There is a car "warsh" (the New Yorker in me still puts an "r" in the darndest places) on Manchester Street in Concord that has a sign proclaiming "It's not how you go down the road, it's how you look doing it". Every morning I pass it and think "and there is the problem with the world today", then find myself swerving to avoid the idiot talking, or worse, texting on their cell phone instead of driving or the owl craning their head around to check out the sweet bike that just tooled by. I am thankful that I have become an observant driver who has learned the value of watching what the other guy is doing as carefully as I watch what I am doing while driving. It doesn't always save me from an accident, like from the guy driving on Loudon Road who slammed into me full speed a few years back, but it has helped me avoid a whole lot of other accidents. I learned a long time ago about the value of watching the other guy.

Just when you think the Monitor editorial staff has come to their senses, reality hits you like foul ball at the baseball park.

I read the latest editorial: “A day to measure the health of democracy” in the Monitor and Ray Duckler’s opinion piece masquerading as a news piece: “In public, he hears whining”.

In the last year I’ve gotten reacquainted with Peterborough. The people here are so polite, you’d think it was in Canada. Walking down the sidewalk, if you so much as glance at the curb, traffic comes to a screeching halt in anticipation that you might want to cross the street. People smile at you in a way that in larger cities would make you suspicious. There's great food, interesting shops - no wonder folks insist it's a "good town to live in."

I first came to Peterborough in 1975. I was working at the newly opened Folkway Restaurant and Coffeehouse, which went on to become not only a local treasure, but a nationally renowned folk music club. The story of the Folkway (which closed in the mid 90's) is its own tale.