“Remoted” – Day 530 (Saturday)

Real estate. 

Around 8:15 this morning I headed over to Boarding House Park to stake out real estate for the show at 7:30 pm. There were already many blankets and chairs set out, but the blanket was planted and a spot secured for myself and two friends for the Richard Thompson show. It was behind one of several roped off spots and on a higher level of the park. There were roped off areas for VIP seating and handicap access, so I knew to not go inside the ropes. 

Then, it was off to the oral surgeon for a 9:00 consultation for the tooth that broke in February 2020 and has already undergone a year and a half of issues. The dental office website provided a street address, which seemed straightforward and was used to navigate via Waze. I imagined it would be like my doctor’s office, on a clearly defined street, in a building marked with a number and perhaps a sign with the name of the practice. 

Instead, the directions took me onto a campus of Lowell General Hospital where all the buildings were plastered with the names of donors and benefactors and none (except one) had numbers. The only building with an address on it was 2 Hospital Drive, which was not my destination. I saw two guys who seemed to work at the hospital and asked them which building was 33 Bartlett for the oral surgeon. It was the building closest to 2 Hospital Drive which was labeled with somebody’s name and which I had driven past three times. Nowhere on the building was there an indication of the practices inside. Nowhere on the practice’s website information did it mention any helpful nuggets like being on the hospital campus inside a named building or across the street from the Emergency Center. Thank goodness I got there really early.

Seen at the
sound board.

As for the appointment, it was a ten-minute visit which will likely cost me $60 in co-pay fees and is the first step is a series of steps over the space of the next ten months. At least I will know where the office is located in October when I go back. 

Late in the afternoon, my friends and I headed downtown. We dropped the rest of our chairs in the park before heading to dinner. That is when we discovered that the great spot found in the morning was actually behind two canopies and the sound board. We could still see the stage, so we didn’t try to relocate. Once the show began, we also had a view of partial butt crack on one of the sound guys, which made the decision to not relocate seem less wise but more amusing.

It was a nice night, as in not too hot and humid, but it was also cloudy. It sprinkled a little when we were eating on the restaurant patio. Luckily, the skies stayed dry for the show. Richard Thompson was great. The man can play guitar, and it felt so good to be out at a show with friends. It was the perfect finale to the day.