A few years ago, when Aili was about 18 months old and Liija wasn't even part of the plan yet (Something that I have a hard time believing because at this point it feels like she's always been here and that we were never a family without her.) I used to walk Aili up to a park near our house that had a small playground (and an abandoned city pool that was filled with green water and discarded shopping carts and probably a healthy dose of EEE spreading mosquitoes too). It wasn't far-maybe two miles or so, but those two miles were completely uphill and went through some of Worcester's finest 'hoods. Apparently one day I wrote a list of the top things we saw on our walk that day. And then yesterday? I found that list! Here it is...a little throwback to the summer of 2009 during the long, cold winter of 2015.
So today I decided to take Aili for a walk up to the park and there was definitely a higher amount of shadiness than usual going on in the 'hood. (2015 note: I have since learned that summer heat brings out the crazy. Ever been in the top floor of a 3 decker on a 90 degree day in July? You'd go crazy too.) Usually we go to the park at 10am before the neighborhood riff raff is up and at it for the day. Today we went at 3pm. Lesson learned. Note to self: Only go to park early. On that note: Here are today's reasons why I love to hate my shady 'hood.
1. The first thing we saw when we hit the stret was a guy running down the road, in non-workout clothes, holding a flat screen tv with the cord dangling behind him. I'm pretty sure he stole it.
2. We walk all the way to the playground (uphill...both ways. Seriously. It involves a complicated course to avoid the most traffic and find the most sidewalks.) and all of the swings for little kids were either ruined or wrapped around the bar up top so a 5'2" mama can't reach them. Oh-and one of them had an empty bottle of Hennessey in it. Keep it classy, Worcester. We decided to go to the slides instead, where there was an incredible amount of profanity written in black Sharpie. Note to self: Avoid this playground once Aili learns to read. (2015 note: I forgot about this note to myself until we went up there a few years later and Aili asked me what a bitch was. Oops.)
3. We decided to leave once the creepy 18 year old guy with no kids with him showed up to "play" on the playground while looking shiftily at the kids there. (I don't usually get creeped out by weirdos in my 'hood, but this guy's creep factor was higher than most.)
4. Walking home, we discover that everyone on Plantation Street parks their cars on the sidewalk in the afternoon, so Aili and I have to walk in the street and play a real-life version of Frogger as we dive out of the way of cars going 90 mph down an incredibly narrow street. I think I'm going to write to the mayor and suggest that Worcester's new slogan be, "Worcester-The city where drivers have complete and total disregard for pedestrians." (2015 note: Worcester drivers were recently voted some of the worst in the state of Madsachusetts. A state which is notorious for its bad drivers. That's like being the baddest guy in prison.)
5. The good news is that on a normal day, I notice quite a few empty liquor bottles on the ground. (the flat size that can fit in a back pocket and also quite a few nips.) (2015 note: On a trip to South Carolina this summer, I discovered that calling tiny bottles of liquor nips is a regional term. So to clear things up-those teeny bottles they sell behind the counter at the packie-a packie being a package store.) On this particular walk, there were very few bottles on the ground. So way to go Worcester! Good work on the litter front!! Now what am I going to call the mayor about?? Oh that's right, the parking on the sidewalk thing.
6. Just as we're almost home, I pass our mailman about a block from our apartment. He seems genuinely shocked and concerned that I'm out walking the baby. This would be the same mailman who routinely asks me, "Are you sure you feel safe living here?" (2015 note: He is not our mailman anymore. We can only assume that he didn't feel safe delivering mail here and requested a transfer to the West Side once he had enough seniority.)
Never a dull moment. Gotta love our 'hood. And here is baby Aili on said playground. Having fun whilst blissfully unaware. (Quality of photo is a direct result of it being taken on a Blackberry.)
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