I placed a jumbo ad for the room to rent, saying all I legally could about who we will accept. I got email from Theresa up in Stalag Wilmie, saying she should have left her sofa here (can’t use it in the asylum, unquote). She knows she’s welcome here as long as we have the room. However, I remind her that all decisions made were based on the best information available at the time; nobody is to blame if subsequent events alter things.Talk about your recession, I’ve tentatively decided to pay the shop rent out of my own pocket until September, as things do historically pick up that month. This drains my meager reserves. I’ve also made up my mind to preserve this dwelling at all costs. There is no place like this place and it cannot be duplicated at five times the expense. No doubt exists this was a good move. Very few people will have what we have here by this time next year. Wallace simply must change his schedule to be here in the winter. He is leaving next week.
After another slow day at both offices, I went to the pub to play Cash Cab. One of our sharper-eyed patrons spotted the disclaimer that many of the players are “pre-screened”. That is a disappointment, though they can’t possibly be as brazenly invented as “Wheel of Fortune”. The ultimate bad examples still have to be those “Judge Judy” productions. Who’s the fat judge who still looks fat in his robes? Anyway, a recent case had us rolling in the aisles.
Some doofus claimed he shouldn’t have to pay his girlfriend back his bail money because if she had not left a baseball bat in the trunk of her car, he would not have been arrested. Such a defense would have brought a collective tear to my entire family’s eyes. (“It’s your fault your brother got hurt because you didn’t tell him the speedometer cable on your motorcycle was broken before he stole it so he didn’t know how fast he was going.” – my own mother to me when I was 16.)
Anyway, the judge proceeded to lecture the doof that a baseball bat is not, in isolation, a weapon, and that other things were at play. Upon questioning, it turns out the guy was on probation, had a suspended license and could not explain his presence in a drug neighborhood at two in the morning in a borrowed car with no money on him. Oh, and of course, the baseball bat in the trunk. Explain that one, mom, we just know you can do it
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Wallace and I arrived home roughly the same time to find the area (not just our neighborhood) cordoned off by 13 police cars. As there were no sirens or helicopters, there were no hostages, so my guess is somebody tried to knock over the casino. Who said nothing exciting ever happens around here. The only place bounding the casino with an escape route is to the south, and we are to the southeast. After a short delay, the police moved on. We are completely secure here, even without Millie, as nobody can break in here without waking up half the county. It is still wise to be vigilant, so we stayed up an extra half-hour, spent eating pea soup with floaty sausages and speculating. Conclusion: they are not after the vandal that busted the shop window.
No sign of Eddie, my new guitarist. It’s no big deal, you get used to it in this business, and I do have another artist (John Prine) added to my musical vocabulary. Non-starter guitarists are becoming my primary method of song list evolution. The youTube generation just can’t seem to come out with a distinctive sound each, you know, the ones where you can instantly tell who is playing or singing. Not that this is always desirable. Witness Bob Dylan or the Village People.
Here’s a photo that needs explaining. See the exact center of the fan on the left? Notice the spray of water jetting out in a mist. There are a series of fans and also some spray nozzles under the balcony you see here. The idea is to keep the outdoor seating area cool without too much expense. This is the system I reported from Arnel’s gig on Dania Beach Blvd, except his area was enclosed where this was open.That made us pause under the spray to check it out. The apparent temperature drops some 10 to 15 degrees, enough to be comfortable if you were sitting. What surprised me was how well it worked despite being out on the street. There was no feeling of dampness or excess humidity, just the sensation of cooling evaporation. We were quick to notice the floor area was around the size and shape of the patio at Forest Wallace (the yard).
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