It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like the Day After Christmas

Your Boulevardier and the Trusty BoulevarDog strolled midtown today. The weather was overcast, and a breeze was blowing.

Walking through the neighborhood between our home and the Boulevard, we noticed that some families chose to have their Christmas lights on this grey morning. Perhaps the lights were on some sort of photo-sensor switch that turned them on at dusk and off at dawn, and the nature's clouds had fooled the electronics.

Other homes had pulled the plugs on their decorations; the most obvious manifestation of this were numerous deflated snowmen and Santas, splayed limp and forlorn on lawns and rooves. With a bit of twisted imagination -- not that Your Boulevardier has such -- one could imagine that these flaccid skins were the aftermath of an experiment gone terribly wrong in a low-budget science fiction film. "Professor, your teleportation device transported the subjects' flesh and bones -- BUT LEFT BEHIND THEIR SKIN!"

Forgive the digression.

The Boulevard itself was extremely quiet. Our businesspeople, it seems, do not feel compelled to hold door-busting sales the day after Christmas. For many, of course, that makes sense. Would a dentist offer 40 percent off crowns on December 26? Would any of Castro Valley's approximately thirty-seven thousand real estate agents offer a discount on commissions? Are kung-fu lessons available on after-Christmas sale? It would seem not.

A few fellow Valleyans walked or cycled in the cool dampness, some with dogs in tow. Those encountered by Your Boulevardier seemed to be in a pleasant state; perhaps a bit foggy, like the weather, but eager to stretch the legs and get some exercise after a day of sitting and eating. As we made the final turn to return home, the Trusty BoulevarDog and I felt a slight drizzle. It's perfect weather for the day after Christmas, when many of us will hole up in our burrows with a warm drink and the new books we received as gifts.