Pornographic Lingerie Is Not the Same as Dirty Laundry

Boy was I momentarily excited and now utterly crestfallen. I looked at the calendar and saw it was Victoria Day and figured today was the annual sale day at the shop that's launched a hundred billion thousand damp fantasies. Nope, happy birthday Her Royal Highness Queen Victoria and now I lost the deposit on the eighteen wheeler I was going to drive to the Mall to pick up my order. Considering the amount of material in most of those items of intimate apparel, I've never really understood the word 'secret' but I do appreciate why so many men believe in angels.

I'm still a little sore from trash pickup on Saturday but it was a lot easier to do with the great turnout we had for the first effort. Of course, one pickup does not a One City make so in the coming weeks when you hear murmurings and mutterings about the next clean-up, consider yourself invited and we'll see you out there. Maybe we can get name stencils for the bottoms of people's jeans so we know who's out there with us as that's what we'll mostly be seeing....maybe I don't have as many good ideas as I think I do. Maybe.

This afternoon at four, in the conference room at the Central Office of the Norwich Public Schools on 90 Town Street, it's a regular meeting of the Building and Space Committee. There will probably not be an update on the Endeavor Mission but I suspect the Kelly Middle School reconstruction will be front and center, but not here. And, I'm assured on good authority, at five there's a budget expenditure sub-committee meeting also in Central Office though it's not on the city's website nor on the Board's website.

At five, in the Latham Science Center on the campus of the Norwich Free Academy, it's a special meeting of the NFA Board of Trustees who are making personnel decisions in executive session.

At 5:30 in Room 210 of City Hall, it's a regular meeting of the Norwich Redevelopment Agency who are closing a chapter in their story while pursuing the next, and good luck to all on that.

Tuesday afternoon at 3:30 in the conference room of the Central Offices of the Norwich Public Schools. 90 Town Street, it's a regular meeting of the Board of Education Policy Committee. You should be able to learn more here; should being the operative word. Wish they'd adopt a policy to comply with Public Act 08-3 though, if they and all the other city agencies did, what (I wonder) might I find to write about? Cynic that I am, I need have no fear of that happening anytime soon.

At five, in Room 219 (the City Manager's office) of City Hall, there's a regular meeting of the Harbor Management Commission, whose last meeting was in March according to the minutes posted on the City's website, unless (and here's a surprise) it wasn't.

Wednesday afternoon at four thirty is a special meeting of the Board of Education in their Central Office conference room of their offices at 90 Town Street. You'll have to be there to know what the meeting is about as there's no agenda on the city's website nor anything close to current about anything on the Board's website (good job, though on the 2009 archives).

At five thirty in the basement conference room of the Planning Department, at 23 Union Street, is a regular meeting of the Dangerous Buildings Board of Review whose publicly accessible archive of meeting minutes, as posted on the municipal website, is notional at best (downhill, with a strong breeze at its back).

At six, the Recreation Advisory Board meets for what seems to be its first regular meeting of the calendar year in the Recreation Department Offices at Dickenman Field, across from the tennis courts.

At six thirty, in the Planning Department's conference room at 23 Union Street, it's a regular meeting of the 751 North Main Street Advisory Committee. And while I don't know what the meeting agenda looks like, I also claim no knowledge of anything vaguely approximating recent meeting minutes as posted on the city's website. Lather, rinse, repeat, Amen.

And at seven, in their conference room at the Golf Course on New London Turnpike, it's a regular meeting of the Golf Course Authority, whose April meeting minutes intrigue me for corrections requested for the March meeting minutes. I'm wondering if Hughes Mearns qualifies to be a member, our loss if he doesn't.

And Thursday morning at 7:30, in their offices at 77 Main Street it's a meeting of the Norwich Community Development Corporation. On the agenda is a presentation by Todd O’Donnell who is a partner in the Central Corridor Line Railroad on passenger rail in the Eastern Connecticut. You can drop Shelley a note at admin@askncdc.com to get on a mailing list for meeting minutes and agenda.

Don't forget Thursday night the Norwich Rotary Carnival starts (I know, you figured life was already enough of a circus around here; hold that thought). Norwich may be a small town but that don't mean we are small time, my brothers and sisters. "And the Ferris wheel turns and turns like it ain't ever gonna stop. And the circus boss leans over and whispers into the little boy's ear 'Hey, son, you want to try the big top? All aboard, Nebraska's our next stop.'"

-bill kenny