Category Archives: Westport life

Should This Woman Move To Westport?

Posted on April 9, 2012 | 140 Comments

You won’t believe the stuff that pops into my inbox.

The other day, a very cool-sounding woman emailed me. Long story short: She’s a native Californian who spent the last 7 years in Greenwich Village. She’s a freelance graphic designer, with a great portfolio.

Greenwich Village... (Photo/Loolie)

Now she, her husband and 2-year-old girl (who really has no say in the matter) are thinking of moving to the ‘burbs. They’re looking at a couple of places: Westport and Darien.

She searched the interwebs for “writers or passionate Westporters who could enlighten me on what to look forward to, or what I’ve been missing.”

Ta-da: “06880″!

I could talk all day about Westport: the good, the bad and the truly bizarre.

...or the village of Westport?

But she was looking for Westporters — plural — so let’s open it up to “06880″ readers. You guys never lack for opinions.

Just click “Comments,” and let the fun begin. Should this arts-oriented woman — and her husband and little kid — abandon New York City for Westport?

What will she find here? What will she love, or loathe? If you had it to do over again, would you?

And on and on.

Be truthful. Be real. But please, be fair.

→ 140 Comments

Posted in Arts, Children, People, Westport life

Tagged Greenwich Village

The Man In The Van

Posted on April 4, 2012 | 22 Comments

Yesterday, “06880″ burbled about the owner of Coffee An,’ who raced into the parking lot to give $2 back to a customer he’d inadvertently overcharged.

Today we present the flip side: Westporters behaving badly.

An “06880″ reader was driving down the narrow exit lane that runs in front of Pompanoosuc Mills and Angelina’s, on her way out of the Barnes & Noble parking lot.

She was leaving, that is, until she reached the cleaner’s. There, a large van was parked in the middle of the lane. Its emergency lights were flashing. Its driver was nowhere to be seen.

The woman tapped her horn. A man strolled to the door of the cleaner’s, then turned back to his conversation with the person behind the counter.

She tooted again. Again, he made no move to leave.

She honked a 3rd time. The man slowly walked out of the store, telling the woman: “Relax! Relax!”

She told him she was late for an appointment.

He replied, “You have no choice. If I don’t move, you can’t get out.”

Then he swaggered into the driver’s seat, and drove away.

Chances are, the man in the van is not an “06880″ reader. Yet he — like all of us — must look in the mirror every day.

Does he like the face that looks back? I have no idea.

But I know the owner of Coffee An’ does.

→ 22 Comments

Posted in Local business, Westport life

Tagged Angelina's, Barnes & Noble, Coffee An', Pompanoosuc Mills

Deer Me

Posted on March 26, 2012 | 7 Comments

One of my favorite blogs (besides “06880″) is Dreadful Drivers.

Not only does it chronicle every vehicular misdeed known to man (and you too, woman) — it does so with a Fairfield County sensibility. The blogger lives here.

(From the “About” page: “This blog is fueled by anger, bafflement, disbelief and, very occasionally, amusement at the antics of drivers in Fairfield County, Connecticut. I’m not a perfect driver. But at least I’m not dreadful.”)

Recently, Dreadful Drivers featured this photo:

Hey! That’s a Westport sign!

It’s on Green’s Farms Road — the end near Sherwood Island.

Look closely — that’s a rifle pointing toward the poor little leaping deer.

Far be it from me to advocate violence. Or defacing public signs.

On the other hand, if you’ve ever been involved in a “deer strike,” you know there’s something worse than dreadful drivers.

Dreaded deer.

→ 7 Comments

Posted in Places, Totally random, Westport life

Oops! (Heh Heh)

Posted on March 11, 2012 | 10 Comments

What would you or I think if we saw building plans for a new home with a 3-car garage, but no driveway?

Unbelievable oversight, right?

But here in Westport, architects and homeowners think differently.

They think: Gotcha!

Apparently, zoning regulations do not always require a driveway. And without a driveway, builders can gain hundreds of extra square feet of coverage.

Of course, no one builds a 3-car garage without planning to use it.

So the next step, after the home is built, is an appeal to the ZBA for a waiver. To build the driveway that was needed all along.

