FROM THE 'SMALL WORLD' DEPARTMENT

 So the wife & I were at Rooms To Go buying a bed for our Grandson  for when he sleeps over; he’s decided he’s too big to sleep on a mattress on the floor. The lady at RTG was very helpful and chatty, and after we had completed the purchase she asked us where we from (almost everybody in Florida is from somewhere else).

We’re originally from Connecticut, and after telling her she said that she was from Milford CT, which is about 10 miles from where we lived. But the kicker was that her husband was a Jai Alai player who played at the Jai Alai fronton on Old Gate Lane in Milford…which was right next door to the Owens-Illinois plant where I worked!  Freaky!

 Especially since we’ve been here 26 years and she’d been here about 20 (we moved after the O-I plant closed down; they moved after the Jai Alai closed). Interestingly the location of the Jai Alai is now a Lowe’s and a Hilton Garden Inn. The O-I plant is still there as of now, deserted and looking the worse for wear as

you can see it on Google Maps. And looking at it today, part of the roof by the raw material storage tanks has collapsed, which was near to where the stockroom (which I ran) was located.

 What a great job I had, pretty much left alone to do my job, which included purchasing as well as supervising, not to mention going to Bobby Valentine’s Sports Bar for lunch, which was across the street. The place is still there, but not owned by Bobby Valentine any longer.

 Well, enough of traveling down Old Gate(memory)Lane for now, time to move along…