Sunday, May 18, 2014

A Fair Weekend and a World’s Fair

Turns out those Friday afternoon storms that caused the blackout/power outage lasted for about 3 hours tying up traffic, causing bad drivers to show their lack of driving abilities (as well as their bad tempers) and shutting down businesses on a 3-mile stretch of busy commercial real estate. 

As mentioned in the earlier post, the city of Rehoboth wasn’t affected, which (thankfully) is usually the case. The rains however, didn’t let up until late evening. Leaving us with a very quiet and peaceful night. 

Yesterday dawned with blue skies and mild winds and I got out to run a few errands.  Even went down to the beach, grabbed an iced coffee and sat on a bench by the ocean for a while before taking a walk on the boardwalk, and heading back home.  The fresh air was good for the soul and body.

The town is packed with people for the weekend and the weather is supposed to be lovely, in the 70s throughout. I want to get the shopping done early this morning before anyone begins to stir or get on the roads.  Also early enough that I can enjoy another iced coffee on the boardwalk before the hordes finish breakfast/brunch. 

Sounds like a good plan to me. The 2 units of blood seem to have boosted my energy level this weekend. Still not sleeping much, (the Benadryl only offers a few hours at best) but I’m not falling all over myself in a stupor, either. 

This is a new book I’m currently reading and since I worked at the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair it’s a eye-opening look at the overall picture of what NYC - and the world - was like during the years from 1960 through 1967 and how the events of the time played a big role in the failure of the Fair. Yes, Robert Moses was the biggest problem, but the entire country played a huge part in the changing attitudes of the times, mocking the message and theme of the World’s Fair both years. “Peace Through Understanding” was hardly a realistic outcry of the times. 

I’m little more than 60% through and it’s a good read. Anyway, it brings back memories and forces me to think of where I was while the world changing events were taking place all around me. I remember many of the incidents sited in the book only vaguely since I worked 6 - 7 days a week for the 2 years of the exhibition, spending the other hours either under ground on the subways to and from work, or at home, pretty much sleeping as much as possible. 

The fact that I would become part of the social unrest and the anti-war movement less than 2 years later, the gay rights movement 3 years later, makes me chuckle today.

That said, I made lots of money and had a great time. The Fair was a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I will never forget. I wouldn’t have missed it for anything.  The book is giving me an overall view of what I was only slightly aware of all those years ago.


And so it goes.
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5 comments:

  1. ooooooooh, now THERE'S a blog post! world's fair into war protests into gay rights protests. I would love to read about your early days.

    happy you were able to sniff the ocean and get out into the sunshine; good for body AND spirit.

    ReplyDelete
  2. It's good to make lots of money and to have a great time!
    I think the Fair was an amazing experience and I hope you can go to others this way!
    And books can help us to have a lot of views we can't have without it...

    Hugs

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  3. Pardon me, but aren't you a little too young to have worked at a World's Fair 50 years ago? Or do you not look your age?

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  4. You don't seem old enough to have worked that World's Fair. What was the employable age for employees in New York at the time? If you are old enough, you sure don't look it.

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  5. I worked at the Sudan Pavilion right next door and I have grandkids. How old were you to be able to work there legally?

    ReplyDelete

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