For the first time in eight years, my wife Renate and I managed to have the same week after Christmas as vacation time together. However, instead of doing things like rushing off on a Caribbean cruise, we chose another course: nothing.
Vacations are meant for taking a break from the routine, to rest. Someone once said resting means simply that — to cease using energy, i.e., do nothing.
It was great. Don’t take me wrong here: we didn’t just sit around watching TV for a week. We learned all about our new Wii. We got a lot of things done around the house. But we did all that when we felt like doing it. We had no running around, no schedule to keep, no one’s agenda but our own.
It was a neat way of recharging our batteries before jumping into the fray of 2010.
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Mayor Carleton E. Carey Sr. wants to sit down with the Delaware Department of Transportation to try and hammer out a firm agreement on who is supposed to clear Dover’s streets after a snowstorm.
In view of the current squabble between DelDOT and the city’s Department of Public Works over who’s responsible for what, that’s a good move.
DelDOT and the DPW are pointing fingers at each other over who’s to blame for the very poor condition of the city’s streets during our recent bad weather. Dover’s citizens and merchants aren’t very happy, either.
One thing is for sure: we never will have adequate plowing when faced with almost 2 feet of snow dumped on our roads within 24 hours or so. We simply do not have the equipment necessary. Delaware is not North Dakota, where municipalities routinely budget for cleaning up the huge amounts of snow they receive every year. The same people in Dover who complained mightily their roads resembled a frozen no-man’s land also might balk if the city spent millions on heavy duty equipment that most likely would sit idle for four out of every five years.
It’s simply not economically feasible, so it behooves the city and the state to work out something equitable.
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The sad story of the abduction and murder of an 11-year-old girl in Salisbury, Md., came to us in Dover through extensive television coverage. It was made even sadder by reports the accused killer was involved with at least one member of the girl’s family and thus had access to where she was living.
With all the threats society now faces, it is incumbent we not let casual relationships become a means for people we do not know well to get close to those we love.
The consequences, as shown here, can be tragic.
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Oh, and by the way — what year is it, anyhow? “Twenty-ten” or “two thousand and ten”? I don’t think the experts have figured that one out yet.
