The annual Downtown Christmas parade happens this Saturday at 4 PM on Beale Street. All the usual stuff – floats, marching bands, scooters, people throwing candy, and of course, Santa. Always a good time. I plan on getting there about 3, getting a Call-a-Cab to go from Wet Willie’s, and then staking out my spot. Usually I stand somewhere in the vicinity of the Black Diamond. This year I’ve been tasked with taking pictures of people I know in the parade, so I won’t be fighting for candy and beads as much as usual.
In other Downtown news… I heard from one of my blog readers that Big Foot Lodge is now selling 34 oz. mixed drinks for $10. STIFF drinks like Long Island teas. I need to go investigate this for myself, but since I have an AM conference call this morning I knew better than to go into Big Foot last night.
I’ve heard that two bums were arrested over the weekend for running parking lot scams near Main and Beale. Glad to see the cops are starting to clean that up. Two down, many more to go. There are at least 5 or 6 regulars who are down there every day illegally charging for parking. Premier Parking at Main and Beale continues to be the biggest problem, because some of the attendants let the panhandlers help out, which gives them a sense of legitimacy.
More bum info… I walked past Walgreens a few times yesterday. The first two times, the same crew that is ALWAYS hanging out there was in their usual spot, begging passersby. The third time I walked by, there were two cop cars outside and the Walgreens manager was talking to the police. Good job. The Walgreens people have been participating on the Handling-Panhandling list and are being a lot more proactive in their attempts to eliminate panhandling in front of their store.
A little birdie told me that Dos Equis Special Lager will be the $2.75 Fire Sale at the Saucer today. Oh YEAHHH. I think I may hand the team captainship/power of the pen over to one of the other trivia team members for the evening so I can focus on beer. Let’s see… if I get there at 5 and the Saucer closes at 1, that gives me 8 hours. Plenty of time. Of course, with my luck they’ll probably run out and switch the Fire Sale to Turbo Dog.
According to the Weather Channel, today the high will be 77 and the low 59. Guess I’ll be wearing shorts tonight then. Maybe I’ll even put on a Hawaiian shirt. In December.
Time for work.