This is a true story. But now we’re on to the ruse.

Gotcha!

Dude, where's my driveway?!

→ 10 Comments

Posted in Real estate, Totally random, Westport life

Tagged Planning and Zoning Commission, Zoning Board of Appeals

A Good Westport Yarn

Posted on January 22, 2012 | 5 Comments

What happens in Westport doesn’t always stay in Westport.

Alert “06880″ reader Lisa Shufro sent these photos from downtown:

It’s not just Westport, though. If you Google “yarn bombs” — or check out BuzzFeed, as Lisa did — you’ll see it’s a global phenomenon. The Wall Street bull, city buses, a phone booth near Big Ben — all have been yarn bombed.

“I’m an avid knitter/crocheter, but unfortunately I can’t claim responsibility for these wonderful additions to Westport’s landscape,” Lisa says.

She’d love to know who is responsible — perhaps to trade tips, or simply congratulate her (or him) on a creative project.

As a public service, “06880″ will pass along any information on Westport’s yarn bomber. Anonymity — if requested — is assured.

→ 5 Comments

Posted in Downtown, People, Westport life

Tagged Lisa Shufro, Yarn bomber, yarn bombing

If You See Something, Say Something (Updates In Story)

Posted on January 8, 2012 | 11 Comments

Patti Brill is a dynamo — involved in tons of activities, mother of 4, one of the women who really make Westport go.

~~The other day~~ On Wednesday, January 4, between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m., she was at the library, working on a fundraising event for the Farmers’ Market.

When she went to her car in the upper lot, she was shocked to see that someone had smashed in the entire left side. “It’s substantial,” she says. “The entire back door must be replaced, and the left back tire rim is also damaged. I can’t imagine what it will cost to repair.”

(This just in: The estimate is $2,700.)

Far worse: There was no note.

“I can’t imagine what type of person does something like this,” she says.

“I’m also very surprised that no one saw or heard anything” — or at least left a note about what they’d seen.

Patti knows I’ve written before about bad drivers — and discourteous Westporters. This combines the worst element of both: those who cause damage (and then run away), and those who don’t want to get involved to help their neighbors.

She asked if I’d mention this incident in “06880.” I am, unfortunately, happy to.

But you can’t keep a good Patti down. Her email ended:

“On the bright side, it was another life lesson to discuss with my kids at the dinner table.”

→ 11 Comments

Posted in Library, People, Westport life

Tagged Patti Brill, Westport Library

I Hereby Resolve…

Posted on January 1, 2012 | 15 Comments

I swore I wasn’t going to post any New Year’s Resolutions.

Then again, it’s not nice to swear.

So, in the year ahead “06880″ will strive to:

Go easy on Westport drivers. They are, after all, Very Important People, with perfectly understandable reasons to hurtle through town at warp speed while conducting Very Important Conversations and sending Very Important Text Messages on their phones.
Refrain from making snide comments about certain builders and developers’ downtown decisions. Unless something really snark-inducing happens.
Hold my McMansion fire. People who live in condos shouldn’t throw stones.
Be excruciatingly polite to readers who demand that, because I have just done a post on (to choose a purely hypothetical example) a new business in town, I have to write about their competing business too.
Continue to seek out intriguing, dynamic, under-reported, fun, funny, heart-warming, heart-wrenching, offbeat, upbeat and generally cool story about Westport. And about Westporters, large and small.
Especially small.

PS: These are just resolutions. It’s not like anyone expects me to keep them, right?

An astonishingly beautiful addition to downtown. This fine example of a variety of uses of concrete will enable Westporters of all ages to lounge comfortably, enjoying a brief respite amid their shopping excursions.

→ 15 Comments

Posted in Totally random, Westport life

Tagged New Year's 2012

Just Another Way To Say It

Posted on December 24, 2011 | 23 Comments

With all the good-feel-y stories we’ve posted lately — nice folks aiding neighbors and strangers; churches and synagogues rushing to help after a fire, blahblahblah — it’s time to turn our attention to another side of the holidays.

An alert but anonymous “06880″ reader describes an overheard conversation in a (fortunately) unnamed hair salon the other day: