: A Sense of Imbalance?
Those of you who have walked around the residential neighborhoods of Montclair have likely noticed that our sidewalks are, ummm, interesting. That’s a polite way of saying that they’re pretty crappy. Many of the older houses were built around the turn of the century (that’s 1900 for the young folks) and the fashion at the time was to use large rectangular pieces of slate rock.
Now fast forward 100 years. Things happen in 100 years. Trees grow and extend their roots, snow and ice shift the ground, etc. So what was once a nice surface of smooth flat stones is more like a roller coaster ride.
This was the state of affairs in front of our house when we moved in 22 years ago. When we moved in we said to ourselves, yeah it’s a little bumpy and we’ll fix it sooner or later. And then later, and later, and finally we just adjusted to it. Then last fall, the Township of Montclair decided to take a piece of slate, throw it totally out of whack, and put it on top of an adjacent piece. This was little extreme even for Montclair, so we asked the Township of Montclair to kindly put things back the way the were. The Township of Montclair got back to us and said, “We’ll pay for this, but you gotta do it yourselves”.
So we hired a contractor to come out and fix things – and as long as they were fixing things we shelled out the extra cash and had the entire front walk leveled out and straightened. Super job.
But here comes the whole point of this otherwise long and tedious story of suburban woes. That evening – I came home from work and admired the nice flat, even alignment of the slate pieces. But when I started walking up the front walk I almost fell over. The sensation of walking on an even surface was disorienting – it was almost like walking on a tight rope. For the next few days I actually had to hold my arms out for extra balance – just to walk up to my front door.
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May 5 Saturday, 8-9:30 PM – Lunatic Fringe, Glen Ridge Community Center @ The Glen Ridge Train Station, 228 Ridgewood Avenue (corner of Bloomfield Avenue), Glen Ridge, NJ Reservations: (973) 429-1527
There will be tears in our eyes but laughter in our hearts.
http://www.lunaticfringeimprov.com
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=53938723078&ref=ts
May 10, Thursday, 9:00 PM-12:00AM – The King Arthur Four, Route 46, Little Falls (973) 256-7742
Actually I think it’s gonna be Five, not Four – but who’s counting. This is a last minute surprise appearance of Arthur Neilson and his kick ass band – plus auxiliary ass kicker VD King.
http://www.agreatertown.com/little_falls_nj/great_notch_inn_new_jerseys_rockin_roadhouse_00089580
May 25, Friday, 10:00PM-1:00AM – Better Off Dead at The Great Notch Inn, Route 46, Little Falls (973) 256-7742
It’s yet another round of the on going party. Last month the audience wouldn’t let us go and we ended playing until almost 1:30. I like enthusiastic listeners, but I also like sleeping – so come out cheer us on, then go home happy at 1:00. OK – ask VD nicely and he’ll do one encore.
http://www.betteroffdead.com/home.htm/
http://www.agreatertown.com/little_falls_nj/great_notch_inn_new_jerseys_rockin_roadhouse_00089580