city living

I love living in the Southwedge. I love being close to everything. I love being able to walk up the street to the corner market, the corner bar, and the corner concert venue. I like that I can easily get to the river trail and Mt. Hope Cemetery without even getting in the car.

On the flip-side, there is always something going on in our neighborhood. Always. Family fights, loud rap music, weird smells, stray cats, etc. Last month my bike got stolen. A few weeks ago, someone's dog was hit by a car right in front of our house. I won't even mention when Ryan had to testify against our neighbors in city court earlier this year.

So, last night as we were just finishing dinner, we didn't think it was unusual for a police car or two to fly down the street with lights flashing, etc. But then two more came. And then more, and more, and more. By now our curiosities were piqued. We hadn't had that much excitement since last summer when the house a few doors down caught fire and the street was blocked off for several hours. We went outside but couldn't see anything...the action was at least a dozen houses down, on the other side of the street. I grabbed my binoculars, but they didn't help much amidst all the flashing lights.

Of course, this kind of activity is a great way to meet neighbors. People came out of their houses and were walking up and down the street with us. As we headed back inside upon determining we probably weren't going to get any details, one of the neighbors asked an officer, "is this another fire?", which of course referred to the blaze from last summer. "No," the officer replied, "there's someone who has psychiatric problems who needs to go to the hospital."

I don't know what kind of "psychiatric problems" require at least 20 cop cars, 2 ambulances and a firetruck hauling ass down a residential street.

Well, I heard on the radio this morning there was a stabbing of a police officer who responded to an initial call from that house. Probably a domestic issue or mental hygiene thing. So a cop got stabbed and that is always call for front-page news in this town. Read the RNews story here.

Never a dull moment!