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| We lived on the 6th floor overlooking the House Of Blues... |
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| 4th Street in Cleveland, OH...it's ALWAYS like this...FUN. |
Dan and I got a contract in Cleveland and lived in a loft downtown. When I say downtown, I mean DIRECTLY downtown. We were right in-between the 2 stadiums, next to the House of Blues, around the corner from the happenings of 4th Street, and down the street from Tower City...which is one of the 2 malls within walking distance from where we lived. Across the street was a building called "The Arcade" in which there was a hotel, several shops, and a little food court. We moved there just before Thanksgiving and lived there well through after Christmas. Now, I lived in NYC. I'd been to more cities than I can really count up until that point. I THOUGHT I understood how cities in general worked. Cleveland, however, had not received that particular memo. 5pm seemed to be their idea of appropriate closing time. This included the CVS, the local drug store. This included the corner deli, Starbucks, and the mall. THE MALL. It was right before Christmas and the mall closed at 5pm. On the weekends, closing time was even earlier...with them shutting the doors at 3pm. Now, maybe it's just me, but that's downright stupid. Dan working at nights made it even harder. Coming home at 7am, he would wake me with Starbuck's Coffee each morning, eat breakfast with me, and then go lay down and sleep until 4pm. It was then a mad scramble to figure out dinners or shopping needs in the hour we had until things that hadn't ALREADY closed DID. Should I want milk after 5pm, I had to drive out into the outskirts. There was even a sub shop across the street that took this to even harsher levels. They may have said they closed at 5pm, but I assure you...they lied. They closed when they ran out of bread. No ordering more. No stocking up in advance. They just decided that when the bread was gone...so were they.
At this time, I was having a full Crohn's Disease flare-up...and was seldom able to get out of the loft for long. 4th Street wasn't too hard...and on good days, I'd be able to head out to dinner with Dan. However, I was so sick much of the time that my doing the shopping before things closed was seldom possible...leaving Dan to have to scramble for us both. It was not ideal in the least...particularly in winter. Had it been almost ANY other place in the United States, it wouldn't have been an issue. Even in Mt. Vernon, IL...a town of fewer than 10,000...there is a 24-hour grocery store and CVS.
We aren't certain WHY Cleveland operates this way...although several reasons were explained to us. None of them, by the way, made sense. Least of all was the explanation that a local politician believed that if things should close by 5pm, it would in effect "force" families to be home together in the evenings...thus enforcing stronger family values. That all sounds perfectly lovely until you also realize that as the CVS was locking down their doors, the "Porn Van" was driving down Euclid to pick anyone who wanted up...and drive them out to strip clubs before later dropping them back off. So much for family values. Maybe Mr. Smith DID get out of work at 5pm. He may have wanted to buy his children dinner or his wife flowers...but no. He had 2 choices. Go home empty-handed or hop on the "Porn Van" and tuck those family values into some panties. I won't pretend this makes sense to me.
Cleveland did lend itself to quite a bit of strange types of experiences...but those will wait for other days and other blogs. Now living in South Dakota, I rest comfortable in the knowledge that I can go shopping at 3am...and there has never been an issue. For all those in Cleveland who are reading this...it's 3:30 Eastern "Cleveland Time" right now...better snap up those last few hours you have!!!
At this time, I was having a full Crohn's Disease flare-up...and was seldom able to get out of the loft for long. 4th Street wasn't too hard...and on good days, I'd be able to head out to dinner with Dan. However, I was so sick much of the time that my doing the shopping before things closed was seldom possible...leaving Dan to have to scramble for us both. It was not ideal in the least...particularly in winter. Had it been almost ANY other place in the United States, it wouldn't have been an issue. Even in Mt. Vernon, IL...a town of fewer than 10,000...there is a 24-hour grocery store and CVS.
We aren't certain WHY Cleveland operates this way...although several reasons were explained to us. None of them, by the way, made sense. Least of all was the explanation that a local politician believed that if things should close by 5pm, it would in effect "force" families to be home together in the evenings...thus enforcing stronger family values. That all sounds perfectly lovely until you also realize that as the CVS was locking down their doors, the "Porn Van" was driving down Euclid to pick anyone who wanted up...and drive them out to strip clubs before later dropping them back off. So much for family values. Maybe Mr. Smith DID get out of work at 5pm. He may have wanted to buy his children dinner or his wife flowers...but no. He had 2 choices. Go home empty-handed or hop on the "Porn Van" and tuck those family values into some panties. I won't pretend this makes sense to me.
Cleveland did lend itself to quite a bit of strange types of experiences...but those will wait for other days and other blogs. Now living in South Dakota, I rest comfortable in the knowledge that I can go shopping at 3am...and there has never been an issue. For all those in Cleveland who are reading this...it's 3:30 Eastern "Cleveland Time" right now...better snap up those last few hours you have!!!
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