My Life in Montclair

Our New Town

Our new town is living up to its well-known reputation. I know that the wide variety of restaurants is quite something. Cuban Pete’s Restaurant and Tapas is very popular. It’s right on the main street, Bloomfield. Cuban Pete’s has a mix of Cuban dishes, including Chuletas Asado, Plantain, and Empanadas. Their dishes are always amazing; we’ve ordered from them twice already.

Nkiru, Beth’s daughter who is 23, is still with us now, although she is promising a job and a new place in a few weeks! She has ordered food for us, including from the Indian restaurant.

We have also ordered food from a Thai place in the next town over. We’ve even been somewhere for lunch nearby, though I can’t remember the name!

Another restaurant just a little ways away is Java Love, near our “new” Unitarian Church. It serves excellent coffee and scones, as well as a variety of dishes for lunch. I went to Java Love last week for coffee with Maggie Wells, a new member from the Circle of Women. We gathered nearly 4 weeks ago, and will meet on Friday. This time our meeting is at Maryann’s house, very nearby, but I’ll ask for a ride with Maggie.

I’m going to Anytime Fitness for exercise, and to two nail places. I wish I could figure out the parking! I know there is a place on Fullerton Avenue, and another on N. Willow, one just north and one south of the main street. And another somewhere else. But I still have to figure these out!

I do have an appointment at Beltone (Hearing aids!) for Sept. 20. The directions say it is also on Glen Ridge Avenue, in the same building as a chiropractor. I don’t think I need hearing aids now, but to be safe, I’ll have the appointment. I also have an appointment with an ophthalmologist for later in the month.

Meanwhile, I’m learning about other exciting places. The Parlor is a hairdressing salon. I have an appointment on September 15. That seems like a long time to wait. So I called today and got an appointment for tomorrow! (Back in Norwalk, Connecticut, I would usually call my hairdresser Tamama on a Thursday or Friday and could get an appointment on Saturday.)

Kelvin has just announced that he has the remote for the garage! I’m so excited!

As soon as he gets boxes moved out, he or Beth or Nkiru have two cars that can enter the garage. Or maybe I will try the garage for my regular charging with the household charger.

I know that Kelvin has a long list of things to do, and the garage is just one of many. Today the ADT person is here fitting the switches all over the house and making them all work well. Tomorrow the person from the town education committee is coming to see Ikem, who is 9. He is autistic and needs help in school. I do hope the person who is coming can give him the help he needs so he can attend school and benefit from it.

Racism Revisited

I haven’t written about racism recently.

This story came from my daughter who was in Switzerland for nearly the whole week. Beth wanted to leave her hotel at 4:30 am this Saturday. She ordered a cab for 4:30, and saw it going away at 4:32! She wonders if it was her cab that was leaving. She does recognize that cabs don’t like the spot very well because the drive to the airport is not far.

But she went to where people were getting rides to the airport. There were several others going. She says, “If I were a cute blond, I’m sure I would have gotten a ride easily!” But she was in her sweats and not in a business suit, and she looks about 30! And she is Black.

She says now, “I should have offered to pay!” That way the others would have agreed to share a cab. Instead, they didn’t really listen to her and just got in their cabs by themselves.

She says perhaps they are not racist – they could have been just too busy. She thinks it may have been about the money and the fairness! Still, she ended up walking to the airport, including on a major road! She couldn’t wait for another cab which would have taken many, many minutes to get there.