All in all a bittersweet week in the semi-rural Badlands of the East Bay, with fair weather prevailing, cooks sharing recipes, gardeners comparing tomato harvests, and water mains giving out just as we declare ourselves in drought and in need of every precious drop.
It’s all part of the irony of life, we suppose, attempting to fix one problem while getting smacked with another, expending energy but never able to get fully ahead of things.
Amongst some lethal gunfire and deep loss were interlaced tales of locals and visitors meeting in often odd ways this week, everything playing out against that shimmering prism of borderline fruitcake-mindedness we seem to have inherited since TGWTWGRO – That Guy We Thought We Got Rid Off – refused to take the hint.
So we get the reports of a man – art critic or recent Leavenworth grad we don’t know – taking a sledgehammer to the rocks surrounding the public art at the Lafayette Roundabout; another injecting fluid from the bubble indicator of a carpenter’s level (prompting all manner of “is he on the level?” quips from area wags), and still another of a nude man prowling the parking lot of a Walnut Creek gym – trying car doors and allegedly attempting to snag a purse or two.
Amidst the vein of Clothing Aversion which seems to have taken hold with the arrival of forgiving weather was the tale of a young woman who startled an Orinda resident by walking in through the rear door of his home Saturday, mouthing something unintelligible when asked to leave, eventually appropriating a cold-pac from the fridge and walking out into the street – where she proceeded to strip off clothing despite protests from neighbors.
Some of that might have been explained away as “Extreme Californian” until the visitor apparently flagged down a Good Samaritan, hopped into their car and proceeded down a neighborhood street until the startled driver was able to attract the attention of a passing police officer and the unwanted passenger was finally ejected.
What’s it all mean, Binkie? We haven’t a clue. People do seem to be under as much pressure as our straining water mains and many of us are just plain losing it, what can we say?
Hopefully we’ll get it together before we go all Gypsy Rose Lee (Google her, kids) in a public plaza but you never know, it’s looking like another fine day today.
Always have some pepper spray at hand. 108RS