Cold Day at the Circus



Early Morning on Worcester City Hall Plaza Before the Denizens Emerge

Yesterday was the coldest, sunny day that I’ve ever experienced.  I had to work as we were doing a public outreach effort at City Hall Plaza in Worcester.  The morning was in the 30’s but there was a pretty hefty wind blowing for the most of the day.  It was one of those days where the temperature goes down 20 degrees if you step out of the sun.  We had a tent set up to house a couple of the new fare boxes but I spent virtually the entire day outside watching Worcester flow by in all of its circus like quality.  I like being back in Worcester – there are some real characters in this city and I met most of them yesterday.  They seem to emerge when they see something out of the ordinary in their normal haunts.  We were the light to their flies.  For the most part this was the most interesting part of the day.  I enjoyed trying to stay warm and joking with a couple of the people that work for me.  We saw a couple of motor cycle cops park their bikes near the Dunkin Donuts and disappear inside for over two hours.  There was a strange flag flying from the front of city hall and I knew that I had seen it before but couldn’t place it for the longest time.  It turned out to be the retired flag of South Vietnam that appears on so many military decorations from that era.  There was some sort of ceremony marking the fall of Saigon at the end of the Vietnam War.  Worcester has a big Vietnamese community and apparently many of them came over as refugees following the war because the ceremony was well attended and many were wearing vintage military uniforms.  I felt bad for them yesterday as they were trying to wear the typical costumes from Vietnam in the bone cold weather of Worcester.  The boss bought everybody lunch at a nearby sub shop and we spent a lot of money at DD on coffee and hot chocolate.  As we moved into the afternoon I was really feeling my age.  Spending all that time on my feet had my back really barking at me for the last couple of hours.  I dropped something and when I bent over too quickly to pick it up everything was barking.  Kinda sucks to be getting older.  There was a big concert going on and later in the afternoon a bunch of college age kids were wandering through the plaza with some serious costumes and face paint. A group stopped by to talk with us.  It was funny to see my boss and the union president talking with this bunch.  I got home and curled up on the couch trying to get warm, Buddy was not clued in on this plan and decided I needed more exercise.  The wife and I watched the sox win their sixth straight game, winning a pitcher’s duel – who’d have thought that was possible.  That’s why they are the Red Sox.

Our Home for the Day



After Denizons Emerge

City Hall from the Rear

Concert Kids Chatting Us Up