A Warming Walk on the West End

Your Boulevardier, accompanied by the Trusty BoulevarDog, walked the West End today. It was a lovely, bright, cloudless morning. At first we had low hopes for the walk -- the commuters were their usual oblivious selves, speeding and overrunning the crosswalks near Hamburger Island. But as our stroll took us past the Golden Tee, the Dell Cafe, and JD's, the town's pleasures reasserted themselves.

There were a few other walkers. A lovely older couple, presumably from India originally (Your Boulevardier bases this assumption on the lady's flowing outfit), greeted me warmly; she had already deployed an umbrella against the sun. We ran into our neighbor Fred, who remarked on the motorists who were honking their horns. "Can you believe road rage on a beautiful day like this?" he asked. When we assured him that we couldn't, he let us know that he wasn't going to let them mar his day. Hear, hear.

Work on the former Tony and Ted's seems to be stalled. The contractors have put plywood over the windows, so one can't peek at the extent of the damage. Published reports said that the roof was near collapse before the store was closed. The refurbishing on the front of Jenny's Cafe also seems stalled. One would hope that that work was largely structural, because if the goal was cosmetic the goal has been missed.

We also noted a sign in the Chabot Theatre box office: Tickets are on sale for the Tuesday midnight show of Batman Begins. Your Boulevardier is glad to see this sort of movie madness here in town.

The Trusty BoulevarDog is recovering nicely from her bout with arthritis. The combination of Doggie Vioxx (brand name: Deramaxx) and Glucosamine/Chondroitin (one capsule for her, two for Your Boulevardier) have helped a great deal. She no longer limps, and her energy is good. A few months of reduced activity have taken their toll on her weight physical condition, though -- she gets winded on a half-hour walk. But as summer has begun, with its longer, warmer days, we should both be out on the Boulevard more frequently.