I brought home the trailer last night, having worked late and figuring I'd need it today, too, but it's the third Thursday of the month -and you know what that means. So I spent most of dreamtime waiting for the street cleaner, who begins his route on my street. The street cleaner I have nothing against. He does an honest job of it, and since this is a rainless part of the world, it's necessary work. But the parking enforcement guy who drives slowly behind him, well, I've got issues with my tax dollars going to these shooting-fish-in-the-barrel jobs. He could be replaced by enthusiastic robots.

Robots might be worse, now that I think about it. I'm just grumpy that I had to get up at dawn to move the truck. It's quite a scene out there, every first and third Thursday morning of the month. I'm not the only one. You hear that street cleaner down the block and everyone is out, doing the Dance of the Cars. One guy has a motor home that he has to move, and then there's the five Mexican families living in the house across from us, with their 6 rusty pickups filled with lawn mowers. We all stumble out in our pajamas and hop in the cars, pull away from the curb, go down the street and U-turn it behind the parking enforcement guy. It's a circus. A parade of half-awake, indolent suburbanites. Me with my equipment trailer, him with his motor home, them with their lawn mower trucks -all of us in a slow-moving, half-baked motorcade around the neighborhood, led by the street cleaner and the parking enforcement guy.

We tour the cul-de-sac and then get out. Some of us wave to each other, smile and shake our heads ("What a life!") grab the newspaper and sidestep the lawn sprinklers. It's a helluva show. Every other Thursday. Check it out. Spectators are invited to park on the lawn.

Also, I got a ticket for speeding yesterday. I was pulling the trailer 65 MPH when the trailer-towing speed limit is always 55. First ticket since 2002. I figure, with all the driving I do, I'll take the hit.

But I wasn't about to give up my place in the Thursday morning street cleaner pageant.


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