respublica

Navigating past Trader Joes

Here's the thing about the Brentwood Promenade. It's very popular, very crowded and the parking lot is a nightmare because the spaces are too small and too close together. They do this, I'm sure, to cram as many cars in as possible. However, the very worst is the driving lane in front of Trader Joes. It is very very close to the entrance and for some reason people who shop there think because they are on foot, can just zip out the door and into the the lane without even a glance at cars which are there.

I just do not understand how people can do this and it happens all the time. Out the door they come, right into traffic.

Here's what I saw the other day.

First all the traffic trying to leave the area.

The truck is right in front of the exit door.

Then comes this woman who looked neither right or left, just zipped across with no hesitation.

Neither did the other two people look. The original black truck is way ahead while I waited for these people to cross. I realize pedestrians have the right of way, but too often they appear suddenly when cars are already moving past the store.

 

Coming soon, an old favorite

According to the latest Feast Magazine, Del Pietro's will soon be occupying the space which housed the former Harvest restaurant on Big Bend. This place shares a building with Hank's Cheesecakes. Michael Del Pietro, son of the longtime St. Louis restaurant owner, will revive his family's longtime Italian favorites.

The original Del Pietro was on Hampton for 35 years until it closed in 2011. Michael's father ran the place until his death when his mother took over until she was unable to continue. Michael on the other hand, owns several well known restaurants including Sugo’s Spaghetteria, Baggo’s Spaghetteria, Tavolo V and Via Vino Enoteca. He now wants to bring it back in honor of my father and mother who built up a great business.

I'd say this is a welcome addition to our local neighborhood.

 

Reformation Walk

Our church put on a Reformation Walk yesterday afternoon, Reformation Sunday, and it was so well done. Lots of people began the walk with a light lunch in the church basement and then were put in numbered groups to go from one area to another. Each tent had a spokesman talking about one aspect of the reformation or another as well as tents with music playing Luther hymns and food from old Germany. That food was pretzels. Plus a Kruta bakery cake. All in all a unique day.

The church basement was filled for the lunch, and it was the warmest spot.

Martin and Katie Luther showed up.

It began at the welcome gate

Our 3 seminary field workers each had a booth. One was Luther, another Tetzel and the third Prince Frederick the Wise of Saxony.

Pretzel making

There were games

And displays of, sort of, medieval printing and music.

3 of our grandsons came

All in all a very well done, interesting and fun way to ring in the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.

Meal delivery is now a big thing

All of a sudden many start up businesses are in the business of delivering local restaurant food to your door. It has long been done with pizzas, but now you can order delivery from almost any place in any town. It isn't the restaurants which do this, but a secondary delivery company.

For instance, in Clayton it's Door Dash (Delightful Delivery). There is an app which lists all the local restaurants in the area which have signed on. You order through the app and sometime later your food is there. This certainly beats settling for pizza every time you want delivery dinner. This is a service available in many places and we can get food from not only Clayton but any of the neighboring towns.

Collinsville now has To Go which makes available 30 Metro East places and more added each week.

And now it looks as though Uber is getting into the home food delivery service in St. Louis.

There must be a huge market for this type of business.

A way to use that candy corn

It surprised me to learn there are people who make corn on the cob with candy corn. I can't imagine how long this must take, but they turn out very cute. It seems most people who do this, and it turns out there are quite a few, use cookie dough as the center cob. Someone else used a banana.

Certainly a banana would be easier than making cookie dough, but the banana doesn't look quite as realistic.

 

Some weeks are like....

Highway clutter

As if mattresses and ladders on St. Louis highways wasn't enough, this morning there was a report of a washing machine stopping traffic somewhere.

And on the subject of washing machines, there's the weird story out of SIU Carbondale. Some student has been pooping in dorm washing machines which had clothes in them. Halloween prank or just a nutcase.

End of the week update:

Mattresses 143

Ladders 121

 

Even bushes speak

A Halloween prank from New Jersey:

"Teens dressed as bushes face arrest over Halloween prank"

Several teenagers dressed up as bushes and surprised people in a New Jersey park. Two of the high school students cover camouflage suits with brush while a third acts as lookout. They stand in Rahway River Park and say “hi” to unsuspecting visitors. They thought this was a fun way to make people smile. And they did make at some people smile.

This is a whole lot more benign than the  5 Michigan teenagers who may be facing life in prison for throwing all kinds of things off a highway overpass, one of which was a 6 pound rock which went through a driver's windshield and killed him. Besides rocks they also tossed a tire, chair, shopping cart and other things.

 

Really behind the times

I'll admit my interest in pop culture has waned to almost nothing in recent years. There will be some famous person touted on a news program or commercial and I look at Dale and ask, "Have you ever heard of him or her?" And he'll almost always say, "nope."

I sort of felt bad about my disinterest in movie stars and singers this week when the big news was that Katy Perry, in St. Louis for a concert, crashed a wedding reception and danced with the bride. She then made her way to Ted Drewes and caused a thrill among customers and employees.

I wouldn't know Katy Perry if she walked up to me. That's how far down the culture I've fallen. Then this morning a local story announced that Maroon 5 will be coming to the Scott Trade Center next year. Wow. I have never ever heard of them.

I must be the most out of touch and boring person around.

Back angle parking

I saw this online this morning and it occurred to me that I have begun to see a lot of this.

It's called back angle parking where you must back into a parking spot. I've seen this for some time on Dale Avenue and a few other places. I've often wondered just how hard it must be to stop and back up into the lines when other cars have to stop and wait. Certainly it would be easier to leave a spot like this and maybe that's why these spaces are popping up all over the area.

According to the St. Louis Traffic commissioner, more than 500 of these back angle spots have been put in recently. Here are a few reasons why St. Louis is going more and more with this.

"It's less dangerous to back into a space than to back out of it — other drivers see you positioned there in the road backing in and are less likely to hit you than someone backing their way out of a spot. It's also safer for children getting of the car, since car doors open at an angle that keeps them from the traffic rather than pushing them into it, as with front-in angles.

And finally, it's better for loading and unloading. If you're getting things out of your trunk, you're able to stand safely on the sidewalk, not out there on the edge of the street where you might clipped."

Also, more cars can be parked on city streets in this manner than with the traditional parallel parking method. I wonder how long it will be before downtown Clayton joins in this street parking practice.