Of closures, of the road and roadhouse:
— It seems Hefty’s Roadhouse in Bayport has lost its weight. About a-week-and-half ago, a surprising out-of-the-blue sign was posted on its front and back doors saying “Due to unforeseen circumstances, Hefty’s is closed.” In other words, after less than a year of operation, there will be no more creative Habareno-pepper-laced dishes, quasi-witty signs displayed all over the walls, and in what had been catching on, bean bag tournaments on the back patio and lawn. Front-facade spotlights continue to be run at night, and a truck for a construction business that shares some of the next-door-over space in the building can still be seen parked regularly in the small lot across from the patio. The owners of Hefty’s could not be reached for comment.
— Bad storms last Friday and Saturday in the early morning changed the mix of things. One of the Green Mill’s main competitors suffered a power outage, and the Green Mill was much busier than usual, as has been its trend lately, but this time much more so as people were lined up at the bar three-deep. A few days later in the evening, there were seven repair trucks seen parked when you take into consideration its lot and the northern side of the one for Shanghai Bistro.
— Sometimes “public safety” isn’t so much the case. Repair work on Interstate 94 between the two Hudson exits meant that there was only one lane of traffic late at night on weekdays — and vehicles merging onto it from the Carmichael Road ramp had to come to a near stop to do so. Workers’ equipment was at some times being operated so close to the lane of traffic that it edged onto the painted stripes. But of most concern is that when making what needs to be a very sudden exit to go to the downtown, a worker didn’t see me and ambled directly in front of my car. I immediately hit the brakes and stopped just a few feet short of him. He didn’t notice me until I had already braked substantially, and even then just took a quick half-step backwards. It should be noted that the exit ramp was temporarily designed to be wider than one lane.
On the lighter side of road repair, a lighted “test” sign along the median of the same area has been redundant to the point of being humorous. At times it has displayed the word “test” nine times in the shape of a tic-tac-toe game, and at other junctures has included the numerical phrase “123.” I wonder if like myself, they get paid by the word.
— I saw a couple of my favorite service industry workers, known for their long locks, when they stopped in after competing in a sporting event. I asked the “blond bombers” how the game went, only to be told I had the wrong sport — they don’t compete on a ball diamond, rather a sand volleyball court. Also, a man who often sits a few seats down and has a bit of a receding hairline, but also for years has had long and flowing blond locks ala Mickey Rourke in his wrestling movie, recently got almost all of it cut off! Will this be a Sampson thing? Will he retain the title?