Our Thoughtful Town

Our take on being the leading edge of taking care of the earth.

With the Pope showing great concern for the earth, we in the South Paris/Norway area recycle.  We are proud for the ways that we save and reuse items ingeniously, if I don’t say so myself.

Truth is, I wasn’t into recycling until I was a young adult.  But then the world wasn’t into the ways of recycling that we are now either.

This is just another example of our small town having the leading edge in the world and in recycling.

My hubby, parishioners and I were at weekday mass one beautiful day last week.  We have left the doors open on the church knowing that there may not be many warm days this season that we can enjoy.  We hear this strange noise just as the mass is over,

As I am saying to others, what is that loud noise, I notice we are all looking around the parking lot, down the street and all around.  Coming across 2 lanes of traffic on a very busy street, at the hour which is considered our rush hour, driving across the middle, driving on the wrong side toward us, driving with  no concern for any traffic is a Zamboni (aka Street Sweeper). By Mr. Zamboni actions, anyone can tell how he feels, “this is a big and heavy machine, I will drive it anyway, anyhow I want to”. With the what are you doing to do about it, attitude.

I use the term Street Sweeper loosely, because this big hunk of metal has some purpose, what it is in our town, I haven’t figured out.  Not to worry, there will be some investigations, interviews and conclusions in the near future. I will submit to you an in depth report

for your viewing.

Standing in awe, we look to see what “Mr. Zamboni” is doing.  That machine is so loud and annoying, it’s deafening.  For if you are behind it, you are stuck until “Mr. Zamboni” in the obnoxious  machine realizes he has now caused a traffic jam in epic proportions. Personally I don’t think  “Mr. Zamboni”  really cares.  Maybe it is the hard skin he has developed over the years, looking past the people giving him the birdie.  Though I have to wonder, when was it exactly that “Mr. Zamboni” realized that the horn beeps were not,  “hey there,how are you?”, type of beeps and hand gestures were not waves of “have a great day”  with normal pleasant interactions.  

There were puzzling questions that we all had in our minds.  First how come the water spray as stopped across the street, on it way towards us, but yet the brushes are going round and round like a banshee.

We all agreed that the street sweepers come out only in the spring to clean the sand and ice melter left from the winter.  They make two passes and if they don’t get it all, well c’est la vie.  Any sand we are left with, we have learned to embellish into the landscaping.  Winter is just a couple of months away. Why clean the streets now?

Standing there in awe, it is clear to see “Mr. Zamboni” is on a mission. Eyes straight ahead, no expression at all- determined. He is going down the side, of the street, against traffic to pick up the sand from last winter.  We now understand the whole process.  He is recycling the sand from last year.  How smart is that? I never knew that one could do that.  Think of all the money the town can save.

Then this is the reason for not using the water and keeping the sand dry, stopping it from becoming mud. Now it is all making sense.  But there is only one problem, or maybe not a problem at all.  I am really not fully educated in the details of recycling other things than the everyday items. “Mr. Zamboni” is leaving a dirt cloud behind him that is at least 15 feet in the air.  His plan must be working correctly because, “Mr. Zamboni” is making no effort to change his technique.

Then on future thought, this may be a redistribution of the sand, so   is the objective?  Getting a  jump on snow that we won’t have for a couple of months.  Boy Scout motto, be prepared!  I will be investigating every avenue of this process and get down to the bottom if this.

No one can say our town isn’t thoughtful, if you are lucky enough to get behind this “Mr.Zamboni” while driving,  your car gets a free spa treatment of exfoliation. Now who has it better than that?

I love our town.