It was a welcome sight this morning when seeing the pavements wet, so we must’ve had some light rain overnight, but what little drizzling we had on and off today, wasn’t even enough to wet one’s whistle.
Part of my morning was consumed with running errands for others, which more often than not of late, has become old, and mostly because those I freely help, only pay me lip-service with their weak knee-jerk ‘thanks’. I have absolutely no problem helping others in need, but when it gets to the point where I’m feeling used, that’s when I start blaming yours truly for allowing it to happen. Oh well, I’ve identified and accepted the problem, so it’s up to me to start saying ‘No’.
With having some free time, I ran over to our downtown’s historic First Baptist Church to grab that burned-out bulb above their pipe organ’s pedalboard, and first went to Crescent Electric to see if they had one which they didn’t, so I high-tailed out to Menard’s, and luckily they had a high-efficiency one which looked like it would fit, so I purchased it and drove back to First Baptist, and luckily it fit the fixture, so whenever I’m playing over there in the future, I’ll be able to see the pedals. I really don’t look down that often, but there are times when I have to, so now it’ll be less of a problem.
As chance would have it, I ran into the son of my long-time neighbors who had some very unfortunate things happen within their family unit, and since I’d not see or heard from them for over two years, I asked how they were doing, and from the sounds of it, they’re getting older like all the rest of us, and of course having to endure the health issues that come with age. He did mention them having been here for Thanksgiving and had his sister drive thru their old neighborhood which in their minds, had changed for the absolute worst, but sharp-tongued me then added, “Not to worry because there’s been a list of names already given to Karma who’ll be arranging payments in kind for their jealousies, unbridled greed and selfishness.” Yes, I could tell many stories about the deserved paybacks people received for their mean-spirited deeds over the years, which is why I really don’t let such stuff bother my brain any longer. Gosh it was good seeing him.
I had a few other stops to make before heading back to office, and just as I was driving north past the Music Man Square, I noticed someone must’ve jumped the curb and hit the corner of that new addition which is part of the ‘bridge to nowhere’. Even though it didn’t look to be damaged that much, I’m sure our city’s gonna be footing the bill for getting it repaired. After thinking about it, I’m sure it won’t be the first time some driver will not paying attention and end up hitting it once again.
That may be a cursed spot similar to the corner of 2nd St. NE and N. Delaware because just in the short years Holtz Realty’s office was there, we lost count of how many accidents took place at that intersection. In spite of it being a straight-line block, there must be something about those buildings that distracts the attention of drivers. There were several times I was fearful there’d be a vehicle jumping the curb and coming thru our front window. Yes, there were all the more close calls than actual accidents.
A new listing showed up in our MLS this afternoon, so I went ahead and sent a text to one of the buyers I’ve been working with, and about an hour later, I had a confirmed schedule to show it tomorrow morning. Having sold that property a number of years ago, I’m not so sure the buyer’s gonna like the small room sizes, so it may just be another ‘fly-over’.
While on the phone with a retired client today, we ended up talking about the statistics I posted several days ago regarding our city’s demographics. He was surprised but not when hearing at least 30 percent of our city’s population is over 60 years old, but I also added those percentages may actually be lower than listed, which would mean my dear friend’s estimation of there being more, is likely true.
The one fact I do know about these people over 60 living in our city, is they’re most likely on the lower ends of retirement incomes, because I’ve seen far too many people with fat retirements, selling their homes and moving to warmer climates. If I took the time and went back thru the decades of Holtz Realty’s closed sale files, the proof of what I’m now saying would be revealed. Without naming names, there’ve been professionals nearly all of us know who’ve retired and flown the coop in just these past five years. One of them I not so endearingly refer to as ‘the cat that crept in, crapped, and crept out’. I’m still quietly waiting and praying for a few others to go sailing off into the sunset.
Getting back to our problematic ‘north end’, I just wanted to share with you a little of my history of that district which is located east of the railroad tracks, west of the ‘high line trail’, and north of 12th St NW/NE here in our city. Way back when I started marketing real estate, a number of Realtors at the time weren’t that interested in farming that area, but yours truly realized there were many hardworking families who were looking to sell or buy, and truth be told, that district was my bread and butter during our Savings and Loan Crisis, so whenever I’m now driving up and down those streets, I can freely say, “I sold that one, and that one, and that one.” But on the negative side, that district had been earmarked by many as a place you’d not want to live, which I fully rejected. Some of our residents also used to say, ‘You can take a north-ender out of the north end, but you can’t take the north end out of a north-ender.’ Unfortunately, the enduring effects of that decades-long stigmatization is now fully visible, which is very unfortunate for our community as a whole.
Tonight’s One-liner is: Those who dare not reason, are slaves.
