Geoff here- last night was a VERY long police detail for me. I arrived at the police station at around 6:20 PM yesterday and arrived home this morning around 1:40 AM. In between was a virtually non-stop flood of cars and people. Everyone had a good time, and I even saw a few people I knew. But I am still wondering how so many people manage to get into such a relatively small space. I am just not that big a fan of crowds, I guess. There must have been half a million people all together. Still, it was not too bad, relatively speaking, as at least we did not have a lot of violence or troublemakers to worry about. There was some of that, but none anywhere near where I was, which was on Mass Ave., along the main route (at least in Cambridge) to and from the Mass Ave bridge and thus prime fireworks viewing area. I was with two regular Cambridge officers, but even with three of us we really had our hands full. So many people were not paying attention – drivers AND pedestrians. It really is a miracle no one was hurt.
I don’t get the people who have lived here for a good while and still haven’t figured out that the night of July 4th is a bad time to be anywhere near that part of the Charles River in your car. I mean, you expect tourists to not know, but people who have been around should know better. I could not believe how many people I had to tell “no, you CANNOT go on the bridge – it is blocked to all vehicle traffic”… and they wanted to argue about it. I don’t make the rules, I just have to enforce them. And how exactly do you expect to get on the bridge, even if I let you? You going to navigate through a crowd of several hundred thousand people, with lawn chairs and beach blankets, watching the show?
Still, the fireworks show was pretty spectacular. I could not hear any of the music from where I was, which is just as well because you just know they would play that Lee Greenwood song that I hate.
Anyway, back to the routine, which these days has been job hunting and house cleaning.
The Books are Taking Over... 