This Is Framingham

I don’t know why but the words “yes no stop go” always come into my head when I go through the rotary downtown.  It doesn’t make much sense but sometimes neither does the way people drive at this intersection.
It’s the law that drivers in the rotary have the right of way but so many times I will be in the rotary and someone will just sail though coming from Union or Concord St. and I’ll have to stop for them OR I will be waiting to enter the rotary (with smoothly flowing traffic, not gridlock) and someone already in it will stop and motion for me to go which stops traffic behind them.  While I appreciate the gesture (I really do), I hate to condone stopping the flow of the rotary traffic when it’s not necessary.
Then there is the driver who I call “the plug”, they get into the rotary just enough to block the flow of traffic even though they see two exits in is backed up.  People who would be exiting one opening to their right now get to watch them talking on their phone or just ignoring the fact they’re stopping people from getting out.  I know there are those who really didn’t know they were going to that but there are others who just want to secure their spot and pull up when they shouldn’t.

BUT, I kind of like how the rotary looks.  It’s lightly landscaped, compliments the greenery outside the Memorial building and in theory, I think it’s a nice alternative to traffic lights which, as seen at Concord and Lincoln, can be just as frustrating.

Last year I threw a baby shower for my little sister at my house and thought getting an Edible Arrangement would be nice.  We get these at my work every now and then and the fruit is usually good quality so I thought it would be nice to have something pretty and healthy with the desserts.We picked it up about 30 minutes before the shower and put it in the fridge.  When we brought it out for dessert people thought it was adorable and while my sister was opening her gifts people sat around and ate their dessert. My other sister, Elaine, and I noticed that melon was really crunchy and tasteless.  We saw people took one or two bites of fruit and just left it on their plates.It was towards the end of the shower and Edible Arrangements had alreday closed for the day (the close at 3pm on Saturday) so we called the next day.  Sometimes I let things like this slide but these things aren’t cheap and for $62 we wanted people to enjoy it.  So we were hoping to at least get a partial refund and kept what was left of the arrangement so we could bring it in if they wanted “proof” the fruit wasn’t good.Elaine offered to call and explained to them how we got an arrangement for a baby shower and about the fruit not being ripe enough to eat and the person said she was sorry and left it at that.  Elaine then asked if we could get a refund or partial refund and she said she’d have to ask the manager and would call her back.We got a call back saying all they could do was bring us another arrangement but we’d have to get it that day and to the same address. Elaine explained it didn’t make any sense because the baby shower was the day before and no one was even going to be home where we had the shower today.Since they would not give a refund and did offer a replacement she asked if she could just get a credit for another time and the person said no, they can’t do that.  So she asked why, if they were willing to replace it, does it matter when they replace it.  She was told she (the EA person) would have to speak to the manager and would have to call her back.  Elaine asked to just talk to the manager but apparently he/she was on the other line.The manager calls back this time and after a few minutes of convincing, the manager agrees to Elaine’s request and sends a letter to my house saying sorry the fruit wasn’t good and I will be given a $50 (not $62) credit just mention this number when ordering.A month goes by and I decide, since I was having Thanksgiving at my house, I’ll use the credit for that day.I called to order it and gave them the code on my letter and was told it was invalid and then silence. I said I have it right here on a letter from the manager.  The person asked me for my name and told me she’d call me back. I got a call back saying the code still was coming up invalid and I said “Well, I can come down and show you the letter if you want” and she said “No, I have a copy of the letter right here in front of me, that’s not the problem” and I asked what the problem was and she said the code was invalid for some reason (apparently this was my problem).  I asked to talk to the manager who was again on the other line and would have to call me back.  She called back a while later and said she would fix it and took my order.So it wasn’t a total nightmare but the whole situation was something that should have taken one phone call to fix in the first place.  The Thanksgiving arrangement was just ok, not as bad as the time before but it just wasn’t as flavorful as when I tasted them at work.They’re just “eh” to me.

Someone wrote to me a few days ago and asked me if I ever found out about what’s going on with the old Woolthworth’s.
I just happened to notice something different the other day there (paper coming off the windows and lights on) but didn’t get to stop so as I was driving through downtown this morning I stopped to take a look.

