outweighs being cold. i'm lazy, though, so i don't run.
espresso - mmmmm. yum. i shouldn't answer this because monsty is really the coffee guru, but i will anyway, because a lack of real expertise has never really stopped me from opining before. i believe espresso refers to the level of roast... so it's roasted more. and then how it's brewed... i don't know! basically, it ends up being like super-concentrated coffee. and it tastes awesome. but if you don't like coffee, you would think it tastes worse.
today? i wonder if That Baby will sleep well tonight. i wonder if J will do well on his GREs. i wonder if i will find a job for september. these are the things for today and pretty much every day.
Brick streets~ We have two here, and I love them. We did have more, but they took them up to expand the road. The old downtown lost a little something when they did that.
Victorian Houses~ I love them. I have always wanted to live in one. I do not like when they are painted in the Victorian time colors though. Pink, red and pea green do not look good together, no matter what era.
buses~ The only bus or other public transportation I have ever rode in has been school bus or a taxi. We do not have busses or trains here. Actually all of our train tracks were taken up to put in a huge walking and bike trail that goes all through town.
Downtown~ Ours is in a rebuilding faze. I used to love how the old shops looked with the different store front styles, but most of that old charm is being lost. I do however like going to other cities and towns and seeing their historic part.
hot dog stand~ never ate from one, never even seen one.
Short shorts~ If they are on hotties, I don't seem to mind so much.
Espresso~ Love me a good shot of espresso.
Today...I wonder if it is the baby I keep feeling or if I am a little hungry.
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