Have A Nice Day

Hello fellow citizens,

Today, as the title of this post implies, I actually had a nice day. I guess I just woke up on the right side of the bed, or maybe it was because the dog and cat slept in their kennel and not with my wife and me (if you have pets you just might understand how good a night's sleep you can get this way). Whatever the reason, and who am I to argue?, I had a good day. Pardon me if I relish this feeling a bit longer. It's just so rare.

It started out as I was doing my morning sweeper route. I was going along and I got onto a main artery in a quiet neighborhood. I was citing a car when from across the street I heard a voice. I don't generally hear voices, you should know. A kind, elderly lady was standing at her front door waving to me. I finished the ticket and headed a little bit her way (I like to get out of there as soon as possible to avoid any unpleasant confrontations, as you can imagine, but I didn't want to be rude). She started telling me how much she appreciated me being there and how she knew how difficult my job was, etc. Then she asked me about my vehicle (we got new ones a year or so ago) and we chatted about that briefly. Then, she said goodbye and before she went in, she threw me a kiss. Now, we're not used to getting kisses thrown at us in this job. I've had invectives thrown at me, I've had the finger (you know which one, don't be coy) thrown at me. I even had an egg thrown at my vehicle (that wasn't nice), but never a kiss. Now, it's true that I'm a devastatingly handsome guy in my mid fifties (a "silver fox" I think we're called) but I really didn't expect this. Of course I couldn't act on it for several reasons: She was way too old, I'm married, and I just couldn't take that much time out of my morning sweeper route. I do have a work ethic, you know.

But wait, there's more!

Later on that morning, I rolled up on a vehicle in a red zone. A woman was dropping off what looked to be an aging hippie. I stopped behind them, shooed her out of the red and she quickly drove away. The guy beckoned to me so I opened my window (I generally hate doing as it lets the A/C out and who wants to talk to the citizens anyway?). He was in fact an aging hippie. He tried to tell me that she was just dropping him off because he was the handyman at the business we were in front of. I told him she shouldn't have dropped him off in the red though, that she could have let him off in their lot which was right there. He hesitated and I told him, "When I see red, I see Red!" He laughed. I assured him that I did not write his friend a ticket. He said, "Hey, I love you, brother," and then he shook my hand. I don't get too many, "I love you's" on this job either.

I helped a few people today, answered a few of their questions, let a few people go...

Yep, it was all in all a very nice day. It's rare and I'm still enjoying it as I write this. I should be in bed by now. Honey, let's put the pets in their kennel again tonight. Okay?

Ten-seven.