Well I had an errand that took me across town, so I thought “why not pop ’round the pub.” I hadn’t been there since Christmastime, I think. And there was a space in the tiny parking lot, surely this was a sign it was meant to be on this day.

If nothing else, the flowers are much better than the ones they have at Christmas. (Although they do spend weeks putting up a bazillion lights).

This place is a genuine pub, imported from the destruction of some neighborhood London pub. Although, in all fairness, it has been in this spot for over 50 years and it has been preserved so far from its origin.

Decorations about the place include this ancient political cartoon. My favorite of the dancing slogans is “Peace and Mealy Potatoes” which is a suitable sentiment for almost any occasion (even today).

Of course the main reason that I stop in at this place is to add to my massive collection of embroidered bees that the pub employees fling at their customers. If one is a local, one can get the special bees that they have made up for various holidays. The pub had to close on St. Patrick’s Day, so there were lots of these bees left over. There was no Space Symposium or Independence Day bees this year, but hopefully (fingers crossed) I shall be able to collect still more special bees later this year. And enjoy a pint while I’m at it.

One tends to think of one’s own neighborhood as unchanging, as change is usually bad. But unless one owns the property in question, change is almost inevitable. So here is what’s happening nearby.

Here is the just opened gas station on the corner. Besides gasoline they also sell a wide variety of snacks, some of these snacks are even healthy for one, (but not too many).

This rather fuzzy picture is from Google maps, as I never thought to document this place. It had a hot tub store on the corner, a neighborhood bar, and a tax preparation place that was only open during tax season. I don’t know if hot tubs are still popular, bars are all currently closed, and tax season is over, so I guess it had to go.

This nearby thing is going to be a giant car wash, which I suppose will be handy for keeping one’s car tidy. (Often a hopeless cause).

Also from Google maps, is this fuzzy photo of a restaurant that stood empty on this site for many years. It was originally a restaurant that sold pies, then it was an Asian buffet, then it was nothing. Someone was going to open another Asian buffet on the site, but never got around to finishing it. So this beautiful empty space was razed. Such is the path of creative destruction, as the familiar is replaced with the next new thing.