Today's walk report: 060413

Almost as exciting as a Monday walk...

Here are the highlights...

Some kid (red t-shirt), end of the school term with school out in just 2 or 3 days, allegedly set fire to one of the lunch benches at the nearby elementary school, also mentioned here. This is after school, 6:39 PM. I smelled smoke and was indeed in the smoke looking all around trying to figure out where it was and if it was something I needed to take some action on. Then down the hallway I saw this scene. I could see it a little better than my sorry point and shoot camera can convey--my apologies. The guy with the hose is presumably a teacher who also manages the after school playground. My suspicions are that kid isn't going to have the best of summers. The school also, at least used to, have a summer playground schedule. I don't think he's going to be invited.

When I attended this school the person who managed the playground was Mr. Slane. Mr. Slane was one of my 4th grade teachers. This is how Mr. Slane signed my autograph book upon leaving the school for middle school after completing the 6th grade. I visited Mr. Slane one last time before entering High School which back in those days started with the 10th grade. Mr. Slane admitted he always really liked me despite my tendencies to disrupt class.

This is what Mr. Slane looked like. There's a shadow just behind him, although it's hard to tell here. That is my shadow, 1965. In 1965 I was 9 years old and I was already taller than Mr. Slane.

I don't know exactly who Ester and Tom were but I believe they were lunch area "supervisors." What I do remember was we got out of class to go collect signatures and that's what I was gonna do. Mrs. Ardinger was the once a week, for an hour or so, music teacher. She had us singing horrible songs like, The Boll Weevil Song...

She was nice though. I liked her chalk holder for making a music staff. I thought that was pretty cool. I always liked the way music notation looked. At the time I was just starting to learn to read music outside of school. I never got especially good at that.

Other newsworthy stuff... This pickup has been sitting in a red zone, away from the curb, trashed inside, with the ignition all pulled out of the steering column, for over a month. I think it's fair to conclude it was stolen and abandoned. Besides being in a red zone (yeah it looks pink, the city here has a lot of neglected curb painting to do--among other stuff) it's right at the intersection going into the college campus. It's also along side the local "Occupational Center" which I believe is still part of the L.A. Unified School District and the homes on the other side of the street are pretty upscale. You'd think it would have been reported but apparently not, well not until tonight anyway. You can do this online by the way. I don't really care except for one thing... Somebody's been using the cab of this vehicle for a bathroom and I walk past the thing everyday.

Lastly, I've been trying to get a decent picture of this for awhile. This is not it. Right about the 1 km mark toward home I frequently see this. Somebody, my guess is 2 or 3 houses south of where I'm standing has a small flock of 9-12 white doves. Every evening, I'll assume it's every evening I've seen this several times now, they fly a circle about 50-70m in diameter about 5 or 6 times and then go back home. It's quite nice. The first time I saw this was the walk during which I had the unpleasant encounter with the deputy from L.A. County Sheriff's and it had a wonderfully calming effect on me.