I noticed cubicles, which aren’t a good sign, and then saw a note on the door that read something like Seagate financial office are located at some other address and to call some number for information.  So between that and the cubicles it looks like it’s going to be another office space.
I am so dissapointed.  I’m sure the people at Seagate Financial are nice people and everything but I was really hoping for the space to be used for retail purposes, downtown needs it.  I had such high hopes for this space since it was vacant for so long. ??? ???? ???????   What a waste of great retail space. ??? ???????

On a good not I did see gas for $2.77 on the way home, it’s on Union Ave by Sullivan Tires if anyone is interested.

See this cartport and carts? It’s outside the Whole Foods on route 9.  There used to be a bike rack here that I would use to lock up my bike. Now I just squeeze it in wherever there’s room out front, like between the bench and the plastic bag recycle or that and the seasonal outdoor items while trying  to keep it out of the way of pedestrian traffic.

I’m not sure why they’d get rid of a small area for people to park their bikes.
The obvious answer would be that no one rides their bikes and they needed to make that area available for carts but I would often see other bikes parked there, so people used it. 

It seems like such an environment friendly store would keep an area to park bikes.  Maybe they figured you will buy more if you don’t have to worry about fitting your purchases into your backpack.

I don’t know, it not a big deal but you’d think they’d want to make it more accommodating for bikes since the parking lot gets so packed sometimes you can’t even find a spot (which has actually happened). 

I just saw this article from the MWDN.  Incase it gets archived, Here is it is:

Man reported exposing himself at beach
By Norman Miller/ Daily News Staff
Tuesday, August 8, 2006 FRAMINGHAM — Police say that beachgoers Saturday waited for 40 minutes before calling 911 about a man who tried to touch young girls at Learned Pond and fondled himself on the beach.”A 40-minute time frame is far too long,” said police spokesman Lt. Paul Shastany. “As soon as anyone sees anyone doing anything suspicious, call the police. Don’t assume someone else will do it. Police arrested Romany Mikhail, 19, at 12:39 p. ????? ???? 2022 m. as he rode his bike away from the beach, but Shastany said people should have called police immediately. “This guy was a crime waiting to happen, and he belonged in our Police Department cell,” Shastany said.Shortly after 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Officer Owen Babineau was dispatched to the beach, Shastany said.There, the head lifeguard and several other people said they saw a man, later identified as Mikhail, arrive on his bicycle. When he got off the bike, they noticed he was fully aroused as he jumped into the lake.
“They noticed he would continually go near a little girl as he swam,” Shastany said.When Mikhail of 72 Hartford St. got out of the water, people said they saw him trying to sneak up behind teenage girls and touch their backs, Shastany said.

I wanted to like this place, and I guess it’s ok but they don’t really have anything I want. Just cookies that look old and what looks to be an interesting deli counter although I’m not a big deli person.  I did get some lox there once, which was really good but is randomly available, When I asked them if they had whitefish salad the lady behind the counter didn’t know what I was talking about.  They also have beer and vodka and chocolate and a bunch of other stuff.

They don’t acknowledge you or seem to want you in there if you don’t speak Russian got the Skazka out of there.  I’ve actually stood in front of the door pondering if I should go in there again but so far I haven’t made it back inside.

I really appreciate Framingham putting these pleasant directory signs around town.  These are good-looking signs that make it known there are town services to walk to and how many minutes it takes to get to them.  Anything that promotes pedestrian activity in downtown is great.
But I’m not sure why SMOC gets it’s own directional pointy hand. It is most likely not an attractive destination for people unfamiliar enough with downtown to need the assistance of the sign. mectizan 3mg tablets  If you need SMOC’s services, you should already know where it is. ivermectin pregnancy category  
I have mixed feelings about SMOC. While I support their mission, I’m not a fan of how they have most of their properties in Framingham while letting other south middlesex (the SM in SMOC) towns off easy and among other things, contributing to Framingham’s sometimes seedy reputation.  A site that better explains it is stepps.info.
I don’t have especially strong feelings about the sign.  People will either not know what it is or just not go to it, but it does strike me as odd to advertise SMOC. ivermectina micose