Now that you know a little about our general area, time for you to meet our street. One block away from our street are some HUD megapartment complexes. One block away on the other side are some super seedy apartments, around which we see squad cars approximately 3 nights a week.
Then there's our block, which is divided right down the middle. One side of the street has homes, which are owned by people who are here for good and really want to keep things clean. They have erected "Kids At Play" roadblocks so their kids can safely play on the sidestreet. They nag the local police force to put in speed humps. One particularly vigilant neighbor, Jim, lives across the street from us and is the type to actually chase after cars he thinks are endangering the 'hood.
The other side of the street, our side, is full of duplexes, which are rented by mostly families. With times such as they are, there's a pretty fluid movement in and out, as people move here from larger places, or worse, have to leave our humble neighborhood. We lost our awesome next door neighbor a few months ago (he lived there for 10 years!) when the economy did him wrong. We miss you, Tony! Luckily, this really nice Ecuadorian family moved in a few months later, and they have three kids who love to play with Stellan.
On our other side, things have not been as steady. A couple moved in around the beginning of the year; they were loud, drunk and attracted the police at a quicker rate than we like to see on our street. They lasted about a month and moved on. Then we got another set of neighbors, this time a family. The mom seemed nice, two kids, kept to themselves. In fact, they never really were outside. Pretty much all I knew about them was that they had some fun outside toys that just sat on the side of the house and that they liked ice cream, which I surmised from the fact that the ice cream truck always stopped at their house on its way through the neighborhood. During Stellan's nap no less; I have no doubt he dreamed of weasels popping and yankee doodles riding on ponies for months.
And that's our street. In our next episode, all Provo will break loose. Don't miss it!
I have not only duct taped over the tear, but I have in fact stitched the duct tape in place on both sides of the tear. Not a pretty solution. I think I might actually be embarrassed using this in public, especially when we cruise to our Mommy & Me class. The other parents roll up in Mercedes Benz SUVs and the like. They regard us and our non-automotive ways with aloof curiosity. And some disdain, but I think that's just because of my prolific sweating after walking a mile and half during the heat of the day.
Interestingly enough, Florida has recently made the move to only give out one license plate, to be affixed on your rear bumper. We have been given a spiffy Dania Beach plate to put on the front of our car. What do you think, should we show our Dania pride or just leave it bare?
