Errands, the doing thereof

[rolanni]

So, in early-ish to town, with a stop at the credit union, which is inside the city limits but no longer in town.  When Steve and I lived in Waterville, more years ago than  I probably want to stop and figure out at the moment, I could walk to:   the Morning Sentinel (where I was gloriously employed as a copy editor); the grocery store; the “department store” (Zayres, then Ames); the drugstore (CVS); the bank; the bookstore; the frame shop; the art supply store; the music store; the copy shop; another department store (locally owned; the name of which escapes me); a lingerie store; a head shop; a newstand; three beauty salons and a barber shop; another drugstore (LaVerdiere’s);  the video store; three jewelry stores; an insurance company; a bakery; a liquor store; the post office; the credit union; two banks; and several restaurants and bars.

I mean, people lamented that “main street was dyin’” but honestly, I had almost everything I needed on a daily basis within a six-block area.

Now, the credit union’s moved out to the edge of town, where you need to mount up your car to get; CVS likewise.  LaVerdiere’s closed, along with the grocery store and both department stores; the video store of course is long gone; Al Corey’s music store closed for remodeling a couple months ago, and now it’s and empty storefront.  Downtown still has stores in it — Children’s Book Cellar is still there; the bars and restaurants — renamed and revisioned, some of them — remain.  Liquor store’s still good.  So’s the post office.  But the lack of a grocery store (and though I Love Them, the fresh market is not a grocery store) has kind of made downtown untenable as far as living goes.

This is something I’ve been thinking about a good deal lately, as Steve and I try to figure out how to move “in town” by which we mean to a place where we can walk to most of life’s little necessities.  And where we won’t be ‘way, ‘way out in the country when we really shouldn’t be driving in snow anymore (I’m watching what some older couples — by which I mean, older than us — of our acquaintance are going through, trying to stay in country houses when one, or both, are becoming frail and it’s scaring me to death, here).

And!  All of that?  Was a digression.

Where was I?

Ah, yes, the bank, thence to the copy shop (which is still there, though much diminished from its days as Office Supply Empire and Quick Print) to make photocopies of the marked up pages before putting same in envelope and mailing them to North Carolina.

Having done this, I walked down to one of the two surviving beauty parlors to see if anything could be done about my hair, but they weren’t open at 9:15, though the hours on the door said “Monday 9-4.” I therefore went to the Post Office, mailed my packages, picked up the mail and returned, to find an undated-or-timed sticky-note on the door stating, “Be back in a few minutes.”

All righty, then.  I stuck around a few minutes, but no one ever showed up, so I walked down to the second salon and there Hilary cut my hair in a very satisfactory fashion and I can see again!

Having achieved this entirely satisfactory outcome, I got in the car and drove to Elm Plaza, there to dispatch an errand at Penney’s, walked down to the grocery store and did that errand, and so to home.

All of which took much longer than I had anticipated.

Came home, unpacked the groceries, made lunch and ate it, did a modest amount of laundry.

Writing happened, though not as much as I would have liked.  I realized rather late that part of what was throwing me off was that there was one (1) scene missing and one (1) scene  in the wrong place.  I remedied those situations and now am officially done for the evening, and yea, verily, the day.

G’night

Progress on Ghost Ship

64,035/100,00o OR 64.04% complete

Originally published at Sharon Lee, Writer. You can comment here or there.

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

We are attempting, one Pigeon Loft at a time, to make downtown tenable again. The economy ain't helping.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

How soon does Steve get home? Been thinking about him on the road and also thinking about Hexapuma.

Oz

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

Steve will arrive in Maine tomorrow. At the moment, I have in my office, two grey Maine Coon Cats -- my shadows for the last week. They've been active and interested collaborators in the WIP, offering cogent suggestions like:

"Write down that Theo had a nap!"

"Oh! Oh! Write down that Theo had a nap and stuck her toe in her ear!"

...apparently it's hysterical when somebody accidentally sticks their toe in their ear while napping. I think Hex is still giggling.

[birdhousefrog.livejournal.com]

Or better yet: "Write down that Theo is sleeping with her tongue stuck out!" That one always makes our cats ROFL.

I'm glad he'll be home. I had a great time and got to see Steve a bit, not enough. My drive home on Sunday was awful. I should have stuck to my plan to take back roads and see VA history, but I was late and thought the interstates would be faster.

Toes in the ear

[(Anonymous)]

Toes in the ear during a nap is infinitely mo desirable than a cold dog noise in one ear and my new kitten deciding the other ear lobe is there for kitten to nurse! I am not sure which was worse but end of nap!

