Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Unfinished Stories

In the spirit of Jen Alexander's Eye Anniversary post (Not News Anymore), along with the fact that springtime brought personal upheaval removing me from blogdom and now summertime is taking me away from the computer screen, I am compiling all my unfinished stories into one post. I would have liked the opportunity to get more information but alas it was not possible. So rather than let these go completely unreported I will present them in unfinished form. May this serve as an example to anyone who would like to submit to the EYE that when we open our EYEs and our ears to what is going on around us in our community we can turn anything into a story.


In early spring I witnessed what appeared to be the results of a police chase outside of the Russell Library. There was a crashed Totyota, a Middletown police cruiser and an East Lyme police cruiser. I saw a police officer putting a fallen bumper into the back seat of the Toyota and no Toyota owner/driver anywhere in sight. I never learned any more about the incident.

There is a traffic mirror on Beach Street near Pike's Ravine which allows cars entering or exiting the 55 High Street access drive to see if cars are coming around the bend. The mirror is repeatedly vandalized and has once again been shot down and is riddled with what appears to be bibi gun holes. Its been down for almost a month now.



Recently I witnessed a presumed good samaritan trash picker upper parked on the side of the road on Tuttle Street off of Newfield Street. She was digging deep into an overgrown field of weeds and had a small pile of litter she had pulled out. Was she looking for something? cans to recycle or get the deposit on? Or just trying to beautify, and if so, why this overgrown weedy spot? I had the urge to stop and talk but didnt have the time. I was on my way to ....


the Comcast Cable office on Tuttle Place to return a cable box for a friend. The doors and entrance way of Comcast are completely covered in a thick layer of dust and grit and there is a prominent sign on the door stating "NO PETS." Is it just me or is this ironic? The inside of Comcast smeels like cigarette smoke and air freshener. On a positive note, the service from Carlos at the desk was friendly and efficient.


Freecycle.org has a very active Middletown community. I have received many items and provided some to very happy recipients. From my personal experience I'd say there is a high success rate with actually getting things you post a WANTED note for and getting rid of things you post an OFFER note for. It's good news for everyone, your junk is someone else's treasure and vice versa, thus saving people money, extending the life of things and keeping them out of the landfills and reducing the need for newly manufactured goods.


A Middletown native who wished to remain anonymous was spotted on page 6 of the New Yorker magazine for her role in curating and installing a museum exhibit in NYC. She knows who she is and congratulations on her burgeoning career.

A certain familiar face who delivers letters for the United States Post Office is frequently spotted in many Main Street area haunts. I asked him how long he has been delivering mail in Middletown and was impressed to find out its been his route for 22 years. "Surely you must have some hilarious high jinks you can tell me about" I asked. He admitted that there are a few, one involving duct tape. Hmm. We havent been able to connect for me to get the gossip out of him yet but maybe there will be more details in the future.


So, once again I challenge anyone out there who has ideas swimming around in their head or thinks something they see or hear about is newsworthy to write it up and send it on in! Have a great summer eveyone.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Glimpses of life in Middletown - these were great to read as a group, and they definitely had me laughing. Thanks, I look forward to your future stories - whether finished or unfinished.