Things & People I Won't Miss

I certainly will not miss the naked old guy that walked the track every day, rain or shine. Envision this: you are washing the morning dishes, the birds are singing, the sun is shining and you look out through the window into your backyard and then suddenly you catch a glimpse of some overly-tan, saggy-man-boobs swaying and bouncing all over attached to a 75 year-old man wearing tucked-under running shorts and white sneakers. He averaged 15 miles a day, everyday. For seven years I witnessed him walking the track. Legs moving like Marvin the Martian. Never said hello or waived until one day, about two months ago, he approached my husband through the fence.

“Nice job you’ve done with the place,” the walker suddenly said.
“Thanks,” replied my husband.
“You know, we’re related.”
Startled, my husband looked around as if he was hoping this conversation was suddenly for someone else.
“Yes, your father’s side through cousin blah blah blah…” he went on.

The bad news found its way into my kitchen. This town was too small and the local booby man was related. Time to move.

Another person I will not miss is our children’s schools vice principal. She lived kitty-corner to us and never mowed her lawn. A large woman herself, mowing the lawn would have given her some healthy exercise but no, we had to do it for her when we got sick and tired of it. Two weeks ago I lost my three-year-old son in her tall grass. I was struggling with my lawn mower trying to take a crack at it but after three hours I called a lawn company to take over. This brought on a hostile situation with the owner who swore she was, “just about to take care of it.” A claim she made every year after someone finally did it for her. Won’t miss her a bit.

CT’s DMV: After five attempts to get our trailer and van registered, I stand here as a witness that the DMV of Bridgeport have proven to be the most stupid people alive.
We bought our camper from some folks in New York. Before you register it in CT, you must get the VIN checked to make sure it is legitimate and matches the vehicle. Upon going to DMV, the clerk instructed me to get it done by a police officer. DMV does not do VIN checks on trailers—too big to fit in parking lot. So, I brought it to the police station, but you need a form—from the DMV. So I go back to the DMV and they don’t carry the form. You have to download online. After researching over 278 forms, I find it, get a police officer to check it and bring the completed form to DMV. DMV says they do not accept forms by police officers. But, no DMV in CT performs trailer VIN checks. Get my point? Stupid. But the real kicker is this: You cannot transport your new out-of-state trailer unless you have it properly registered in CT. But you cannot do a VIN check with DMV’s staff unless they can physically look at it and compare it to the VIN

And so we are finally ready to get it registered! But now the DMV happily announces that it will not issue it as they claim we owe back taxes on a vehicle we have not owned for six years. Although we sold it and paid the taxes a few years ago—we had a permit pulled to get central air installed in our home—so the city charged us again for taxes on that vehicle, so we paid it again because we were tired of fighting and we were hot and needed A/C. Of course, DMV won’t call the City of Ansonia to verify that the taxes were paid, so I now leave DMV again with my five children and go to City Hall of Ansonia. Apparently, the tax assessor only updates her files once a year, and neglected to do so the last few years. I sure hope the DMV out west will be easier to deal with.

Lastly, I won’t miss the frustration of not riding my road bike, not having parks for my kids to play on, not having public beaches, not having boat access, and the blight of living in the Valley.