May 1, 2020
Dear Everyone:
It’s been six weeks since the governor shut the state of California
down. All “non-essential”
businesses were forced to close their doors and “furlough” their
employees. And all swimming
pools and gymnasiums, or fitness centers, were ordered closed until
further notice. Yesterday we
learned that the “Stay at Home” order had been extended another month.
You know what that means, don’t you?
What better excuse for not going to the gym for exercise?
“Darn! I really need
to get in some exercise, but the gym is closed!”
There’s nothing like being told you can’t do something to make you want
to do exactly that thing.
Forbidden fruit and all that.
Of course, I don’t really need to use the gum’s treadmill to do some
walking. It’s just that
walking is more “fun” if I can do it while reading a book, or watching a
TV show or movie on the tablet.
Plus, the fitness center is air conditioned.
Just this last week, the temperature shot up into the upper 80s
in the afternoons around here.
The solution to that problem, of course, is to do my walking in the
morning, while it’s still cool.
Unfortunately, that requires pulling myself together enough to
actually go for a walk before doing much of anything else.
It would screw up my whole schedule, if I had any kind of a
schedule in the first place.
Nevertheless, in the past few weeks, I have actually gone for a walk of
about 30 minutes almost every day.
I believe I’m on a roll.
The community where I live is one of four which loosely circle around a
central hill, commonly referred to as “the hill”.
There is a paved road which circles around the hill, leading to
and from the entrances of the four communities.
Around the inner side of this road is a walkway.
The walkway is currently covered with something called “decomposed
granite”. In less technical
terms, it’s gravel. Some
people don’t like walking on semi-loose gravel.
It can be a bit slippery in some circumstances.
Plus it can get into the grooves in the bottom of your shoes and
get tracked inside. So they
tend to walk on the road itself, which is paved with asphalt.
It’s smoother to walk on, if one doesn’t mind running the risk of
being hit by a car as it races by at 20 mph.
The four aforementioned communities form a Master Association which
oversees common issues like lighting, landscaping around the hill,
paving the road from time to time.
In recent months, there has been a raging controversy surrounding
this walkway.
Should it be repaved with concrete?
Asphalt? More
“decomposed granite”? What
can be done to “encourage” people to use the walkway and stay out of the
street? What can be done to
slow down all those “maniacs” who exceed the 20 mph speed limit?
I’ve been attending the Homeowners Association meetings for the Master
Association for as long as I’ve been attending the ones for my own
community, which is about eleven years now.
It’s a good way to find out what’s going on in the neighborhood,
even though I’m technically not a member of either Board right now.
Just an interested Homeowner who likes to know where my HOA dues
are being spent and why.
Now that I’m in the almost-habit of walking each morning, I usually go
along the walkway in either one direction or the other.
Consequently, I’m getting more of a “feel” of what it’s like
walking on “decomposed granite”.
Quite honestly, as far as I’m concerned, it doesn’t really matter one
way or the other.
Meanwhile, the debate goes on.
Keeping in mind the fact that it took this group over two years
to agree on what kind of shrubs to plant around the area entrance, I
don’t expect any resolution in the near term.
Not even when the Board had to resort to using conference calling
in order to rehash pros and cons gone over a dozen times in the past.
In other words:
Situation Normal.
On the other hand, what else is there to do with everything Shut Down
for another month? (Which
way should I go today, left or right?
Which way did I go yesterday?
Seriously, does it really matter?
I’d flip a coin if I’d brought one with me.)
Love, as always,
Pete
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