And They're Back!

I have been playing the part of a hermit as much as possible the last several days and that is for one reason only: the students have invaded our town once again. Enrollment at the university is somewhere in the 9000 range, so that is a substantial boost in population for a town that has 20-25,000 people in it normally. Add to that the parents who must bring little Susie or Billy to school themselves, and you have boosted the total number of people that much more. And NONE of these people should be allowed to have driver's licenses!!! Driving around this town the first several weeks after school starts is very good for teaching one how to drive defensively. (Frankly, I think the mommies and daddies drive worse than their kids.)

Of course, my playing hermit is also a good thing--I have kept myself busy getting ready for our 'house guest.' I had to get the room ready as well as clean out closets, drawers, and other spaces so that the nephew will have room for his things. The trouble is, I'm not sure WHEN he will show up at the house! When he stopped by last weekend, we never did get it straight as to if he will be here today or tomorrow. Either way, the house is ready, there is food in the pantry and frig, and I have clothes on, so he can come any time.

The street that we live on is slowly becoming the place for students to live who don't want to live in the dorm. Typically, what seems to happen is this: Mommy and Daddy decide it would be so much cheaper to buy Susie or Billy their own house and rent rooms, than to pay the cost of room and board in a dorm. So, we have several homes now that have three bedrooms and house anywhere from three to six (or more?) students in them. While we haven't had TOO much trouble with students, there are a couple of big-time problems. First, this street is very narrow and it is a dead-end. The dead-end isn't that much of a problem with the extra people, but combined with the narrowness, it is--we only have one way to get off of this street and that is going past the student houses. Sometimes there will be cars parked on BOTH sides of the street and it makes it very difficult to drive between them--especially when you drive an SUV like I do. Also, the students don't always respect their neighbors--sometimes they will park way too close to the mouth of a driveway, or park in front of mailboxes. Some of the mailmen will refuse to get out of their trucks to place mail in a mailbox, so it is not nice to block access to them. Then we come to the winter and our street parking ban. Starting November 1, there is no street parking allowed during the night so that the plows can remove snow. We found out that the ban is in effect whether there is snow or not--K got a ticket the other year in the spring when there was NO snow on the ground and the ban was to be lifted in two days. So, all vehicles have to be parked in garages or driveways. This is a problem when there are only spaces for two vehicles and 4-6 vehicles need space! It gets a little interesting the longer the winter goes on, to be sure.

While I don't like to make generalizations (yeah, right!) I don't have much faith in the brightness of some of the new students that will be living here. The other day I noticed a vehicle coming down the street, followed by another one. The first one stopped and the second one drove past it into our neighbor's driveway and parked. A guy jumped out of the first vehicle and started waving his arms to get the attention of the second vehicle, to no avail. Two guys jumped out of the second one, gathered their backpacks and were about to go to the door of the house when they finally realized they were being hailed. So, they walked out to the middle of the street to find out what the other guy wanted and were promptly told that they had gone to the wrong house. The house they wanted was further up the street on the opposite side of where they parked. Back to the vehicle the driver went and tried to get back in--and couldn't. The driver's side door wouldn't open so he had to go in through the passenger side and push the door open so that he could move the vehicle. Finally, he found the house he was supposed to be at. And this only took fifteen minutes to complete! Unbelievable. It just might be a very interesting--if not frustrating--year.