On Sunday, May 7, once again the O.C. Marathon took place.
For the whole week before the event, our NPD had placed a blinking sign on the Balboa Island bridge telling everyone that the Bridge would be closed at 5:30 a.m. on May 7 for the Marathon’s route.
Fine, anyone who tried to drive off the Island before this announced 5:30 a.m. cutoff time (like at 5:20 a.m. as I did) found that the NBPD had closed off the Bridge EARLY, and were not going to budge, telling anyone who asked to be let through before the 5:30 a.m. cutoff time “Take the Ferry,” even when a now-stranded motorist pointed out to the half dozen officers manning the Bridge that the Ferry didn’t begin running for another hour.
“Take the Ferry” was their only response (and uttered not too politely, either).
While somewhat of an inconvenience to us Islanders, the Bridge closure did have one upside: It stemmed the tide, at least for one Sunday morning, of the masses of Dog Walkers from coming onto the Island specifically to have their beloved creatures urinate and defecate on the sidewalks of Marine Avenue (usually leaving a residue their plastic bags cannot sop up).
Is the dog lobby too strong, and/or has it become so politically incorrect to even suggest that these “Pet Parents” use the Island’s alleys to dispose of their pets waste, instead of on our Main Street’s sidewalks?
If the above paragraph isn’t enough to make you lose your immediate appetite for a meal or a snack, perhaps nothing will.
I chalk up my own poor 2017 dieting performance thus far to dating. In other words, how can one lose weight consistently if you’re trying to take out nice gals on a regular basis?
Whether it’s a date for Breakfast, Lunch or Dinner, you both gotta eat, and conversation while breaking bread (literally) is a good way to learn about each other. While I am a straight male senior Boomer, please understand that I rigidly adhere to the Jerry Seinfeld & George Costanzo position on Gays: “…not that there’s anything wrong with it…”. But the increasing reality of life in my age group is that there are substantially more healthy straight women alive today than us healthy straight men. Our guys are starting to drop like flies!
In other words, there actually does appear to be some truth in that hackneyed, sexist phrase “so many women, so little time!” I for one want to provide a pleasant experience for them.
Once more, I realize I have to tread lightly in commenting about anything in the “political” area. But I just cannot not comment on this subject of the increasing disrespect for the Office of our Presidency.
As a retired lawyer, I understand the frustrations of Democrats toward the sometimes impetuous Trump, but the demeaning talk and actual hatred espoused, especially by members of the left-leaning mass media—particularly the late night TV hosts whom our young people admire, like Colbert—for anything Trump or the GOP administration says or does seems to me unprecedented. It should cease, lest the polarization it engenders harms all Americans.
I leave you with a saying from my grandmother (all four of my grandparents immigrated to the USA from the same Sicilian town in 1909): “In unity there is strength.”
I welcome your feedback at bongiornolaw@gmail.com.