PS does anyone know how to stop the kneading holes from bleeding. Direct pressure doesn't work on side if neck very well!

[elektra.livejournal.com]

I remember Zayres . . . and Ames.

Re: Toes in the ear

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

Just thinking about shaving nicks and paper cuts and similar small wounds -- would adding a small bit of tissue paper (Kleenex or whatever) help? Seems to give the blood something to build on?

errands

[(Anonymous)]

The universe does not seem to like errands. Three of them are usually enough to kill the day no matter how efficient I try to be. This, of course, presumes that I stuck in exurbia with no choice but to drive most places.

[anisosynchronic.livejournal.com]

Downtowns disappeared in Massachusetts half a century ago with the advent of suburban malls, the dismantling of light rail systems and replacement with cars and roads, zoning focusing on single family standalone house with large yards, and a resistance to mandating developers to put in sidewalks....

Re: Toes in the ear

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Wet sandpaper on my nose at 5am was my unfavourite. Cat on sleeping bag when I tried to get in it? Fine, the cat moved when I put my feet down. Cats beside sleeping bag? Fine. Cat on sleeping bag while I'm in it? OK, a little extra warmth. Cat licking my nose and waking me up? Er, not so much.

(This was at friends' house, hence the sleeping bag. And yes, I had been warned that I would be 'catted', I don't mind that at all. I wasn't warned anout the nose-licking...)

Aha!

[claire774.livejournal.com]

Looks like you've given away at least part of that writing process. Cats channel at least part of the story. So...here's a suggestion. You only have three cats. You need more cats. More cats would no doubt mean more words written.

Also.... here in UT no one ever walks anywhere to get anywhere. To stroll around when it's cool enough yes. To get anywhere now by vehicle, ATV sometimes... still by horse, mule, covered wagon during parades. Also very annoying by ATV which make far too much noise, scare the wildlife and ruin the desert terrain. I drive a four wheel drive pick up truck (but only on the road. No four wheeling for me) as am hopeless trying drive in the snow and need to haul around large bags of dog food in bad weather. I suggest four wheel drive to those old couples you know. An absolute necessity wherever there is snow and ice. Also 4 wheel drive vehicles tend to be higher up off the ground thereby sailing over stuff that would hang up low slung cars. Also lots of roads out on the Monument totally impossible without 4 wheel drive. We once found a German couple sitting by their rented Volkswagen by the side of the road staring at a rather large puddle. They asked if we thought they should go on. "Absolutely not! Go back immediately" we answered. We probably saved their lives.

[mothadventures.livejournal.com]

My folks went through a careful future-home decision process when driving was becoming problematic and medical issues were building. (They also lived in rural Maine, at the Cornish/Limerick line.)

Instead of just thinking of walking distance (or electric scooter distance) for *everything*, they thought about public transit options, too. This was some years ago, and they ended up in Portland.

But since then there's been some expansion of transit options other than driving to other parts of Maine. For example, in Belfast there's now a bus three days a week that serves shopping, medical, and residential areas -- see http://www.waldocap.org/pages/programs/transportation/bus-routes.php . They also provide some service to outlying communities in Waldo county.

Other parts of Maine now have some services, too. A partial list can be found at http://www.exploremaine.org/bus/demandresponse.html . Best service still seems to be in Cumberland county and some of York county.

My folks used ITN for a while ( http://itnportland.org/ ) a service that is intended to help seniors have flexible affordable on demand transport. They donated their car to ITN and got an equal dollar value of rides in exchange.

[saruby.livejournal.com]

My sister and I were just talking about how we will have to move closer together when we are older. Mostly that was about the cost of travel, but I was also thinking I would like to be someplace I can just walk to most places I need to go. My partner's mother is 89 and pretty much stuck in her apartment, since she doesn't drive and there is no place close enough to walk to. My grandmother lived to be 101 and didn't drive for the last 12 or so years of her life. We lived close, so that wasn't a huge problem, but still...

[saruby.livejournal.com]

The tragedy of "progress". What I particularly hate is that you can be in a suburban mall and not know if it is Massachusetts or California because all of the stores are the same. There is no local flavor when everything is just a parking lot and chain stores/restaurants.

Downtown Waterville and Windsor

[deb-krol.livejournal.com]

As long as I'm close to Cappza's Pizza I would be a happy camper. My friend Theresa and I got takeout when I stayed at her place and it was great!! Not to mention, we had the top down on the rental convertible and us hot Indian babes were getting all sorts of wolf whistles from the guys.