Monday, November 12, 2007

Last Thursday FIASCO by jeff rose

So, for those of you who aren't in the know about "Last Thursday" it is an arts
festival
that happens the last Thursday of each month during the summer on Alberta
Street.
It's been going on for 10 years now and it has grown so popluar that for 4 or 5
hours
the sidewalks are so full people are spilling out into the street. They're
trying to rein
in some of the foolishness (the stuff that REALLY makes the whole thing look
like a lot
of fun to be at!) like the out of control public drunkedness and what not
[laugh]. It's
like a monthly Mardi Gras! There are people riding crazy looking bicycles down
the
middle of the street, people is wierd costumes like this one last night that was
all
dressed/covered in white paint so that she looked like a atature of some
kind..... The
funniest thing was the tricked out '60's VW Bus that had written in paint on the
back
bumper "PRAISE THE LOWERED!" (Ha ha!)

Now for the NOT funny part. All afternoon, our heads up customers (remembering
how we were rerouted last month) kept asking me when it was that the busses were
going to start staying on Killingsworth instead of jogging over to Albertal. I
kept
telling them, Oh they'll call me around 6 no doubt and we'll probably be on the
detour
route until the crowds thin out and it's safe- probably about 10 or 11. Well,
up
comes a note on the BDS telling us that some supervisor has come to the wise
conclusion that we can get the busses up Alberta Street just fine- we don' t
need no
steenkin' reroute! Great. From that point on, not ONCE did I get to ANY end
of the
line before I was scheduled to LEAVE. We basically had to drive at walking
speed for
about 15 blocks each direction and often had to stop for several minutes at a
time for
foolishness like the guy who pulls up next to an ice cream truck and sits in the
oncoming lane for several minutes while he buys ice cream. Ass. In any case,
the
decision to keep us on Alberta Street had to be one of the worst logistical
decisions
I've seen in 8 years / two properties.

Jeff

No comments: