Wednesday, 1/3

I wanna know what happened to the other shoe.

First of all, Happy New Year! Hope your extended weekend, no matter how long (or short) it was went well, and that you're ready to face 2024 head on. And remember—if you still write checks, you really DO need to write “2024” on them now, and NOT “2023”.

So good luck with that.

Sunday night, New Year's Eve, Loraine and I took a walk downtown to see the set-up for the big ball drop on Washington Street. Even at 830 that evening things were starting to hop, and based on pictures I saw from midnight 5,000 or so people gathering to ring in the New Year.

And based on the experiences I had with broadcasting from ball drops over the years, I'm guessing that 5 or 6 of them many actually have been sober.

Anyway, walking back home we walked past the station, which has a little retaining wall next to it. Sitting on that wall was a pair of shoes. I don't know how the pair of shoes got there or why they were left, but the shoes were there. I didn't think too much of it; after all, it's downtown Marquette and strange things happen all the time, so I totally forgot about it.

Then New Year's Day, the next morning, I went running, and when I cruised up the hill by the station I noticed only one of the shoes was still there. This one--

First of all, I have to say I'm impressed there was still a shoe lying there. After all, when you have 5,000 (excuse me, 4,995) drunk people around, items that aren't tied down oftentimes disappear. But that led me to my other question--

If you see a pair of shoes lying around, why would you just take one? I mean, unless you lost one of your own shoes in some kind of footwear accident, do you really have a need for a single shoe? Taking a pair...I can see that no problem. Taking a single shoe?

Not so much.

Unfortunately, this is one of those questions to which I'll probably never have an answer, as when I came downtown yesterday the other shoe was gone, as well. I have no idea if the original owner came back to get their missing footwear, only to find half of it gone, nor do I know if the person who absconded with the first shoe decided that they'd really liked the pair and came back for the second.

It's a question that'll never have an answer.

8-)

(jim@wmqt.com)