Thanks GNV

It was a perfect Thanksgiving morning. Clear, sunny, chilly and…well…pretty much running a people deficit. Just the sort of day you might choose to take a solo ride around GNV. To remind yourself why you love this town.

The students are gone. The campus is empty. But the stadium is already dressed up and ready for that last game of the season.

Oh sure, we can all reflect on past glories. On what once was and what might someday be.

But this is what we have right now. It has come to this: Two underperforming teams, rivals nonetheless, fighting for not very much more than the pride of it all.

Meanwhile, just across the street, they are already gearing up for a basketball season that, at this moment in time, holds the promise of Gator glory to come. So there is that.

Wouldn’t it be great if, in this day and in this age, we didn’t have to post pubic notices warning that intolerable behavior won’t be tolerated? What’s wrong with us, anyway?

We interrupt this contemporary social commentary to remind one and all that the world is still beautiful…despite our concerted efforts to screw everything up.

Sometimes it is difficult to decide whether we are on the outside looking in…

Or the inside looking out.

Once, giants roamed this land. And who knows, their bones may rest still at the bottom of this campus marsh.

Listen, I’m not paranoid. But even with everybody at home getting ready to eat turkey, I swear I was being watched.

The 4th Avenue Food Park is calling out for carbon based life forms. Tomorrow maybe.

And Depot Park is all wired up in anticipation of New Year’s Eve. But not seeing much action on this Thanksgiving Day.

Finally, signs of intelligent life. The downtown Starbucks was open, so I stopped for a cup of tea.

Lebowski’s Pup Pub was an early casualty of Covid. But after nearly two year’s delay…during which the sunglassed dog murals gazed hopefully out at the passing traffic, LPP is finally prepped for its grand opening on Dec. 3. I’ll bark to that!

The old Dunbar House is also all dressed up and ready for the new year.

And what would a GNV Thanksgiving Day ride be without at least one pause on the banks of Hogtown Creek? There to reflect on life, the universe the Gators and everything.

I love this town.