Cassi Creek:
Yesterday we traveled to Asheville.
Since our travel took place in the afternoon and evening, we had great
views during the early afternoon and magnificent moonlit views on the homeward
leg.
We decided to
eat dinner at Tupelo Honey in downtown Asheville. The food was everything advertised, worthy of
returning. As it was Friday evening, the
wait to be seated was quoted as 20-30 minutes but actually timed out somewhat
longer at about 45 minutes. That left us
plenty of time to watch people. The
Patton area seems to be a major gathering site for all manner of people from
the ultra-straight to the freaks and geeks.
There is a
drum circle that seemed to grow larger as more participants arrived. The echo off surrounding buildings was out of
phase with the active drumbeats, so the whole thing sounded ragged and
fragmented for about the first 45 minutes.
The overall noise level was increased by buses, emergency vehicle
sirens, a steady flow of automobile traffic, and the endless muttering
undertones of hundreds of cell phone conversant passing by.
What I found
most disconcerting was the assumption by parents that other people are eager to
experience their children in those places where children are out of place. I speak of concerts, lectures, movies,
restaurants, and busy sidewalks.
We were
waiting for our table on the sidewalk outside Tupelo Honey. So were other parities of various sizes. There is a bus stop at that location and the
sidewalk narrows somewhat. So a couple
with two children in a tandem stroller decided to block traffic into the restaurant,
a very narrow door and entryway, by parking their stroller there. They then released a 2-3 year old and
another child still crawling onto the
sidewalk. The infant was allowed to
crawl about and then placed upright and allowed to stagger about the sidewalk
full of people. The older child was
given a toy car, which he rolled about on the sidewalk as people tried to avoid
the car, and both kids. The longer the
wait, the more annoying the kids became.
At one point, I noticed that the older child was often beneath and
beyond my field of peripheral vision.
The 2nd time the toy car was rolled between my feet; I found
it hard to appear tolerant. Several
times this child’s behavior forced people to step off the sidewalk into the
street. Meanwhile, the infant stumbled about.
Anyone tripping over it would have sustained at least some superficial
injuries and the infant might well have sustained grave injuries. Unprotected skulls impacting concrete are
never a good thing.
There seems
to be a willingness to allow people to bring children to such locations and
then turn them loose, as if expecting others to become baby sitters. While I wouldn’t allow someone’s child to run
into traffic, neither would I excuse the child and its parents for being the
cause of someone else’s injuries. Hire a
sitter and leave the kid home or stay home yourself. I’m not willing to put up with your children
behaving as if they were at home.
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