Spring Fashion Preview

Spring is finally here, and you know what that means--new shoes!

I knew I was going to want a "lighter" shoe for the warmer months, and one I could wear with or without socks or tights. And a sturdy one--I have worn a hole in the sole of the boots I bought when I gave away my car!

These shoes are thick-soled and I can wear them with everything, rain or shine. And they are so comfortable that they are the only shoe I have never had to break in. Nary a blister or sore toe after the first day of wearing. And they are red. Enough said.

911

First responders did not have any easy Easter holiday based on the number of times I had to call them myself.

On the Thursday before Easter I went to the grocery store after work, and took the 86A to Bloomfield to get home. As I walked from Liberty Avenue to Friendship Avenue, towards Friendship Park, I saw two young men--I think they were in high school--chest to chest with one another, ear to ear, almost as if they were embracing. I could tell by their faces, their bare chests, and the gaggle of girls and other boys around them that they were not lovers. Before I knew it, one of them was on the ground, the other was violently kicking his side, and I was yelling across the street to them, " I'm going to call the police!" As if that would stop it, but I wanted to warn them.

By the time I got through to 911, they were chasing one another through the park, girls screaming behind them, and throwing trash cans into the street. A bus had to brake to avoid hitting them. I guess they didn't see the sign posted:


There was nothing passive about it.

On Sunday evening, my girlfriend and I were walking across the Bloomfield Bridge to meet up with an old friend of hers and see her band play in Polish Hill. Walking at dusk along Bigelow Boulevard, we heard some of the fast moving cars blowing their horns. My girlfriend assumed it was someone on a bike. When they didn't pass us, she turned around and that is when we noticed a man walking down the middle of the road. He was middle-aged, very drunk, and very near to meeting his end.

She called over to him and asked me to dial 911. As I am describing the situation to the operator, my girlfriend is trying to help him over the guard rail, and he falls into the street with his head in traffic. He finally makes it to the sidewalk and when we suggest he sit down in a doorway, he falls over into it and stays put. Mostly. He sits up and sways back and forth, looking all the time like he is going to take a runner into the street again.

After 25 minutes of waiting, I called the police again to explain that we were two women standing by the side of a busy road with a severely intoxicated man we didn't know and were afraid to leave him for his and everyone else's safety. In five minutes, and officer showed up looking decidedly less happy to see us than we were to see him. Case closed, except that I was more reticent to walk the 1.4 miles back home in the dark.