Off Topic: That Was the Week It Was - February 5, 2017

Good morning! Since it's Sunday morning, this is my weekly off television topic reflection on the week gone by in both words and photos I took along the way. Right now I'm still in between seasons of the television shows I regularly cover.

I'm officially on staycation. Good. I can elevate my swelling leg! Oh, it's the small things that thrill me, I guess. 

Some random ramblings:

• After many years of doldrums, Trump has made Saturday Night Live great again. 
• I don't watch football. I hear rumors some game is on this evening. I don't care. If I so desire, I can catch the commercials and half-time show on YouTube later on.
• Please, please ... do NOT STOP when entering or leaving a store, at the top or bottom of stairs. You are in the way, fools!
• I didn't win the lottery this past week. I didn't really lose, either. I didn't buy any tickets.
• I'm thankful we've had a mild winter so far around here. Please keep up the good work!
• It was old friends day one day on the train. The new conductor must think I'm a social butterfly because I stayed with one ex-employee (from over 20 years ago) of mine, then moved upstairs to join two train friends I hadn't seen in ages. The first time the new conductor saw me was when her coworker sat with me and we all encountered someone I mention later in this post after the jump. I am not a social butterfly. She's already not bothering to check my monthly train pass.
• Speaking of which, NJ Transit moved around so many of its conductors! I'm seeing old faces return and new faces aboard.
• I'm getting too well-known on public transit. One day, a train conductor picked me up at the bus stop and gave me a ride to the train station. Another day, both a taxi driver and an NJ bus driver beeped and waved at me.
• I wish CBS Sunday Morning would make a show totally made up of their "Moments of Nature." I'd watch!

Onto this week's photos ... clicking on an image will open a larger version. I hope everyone has a great week!   
  

Last night's moon

As seen from the Bridgewater Train Station.

It's Christmas once again!

On Groundhog Day, I noticed that the Christmas trees at the Plainfield Police Department were all lighted up once again. They had been dark since early January.

Man vs. Nature

I caught the sunset on Thursday evening. I took this shot at the Bridgewater Train Station.

**CLICK THE 'READ MORE' LINK TO SEE THE REST OF THE PHOTOS**

The sunset over the Field of Geese

Although we've had a few bitter cold snaps this winter, the Canada geese who didn't migrate South are finding plenty of food.

Red skies at night

A closer look.

Fashion, beep beep, fashion

Oh my. Those were actually house slippers, too. Beep beep.

Sigh

The bums are out full force at the Plainfield Train Station once again. The Wheelchair Dude does not belong in that shelter up on the platform and he's been practically living at the train station. The guys on the right are enjoying the breakfast of champions (liquor) before 10am on a Saturday morning. Anyone coming up to the platform from Park Avenue has to walk through them. Once again, the grounds behind the buildings on North Avenue are trash-filled.

On Monday night, when I came home from work late, a drunken/drugged up bum approached the train conductors begging them for a free ride to Newark. Three conductors and the bum were nearby me (they were refusing him) when I pushed the button to call the elevator. GAH! Not AS bad as the mattress set-up I came across a few months back, but there was a comforter, newspapers, clothing, etc. all spread out in there! I called the conductors over to take a look.

The bum yells, "Hey! That's MY stuff!" What? Was he just going to leave it there if they let him on the train?!?! The conductors made him push it aside so I could take the elevator and told me they'd contact the NJ Transit Police. When I got to the other side of the tunnel, I called the Plainfield Police. Absolutely ridiculous! That station needs more policing! The guy was all indignant about his stuff and that they wouldn't give him a free ride to Newark! Sheesh. If he hadn't been drunk, drugged up and obnoxious, he could have walked down to the Plainfield Police Station down on the corner, told them he was stranded and it's cold. I'm sure they would have found him shelter for the night. People choose their own paths in life. I have no sympathy for the guy. 

Why?

Why is there a tiny bicycle in my apartment corridor? It's now been there for almost a week. Every time I go by, I put it smack in front of their door. (That one bedroom has a bunch of children and adults residing within.) I just better not hear a kid riding it in the hallway!

In taking this photo, I remember a bit of history of that apartment. Perhaps they wouldn't want to live there if they knew it. That door is a replacement door. All original doors have an old style peephole that's like a little window with a shutter operated by a knob inside the apartment. About three tenants ago, that door was broken down by police. The tenant within had died (natural causes) some days before and hadn't shown up for work, thus the police action. Most of the other replacement doors were the occasional burglary (usually folks with very iffy "friends") or drug raids -- none of the latter in the last more than a decade and a half, though. My own door is an original. And, need I say, I'm very picky about my friends. I could trust them with a key! If the police want to get in here, they'd knock, not bust through the door with a battering ram!

Through the trees

One last look at Thursday's sunset in Bridgewater.

Out with the old, in with the new

I heard a ruckus coming from my apartment building's parking lot on Wednesday morning. It sounded like a snowplow on the pavement. Hmm? Now, it had snowed a dusting the night before, but ...! When I looked out the window, this is what I saw. We're apparently changing refuse companies. While the new blue dumpsters are more aesthetically pleasing, I foresee issues with them. Now we have four instead of three. The signage for recycling versus trash is small and, though I might be in error, I don't see English and Spanish on them. Plus, one is backwards and no signage even shows!

Playtime!

The birds and squirrels had a field day with all the old and new empty dumpsters in the parking lot!

Creative salting

In anticipation of snow and ice, I noticed this salting masterpiece at the Plainfield Train Station on Tuesday as I headed off to work.

And ... here's the big snowstorm!

We only got a dusting. But, I will say, walks that were not salted were quite slick as the temperatures dropped. This was as I approached my apartment on my way home Tuesday after work. My building is the one with lights on the left. We have rather large windows.

Pigeons in flight

One,in the gap between birds on the right, seems to be sitting on a cloud.

Vincent! Hey, Vincent!

Your internet fans want to see you! What? Not until you get some catnip, shoulder time and cat treats? You are SO spoiled! At least in this shot, you can see his bit o' grey on the back of his head. He's not purely white!