I decided to write something this week on the lighter side and take a break from those heavy exhaustive subjects.
Regarding our American freedom of speech which also includes that of expression, our ever developing creative language, use of dialect, enunciation and the incorporation of foreign words to the enrichment of the foregoing and more; the ability to say it exactly as meant. It goes without saying that the likes of slander and vulgarity are not part of it.
Fads come and become have-beens. Should it be a fad for a time to roll the R’s on all foreign words that naturally have them, like rum, we would find that we already have a lotta practice with the technique.
Like, Lara likes a lotta lettuce and reddish radish. The British probably couldn’t do it; the queen wouldn’t allow it. Having their queen, it is quite a beehive over there. They have to behave themselves. Whether or not one agrees with all of this, let ‘em eat cake.
Another item could seem hilarious if it were not serious. It has been a while since the Northern Parkway was widened from Glen Cove Road to the Wantagh Parkway and repaved beyond it’s overpass. Later the parkway was repaved to Route 110 and if I remember it was done from east to west. It appears that in the eastbound lanes they ran out of road stuff about three feet from the end of the previously mentioned project.
Going east up the incline after passing under the Wantagh there is a dip in the road and when one hits the end of it, it’s a real bump. I can imagine that well over a million times a vehicle has bounced out of this depression. One would think it would be fixed by now. It possibly never will be fixed. We motorists should not have to deal with this kind of thing.
Finally, while on the roadway subject, I am amused wondering if they really thought that no one would want to go south on Glen Cove Road exiting westbound. It defies logic.
This is about the changing times that surely have many connotations; the disappearing gas stations during the past 15 or so years in Mineola Village and its boundary.
1. The Mobil at Glen Cove Road and Westbury Avenue.
2. The one that is now Starbucks north at Jericho.
3. The one where they wanted to put a 7-Eleven.
4. Express Gas which is recently gone.
5. The Shell where CVS was built.
6. Where the 7-Eleven now is at Mineola Boulevard and Jericho.
7. The Gaseteria.
8. The one that had the fire.
9. The Gulf on the northwest corner of Herricks and Jericho.
10. One north a few blocks on Herricks.
11. The one at the junction of Herricks and Old Country Road.
12. The one on Mineola Boulevard that now only does repairs.
Twelve gone and only five left, all on Jericho.
The cars of today need few repairs and the word tune-up is no more. The company that had the TV ads “Become An Auto Technician” probably is out of business too. More unemployment.
Toyota and then Honda among others almost put GM and Ford out of business with better and more precise engineering. It was said of GM that the engines were built a little loose so they could just be slapped together and nothing could be too tight. They were halfway worn out when they were new. That has been corrected.
The ladies like Rosie The Riveter built better aircraft engines during the Second World War. If it was Rosie The Riveter I saw on the street awhile back, she is still riveting.
Charles Samek
Mineola
