Well, Don't That Just Beat All.

Yesterday, I went to the recreation center to meet up with some of the other Halloween volunteers, so we could get our assignments.  The event, by the way, was a great success, as it always is.  There were lots of people, and it seemed everyone had a great time.

While I was walking to my assigned post for the evening, I passed one of our neighbors, sitting on his steps, watching the people.  And presumably, handing out candy.  I know him just a little, and he knows me, just a little.  He and I greeted each other as I walked past, and he called out to me to ask if I was gearing up for next year's election, in which he assumed I would be running again.

I don't really know this neighbor, other than I know his name, he knows mine, and we greet each other.  But we have crossed paths.  I was one of the ones at whom he mobilized some anger over the sanitation, um, thing.  He came to the podium in those days to complain and to rail not only over the idea of outsourcing sanitation, but at those of us who were accused of ignoring the clearly stated wishes of a group of our neighbors, himself included.  For that reason, I have felt some lingering illness-at-ease between us, although nothing was ever said.  And now, on Halloween, here he was, sitting outside, enjoying the day, and greeting me, asking about my "political" ambitions.

"Absolutely not," I told him.
"Why not?"
"Because it's been a huge aggravation."

I didn't have to say another word.  He knew, and I knew, what was an important part of the huge aggravation.

"But it worked out fine," he pointed out.

"I know," I affirmed.



Not to worry, though.  I'm not running for re-election.  I have a better idea.  Since the Village is so small, and we have so many neighbors who know exactly how everything should be, I want to move us from a Commission/Manager form of government to a Town Meeting form of government.  We don't need middlemen.  We can get together a few times a year, decide what everyone wants, and hire some functionary to push the paper and make the phone calls.  Then, we can criticize them if anything is imperfect.