Do you remember Glenn Gould?
He was a piano player of some renown. He had a very marked eccentricity which was to be seated on a very low stool which, of necessity, forced him to reach his hands way up - at head level - to reach the keys.
I do the same when I am composing these words on my keyboard.
Actually, they have already been composed - in my head - so the keyboard work is really an exercise in downloading.
Of course, I'm kidding. In fact, I must be rather raised up so that I can dominate the keyboard in my masterful way.
Hey, just kidding . . .
I just wanted to get your attention.
Actually, I am sitting here in my sparse garret working steadily with my dip pen and wondering whatever became of that big Largo "super block" project on the southeast corner of U.S. 19 and East Bay/Roosevelt.
Remember?
There was all that controversy.
Would Boulder Venture balk at having Fred Thomas's pool supply business as a neighbor? How far would the city administration go in trying to block Thomas? Then the two companies reached an agreement.
Now nothing seems to be happening.
But plenty of happenings - or happenings to come - as cities, towns, hamlets and villages in Pinellas County rise up in wrathful dudgeon over the gall of the county trying to shove unpalatable ideas down their throats.
Like including stuff in a new proposed charter that would virtually strip the municipalities naked of strength and instead confer all power on the county.
One can see the pathway laid out for the future - that is, my friends, to make Pinellas County a model of Miami-Dade. That is why Dr. Spratt was brought here.
To forestall all that power grab potential imbedded in the proposed charter the cities and towns are putting together a legal team to fight, battle, grapple and gouge to see that the power grab does not happen.
For example, Largo just authorized its lawyer, Alan Zimmet, to be paid up to $30,000 for his efforts along these lines (some say it is a continuation of the Zimmet Enrichment Program).
Those who watch Largo doings closely are wondering if Gospodin Zimmet is going to get a similar stipend from Safety Harbor, another city which he serves as legal counsel.
And if his partner, Andy Salzman, who is Indian Rocks Beach's city lawyer, is in on the legal fight against the proposed county charter, the Zimmet law firm is going to prosper indeed.
And then there's the puzzlement of Largo's mayor, La Gerard, who groans that she is too busy to do some of the things mayors ordinarily do and moans about the late hours she must keep at times.
Which raises the question of why do so many of them fight like wildcats to gain elective office and then complain drippingly and tiresomely about what a burden it is for them to sit sometimes at length to carry out the public's business. Some ask to be excused when the hour grows late. (Really!)
Oh, there is no paucity of queries in this gallimaufry of questions - including, lo and behold - what seems to be taking place in Belleair Beach, that pleasant little hamlet by the Gulf.
From time to time, as the years roll by, the issue surfaces as to whether the town should keep its own police force (at considerable cost) or go, at great savings, to the Sheriff's Office for police services.
Now, it appears, that the men in blue themselves may sway that question. There is much unrest in the ranks (they don't get paid enough, they say, but then, who does, excepting Bill Gates?) and one hears that the chief himself is job hunting.
We await the answers as we now gird our loins for the dog days of August.