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So today was the Rose Parade. We live right at the end of the parade route, so this affords us a somewhat odd view of the event. It began like a Soviet May Day, with an overflight by our most fearsome military aircraft. So I went outside and snapped a picture of them flying over the hedge. Then I took a short bike ride down to the park. The In-N-Out Burger mobile units were all set up and ready to feed the marching bands when they got there.
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One thing I thought was a bit odd was that with all the Department of Father Homeland Security talk of terrorists wanting to attack an event like the Rose Parade, whose idea was it to give out a toy called a “Bomb Bag”?
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| After a while, the horses started to arrive. I thought that the cowgirls with the stars-and-stripes outfits were cute.
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One guy seemed a bit concerned that the crowds might walk on his lawn. He put up a little temporary fence, just like the stores on Colorado Blvd.
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The true nightmare scenario of an event like this is to need an ambulance. That happened this time. It wasn’t clear exactly what happened to the man, but they were doing CPR on him, so it couldn’t be good.
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The mule group had a trailer that said, “Hauling World Champion Ass”. |
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Usually, all the horse people are just eating In-N-Out burgers when they get here, but this year, one guy brought a barbecue grill and set it up right out in the street.
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Back down on the parade route, there was lots of trash left by all the people. A lot of it is Chick tracts and other religious pamphlets. The other thing we see is people bringing a mattress to sleep on and then leave it after the parade. But the city is on top of it. By tomorrow, all the trash will be gone, and it will be as if it never happened. |
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Of course, little girls love horses, and Lucinda is no exception. She went out with a bag of carrots. |
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This afternoon, we went to see the floats close-up. Who knew that the surface of Saturn was covered with dried apricots? Another odd thing was the Home Depot float, “Saturday in the Park”. It was not clear why it had a fire extinguisher mounted right on the front. And the Roto-Rooter float was kind of funny. What else would it be but a big tree with massive roots? |
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January 16th, 2005 at 4:44 pm
Stan, did they have Roto-Rooter in NJ when you were growing up? Out here, our RR guys had an extremely catchy tune, the lyrics of which were, “Call Roto-Rooter! That’s the name! And away go troubles, down the drain! (Roto-Rooter! Sewer service!)” This was clearly the source for the Mr. Plow jingle that Homer Simpson used: “Call Mr. Plow! That’s my name! That name again is Mr. Plow!”
January 16th, 2005 at 5:59 pm
Of course. I remember the jingle. I think they are nationwide. The Wall Street Journal did an article back in the ’80s about the things they found in drains.