Mayflower and Other Ramblings on a Sunny Saturday
What a great day!
We had breakfast with my father as planned, though I forgot both the asparagus I’d intended to give him, and the digital camera I need to return to him. That was nice. Then we turned in some accumulated soda cans for almost $20. Mmmm… money.
Since it was such a gorgeous day, we didn’t want to simply return home. After all, there’s enough time to do some cleaning this evening before the landlord stops by tomorrow.
The water department is changing out the meter in the cellar, which may also involve some pipe repair. When the landlord’s sister called to let me know the water would be out for an hour, she asked if anything needed attention. So when he’s here he’s going to check a couple plumbing issues and a possible shorting switch that controls the hall light. Plus they’ll be able to see what can be purged from the cellar to make more room for me to store things there.
They also are rather dismayed by Slacker Dude and the rest of the Company of Three upstairs. I wasn’t going to complain - yet - but she actually asked about the smell in the back stairwell, and whether he was doing the tasks for which he gets a break on the rent. He’s supposed to take the rubbish barrels to the curb each Wednesday. He last did that a month ago. I did it last week because they were too full for it not to get done. He’s supposed to clean the common areas. I laughed when she said that! When we got the washer and dryer hooked up in the cellar, I knocked down the cobwebs and swept thoroughly in the back hall to the foot of their stairs, down the stairs to the cellar entryway, the entryway, and into the cellar itself. Looked like it had been a year easy. He’s also supposed to change bulbs, but I think the bulb in the front hall keeps being out due to an electrical issue. Apparently they have been known to block the back (emergency/fire) exit with rubbish or whatever, and the landlord somehow is aware there is an almost unbearable stench back there at times.
This is their first apartment, and it feels like they’re testing their boundaries. Thus the appropriateness of Deb’s “the kids upstairs” expression. After a few rounds of them expressing concern they were too loud and us assuring them they were fine, they seem to have cut unabashedly loose from any recognition that there are other people in the building. Our living room, which is going to become our bedroom, has a thin wall against the entry hall, where Slacker Dude and friends (but not the girls who live up there) go in and out, or even hang out, talking loudly and pounding noisily up and down the stairs at all hours. Someone has taken to playing movies or whatnot so loud above that room that it would not be possible to sleep there. Up from barely being able to tell anyone lived up there, originally.
For all that, they aren’t that bad and we’d worry about getting someone worse. We just haven’t had a chance to let them know yet their volume level has finally exceeded maximum expectations.
But I digress.
I knew Deb would want to see water again, and before she even said it I started heading that way from Bridgewater. I showed her where I used to live in Plympton, and then we got to see that there was some serious progress on the new stretch of route 44 they are building. In the fifties or sixties a factory I once worked at was built near where the road is going through, in anticipation of the road. The company went through its entire heyday and life cycle through being obsoleted by competition from other companies, cheaper labor and more modern equipment elsewhere, was closed, was vacant, used, vacant, used by someone else, and appears to be vacant again. The road still isn’t there that will put it almost directly on a highway. But it’s getting there! I think it has been about seven years since all obstacles were out of the way. The plan was in place. The funding was there. The turtles were safe.
There will soon be an efficient east-west route linking to Plymouth. Perhaps someday it will even be a four lane, divided highway all the way from the Middleboro Rotary to the Plymouth border or so. That was the plan.
We proceeded to Water Street in Plymouth; the proverbial waterfront where the mythical-construct Plymouth Rock is, along with the Mayflower replica. It was a nice day, but not totally mobbed with tourists yet. I need the walking exercise. We walked along the waterfront, then down toward the Mayflower. We decided we could handle $8 each to go on it, which I last did when I was in 4th grade. Augh… that was 1971! *Sigh*
It was worth it. They have much improved the info displayed, though I could swear less of the ship is accessible now. Or maybe it felt bigger then. I enjoyed seeing Deb’s enjoyment of being onboard as much as I did the rest of the experience. One thing I learned is that the Whites, part of my ancestry, came from Nottinghamshire. I didn’t notice Howland on the location breakdown, but the internet says he came from Essex, so it must be true.
Anyway, we walked on down and giggled at Plymouth Rock, then crossed the street to the shops side and walked back. Went in Peaceful Meadows for ice cream. Mmmm… ice cream. It was really time for lunch, but we survived, and I had to introduce Deb to Peaceful Meadows eventually. She approved.
The primary urge to enjoy the amazing weather sated, I drove out via route 44 without detouring, to show her the twisty, windy country road part of it the highway construction needed to supercede decades ago. Stayed on 44 all the way to Wal-Mart Super Center in Raynham, detouring only to show her where the new client is. We decided to take the risk of crowds to check out the place and get a couple of “we don’t need no steenkin’ carriage” necessities. Oh. My. God. Now wonder she is so in love with super Wal-Marts! There is no question most of our shopping for groceries and sundries will happen there henceforth.
It was a wonderful day to drive around. What a shame tomorrow will only be 64. Heh. I think after we finish dealing with the landlord tomorrow I will go to the office and get all I can done so I can take Monday off, or largely off, but for monitoring things remotely. It’s supposed to be 82. Woohoo! Adequate warmth!
We ought to start taking a camera so when we go on these little jaunts to the waterfront or tourist attractions, we can post pictures. They couldn’t be as boring as my rambling descriptions…
My paternal relatives hail from Essex.
Posted by Ith on 04/17 at 08:18 PMNOW you are talking MB’s stomping grounds! She’s just down the road a piece from the Middleborough rotary! Are you aware they’ve been “threatening” to “do something” about that rotary and Rte. 44 for over 50 years, actually ?!
Posted by MommaBear on 04/18 at 11:30 AM
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