Cleveland's awesome. I've been here almost two weeks and have another week and a half to go.Today I got out of downtown finally (thanks to Barb), trained over to Ohio City and ate dinner and drank heavily at the Great Lakes Brewery, and had a great time. There's a lot to do here. Sure, the weather sucks -- buried in snow in the winter, drained by heat & humidity in the summer -- but that's to be expected if you're east of the Mississippi.Cleveland is hip, it's happening, it's got charm, it's got beauty, it's got gravitas, it's got a lot for the young and young-at-heart to do. But by Christ the crosswalks are awful. The goddamn crosswalk sign takes 5 to 7 minutes to change. I'll time it tomorrow for real and report back; but my best guess is 5 to 7 minutes. You're standing there getting old while buses and cars and scooters and fixies fly by. Then you wait some more.
The other day I walked past a dude standing by a crosswalk vending his homemade music CDs.
"Take a listen," he said, offering me a pair of earphones connected to a Discman.
"I've got to get back to work," I said, taking a meaningful glance at my watch.
"Man, this light's going to take forever." I couldn't argue with that, so I listened and ended up purchasing the CD for five dollars. (Barb has since listened to it, and said it's awful. I'm glad I didn't pay what he asked, which was ten bucks.)
Portland is very pedestrian-friendly. Cleveland is not. Otherwise the city wouldn't make the hapless citizenry stand on the curb for eternity in the godawful humidity or homicidal, lake-effect snow.
C'mon, Cleveland, get your shit together.
1 comment:
Great reading from you, Andrew. Tho you gave a mild redemption for living in Cleveland, I am really glad to be a part of Portland, OR.
Again, good reading.
Mom
Post a Comment