Due to some odd family circumstances this Fourth of July – namely that my son is terrified of fireworks in any form, and that my daughter was having some Issues with her Attitude – we did not attend the Celebration of Explosives as a family. Since I was free of the child who cannot handle loud noises, I decided to try to move in closer and to see if I could not get some good photos. There are two fireworks shows left in the South Bay and one of them was in the middle of the city north of us surrounded by trees, buildings and other things to get in my way, not to mention parking problems for blocks away. The other one was, of course, the Eastlake show I have previously ranted about. I will not pretend my rebellious self was not intrigued at the possibly of “showing them” by watching their damn show anyway. Take THAT, Eastlake.
So the girl child and I headed out and wound up alongside a road on the edge of a canyon with a good view of where the fireworks would be. We had a lovely view of the prison, actually. You would think such proximity would bring those Eastlakers down a notch, but you would, apparently, be wrong.
We were technically parked in a bike lane, but so were about 400 other people so I figured we’d be safe from parking tickets. You can see where this is going, can’t you? Well, you are wrong! The worst that happened – and, granted, it was irritating – was that a cop drove by approximately 5 minutes before showtime shouting at us all to move.
So we quickly hopped in the car and drove closer to the spot in hopes of finding some place where there wasn’t a damn bike lane (impossible – as it turns out, Eastlake is 112% bike lanes) and I somehow found myself turning into a condo complex (because what’s more illegal than a bike lane? tresspassing!) where, to my delight I discovered myself a largely empty parking lot right under the fireworks! WIN!
The moral of the story is that Eastlake is right: we are ghetto. And we are not ashamed of it. We will sneak right in to your damned exclusive shows, and we will park in your bike lanes, and we will ENJOY YOUR FIREWORKS. And there is not a damn thing you can do about it!
I hope you had a great fourth as well!
