In life, there is good and the inevitable bad. Life around these parts is no different.
So for the 12 people — including my mother who’s obligated to read this word jumble — here are a few of my thoughts on some good and bad things in our area.
A tip of the hat to MasterBrand
For quite some time now, a sizeable family of geese (I’m assuming they’re geese, but for all I know about birds they could be parakeets) have taken home in the pond and on the grounds of MasterBrand.
In today’s corporate world, these are the types of caring, good deeds that are outlawed. The powers-that-be have, apparently, not disturbed or run off these squatters and I applaud them for their decision.
I’m sure it’s sort of a nuisance. The gardener or groundskeeper is probably not their biggest fan, but, in my opinion, it gives the place some sense of life. I have always enjoyed watching the geese fly in their formations and always marvel at how they could possibly fly thousands of miles every year during migration and not get lost when I can’t go to the refrigerator without forgetting what I went for.
For all I know, the management at MasterBrand has attempted to dislodge these guests without success. However, whether they are allowed or are just stubborn, I thank Masterbrand since it makes me grin when I see them out there.
Now a bit for the Debbie Downers of the world
I recently went to a movie theater in the area with my senior citizen folks to see “The Butler” (which was long but good). After some initial confusion regarding the time the movie actually began (the listing in this newspaper was way confusing), we arrived before the theater actually was open.
No one there. No cars. No nothing.
That is no big deal. These small town businesses have to restructure their hours to whatever is feasible.
Sometime later, we arrived at the correct time and purchased our tickets. My father, who is a big snack guy, asked if the popcorn was fresh since we were the first to arrive. Without hesitating, the employee manning the counter said, “Yes, we have been popping it all day.”
OK … we arrived before all of the employees and watched them all walk into the theater, so unless one of them has Jedi powers and cranked up the popper from the Death Star before arriving, we were the victims of flat-out lies.
Why on earth would that be necessary? And for the record, if anyone could tell the popcorn is NOT fresh it would be my old man. Stuff like that just makes me shake my head.
Back to the good
I give a salute to the City of Kinston’s road crew and the speed with which Carey Road was paved. They paved a stretch of the road in what was close to record time.
The sad truth is when we see our path blocked due to construction, we have come to expect a long, never-ending sight of orange signs and directional arrows.
Nearly all of us have wondered at some point when they will finish working on Interstate 85 around Durham. Honestly, I think they have been working on the stretch of road since before I was born.
Kudos to the city boys that knocked out that job so quickly.
Richard Clark is the unified desk chief for Halifax ENC; his column appears in this space every Sunday. You can reach him at 910-219-8452 or at Richard.Clark@jdnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @kpaws22.