The sun is shining and the sky is steel-blue, but it is freezing out. The guys came earlier and cleaned my lawn, garden and deck for the last time until spring. They took away my Christmas tree.
I am going nowhere today. I’ll finish cleaning my closet and consider the day well spent. I’ll earn a nap.
This has been another boring week mostly because of the uninviting cold. I did treat myself to lunch yesterday, a burger and onion rings, the highlight of the week.
When I was in high school, the Cape closed after Labor Day. The motels shut down, one way streets went back to two-way, the summer movie theaters closed and most restaurants placed signs in their windows which said, “See you next season.” In Hyannis and in Harwich were movie theaters which stayed open all winter. A couple of bowling alleys also stayed open and that was about it. On TV we only got a few stations. Cable had yet to arrive. I don’t remember complaining because it wouldn’t have done any good. That was the way life was off-season on Cape Cod.
The movie theater up the street has twelve screens. There are malls, large and small, and lots of entertainment centers with games and bowling alleys. Most bars have multiple TV’s all showing sports. I can eat a variety of ethnic foods, not just Chinese any more. The Cape has become suburbia, and I’m complaining there is nothing to do.
Where there is little, there are few expectations and most people are generally content. Where there is much, they want more. That’s the way the world is now. That small TV is now that huge TV, and it must be almost time for a bigger one. People wait in line for the newest phones. I’m just glad mine still rings.
I wish I could travel back to Ghana one more time, but I haven’t the money. That’s about it for discontentment. I’ve been lucky.
