Kismet Kolumn last 06

STREETS!!!...Garbage........ and parties

They came thundering in and, with remarkable speed, accomplished the seemingly un-accomplishable - in an instant the infamous cracked concrete identified with this town was pulverized into gravel and dirt, holes were dug and dry collecting wells were sunk, at press time the water pipes were being laid one block at a time...here's what it looked like:

(one of these pictures is not related to the street renovation but looks like this all the time - can you guess which one and where?)

Joyce Cole said she took one of her little grandsons to see it and found all the BIG guys staring transfixed. Dragging luggage across dug up dirt streets was difficult and access to and from dock a challenge that changed hourly but the crews were as polite and accommodating as they were efficient . Oct 2 Seabay water was to be shut down without anyone to say for how long so for many there the season ended prematurely, a phenomenon to be repeated block by block. But Larry assured all that the Halloween party will take place as planned.

One of the workmen suggested that when we all return next summer we will soon take the streets for granted and never know the precision of the multi level and extensive work that went into them - I hope these pictures conveyed some of that.

THE PARTY LINE:

A PARTY FOR GARBAGE: John Altieri Jr.(right) hands his family's community collection business over to Sam Wood (left) after 40 years. Most of us have heard if not seen him (Mondays, often hung over but always there). Aside from generous Inn catering Arlene Hirst won a bottle of champagne and Lemon Tree's Fran won the big prize: a summer's free garbage pick up. Never has garbage been so celebrated (see below)