By David Fortier
Come Sunday morning our TBE gang will have met at Jack’s, for the first time with Donovan Wilson in attendance. We discussed stories that we might cover now that he is among our volunteers. We anticipate that his next story will be out this week. Mike Letendre, joining us by phone, continues to produce a prolific amount of copy about local sports. He sounded a bit tired, and who could blame him.
Earlier on Sunday morning, in the wee hours, i.e, 3 a.m., our power went out. Another storm with pounding rain, causing a bunch of havoc. These storms have been unusual in their volume, which had Mary commenting that they are not the remnants of hurricanes, or even hurricanes, and haven’t been designated tornados.
By way of a note, I spent 20 minutes on Saturday after grocery shopping waiting for the rain to subside. As I stood there, I watched as people pulled their vehicle up to and over the curb so that a family member could unload the shopping cart. I watched others bound through the heavy rain with lightning splitting the skies and deafening thunder shake the air. After 20 minutes, I threw caution to the wind, or the rain, and stamped through rivulets of water, deep puddles, and lots of rain to get back the car.
Again, on Sunday, the heavy rains ended but the water from the rain left deposits of debris at strategic points, such as at the intersection of North Main and Center.
As for the week, I spent most of it at my desk, taking an online course. The days started at 8 a.m. and ended at 4 p.m., except for Friday. We got out at noon. A small gift. The course? An AP (Advanced Placement) English Language and Composition training class.
The class broke for 15 minutes around 9:30 a.m. and again for five minutes around 10:30 a.m. or so, again for lunch, and then a couple of short breaks during the afternoon. I am not complaining. I learned a whole bunch and I intend to bring it back to the classroom with me this fall.
Every day during my lunch break, I took a walk around the block—weather permitting of course. On one of the walks, up Goodwin, down Stearns, down Queen St., I had to look twice at the person trimming the hedges in front of St. Joseph Cemetery. It turned out I was right because the grounds keeper turned out to be St. Joseph Church pastor, Father Ivan, dressed in work clothes and utilizing a gas hedger.
We exchanged greetings, chatted about another tree having come down the week before over by the parking lot, to which he informed me that the tree was the fifth this year. Some of the other trees were at the back of the cemetery, bordering our backyard. He shook his head and returned to work. I continued on my break, walking past a crew cutting up the downed tree.
On the city front, Bristol has received a grant from the state to build a parking garage behind the police station. The grant will cover half of the projected costs, and the garage will provide parking that will be gone after Carrier Construction starts work on the property it purchases for housing on Centre Square.
Neither here nor there, TBE contributing editor Rit Carter heard that the story he wrote earlier about Harry Jackson, the person who escaped slavery and found his way to Bristol around the turn of the 19th century, is mentioned in an upcoming book.
Rit, who has written on the 1918 pandemic as well, is working on several stories that we hope will be published this fall.
For this week’s reading/listening exercise, try listening to this On The Media podcast about, of all topics, Shakespeare and his influence on Americans: click here.
If you have time, I recommend reading The Leavers by Lisa Ko. This novel deals with the Chinese American experience, and, well, it’s worth checking out. I will have returned my copy to the library on Monday.
Have a great week!
“Come Sunday morning” is intended to be a weekly review, a recounting of the past week and an anticipation of week to come. Among its features will be reviews of old and new books, sharing of favorite podcasts, some family news, Bristol events and happenings and issues surrounding education, work and community journalism. He can be reached at dfortier@bristoledition.org.