PLATFORM : A New Year’s Grinch

The other day, as I was making a hurried purchase in a stationery store, a voice behind me said, “I hate that stupid parade.” The experience got me thinking. I’d always kept my aversion to New Year’s, Pasadena-style, fairly secret. But maybe there are more Tournament of Roses Grinches out there.

Well, now we can let out a big sign of relief that we can go to the gas station again. Sure, there’s trash around, port-a-pottys still line the streets and chain-link fences show up in unexpected places. At least all those “friends” we haven’t heard from in umpity years have finally left.

Those of us who have watched many years’ worth of parades know that the parade theme may change from “Arctic Adventure” to “Jungle Joy” to “Space Shenanigans,” but the floats stay exactly the same: a jungle temple scene with a Buddha statue in front, a float with a couple of biplanes on it, one with rosy-faced little kids playing, the requisite dinosaur and the boat float. Boring!

I’m going back to my Grinchy cave and revel in the fact that there are 51 more weeks before the next Tournament of Torture.