Pay as you throw

Updated on Wednesday, March 25, 2009 at 9:45AM by Will Stewart

If the thermostat ever rises above 68 degrees in the wintertime, it’s probably because we have company. Otherwise, the missus and I bundle up while we’re on the couch, and throw an extra quilt on the bed at night.

The reason, of course, is that natural gas is expensive and we pay for out own heat.

When I was a renter, however, I was fortunate in that my apartments included heat and hot water. Consequently I set the thermostat as high as I wanted to. I had absolutely no incentive not to. Indeed, I was already paying for heat in my rent, so I might as well use it to make myself as comfortable as possible.

And if I was not a proponent of reducing my impact on the environment, my logic would be similar with regard to trash disposal. For here in Manchester, I am not charged for how much trash I put at the curb every Monday. Whether I toss out one bag or eight, the cost to me is the same.

In fact, as trash pickup in Manchester is financed through property taxes, my wife and I, whose weekly trash amounts to about three-fourths of a 13-gallon bag, essentially subsidize trash disposal for our fellow residents whose weekly trash output would appear to be equal to or greater than that of an entire city block.

It should come as no surprise then that I am intrigued by a “pay as you throw” scheme floated last week at City Hall.

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Who says Manchester has no culinary diversity?

About a month ago I was eating lunch with a group of co-conspirators in a Vietnamese place in Dorchester, Mass. I was midway through an unbelievably hot bowl of pho when one of my dining companions uttered something that nearly caused me to drop my spoon.

“Manchester needs some ethnic restaurants,” she said.

Truth be told, this woman wasn’t the first person I’ve heard bemoaning the city dining scene’s alleged lack of diversity. But the more I hear it, the more it annoys me. Granted, Manchester is not Boston and it’s certainly not New York. So yes: it’s much easier to find a grinder in this town than it is some decent falafel. But for a city of 100,000-plus, I think we’re doing pretty well.

By my count, there are more than a dozen ethnic cuisines represented among the city’s eateries, from the Quebeqois cuisine served up at Chez Vachon to the excellent Nepali cuisine at Café Momo to the mouth-watering paneer shahi korma at India Palace, Manchester’s culinary offerings span the globe.

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A greener Manchester?

Boasting stores like Real Green Goods and Concord Cooperative Market, New Hampshire’s capital city would appear to be a fairly green city. Certainly greener than Manchester, I thought. But I was wrong.

According to a recent report from the state Department of Environmental Services, Concord’s recycling rate is a dismal 3.8 percent. Manchester, on the other hand, came in at 24.2 percent. The state average is 20.4 percent.

Who knew Manchester had a semi-green side?

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Breakin' the law

It would seem I'm a municipal law breaker, and a habitual one at that.

According to an article in this week's Manchester Express, as of late I have been breaking the law three times a week. So too have the two dozen or so folks with whom I have been training for the Manchester Half Marathon.

The broken law to which I refer specifically is Manchester ordinance 130.05, which forbids anyone from running or jogging on city streets "without wearing appropriately colored clothing, such as orange, so as to be clearly visible to motorists during daylight hours."

As you can imagine, I've been overcome with remorse since learning of my law breaking ways. But the worst part of it is, I didn't even get a rush while committing my crimes. Believe me when I say that engaging in illegal activity isn't nearly as exciting as I always imagined it would be.

Before you laugh, you might want to peruse our city's "general offenses" to make sure that you, too, are not a Queen City criminal.

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Hoagies and Grinders

Like most high school boys in the mid-1990s, I found Adam Sandler quite amusing. And while his characters like Canteen Boy and Happy Gilmore would always make me chuckle (and let’s face it, they still do), by far the funniest portion of Sandler’s repertoire was his songs.

I got a particular kick from “Lunch Lady Land,” as featured on the They’re All Gonna to Laugh You! album:

While amused by this song, I was somewhat confused by the “hoagies and grinders” reference in the refrain. I was familiar with the term “hoagie” as it was a favorite sandwich of Dr. Cliff Huxtable on “The Cosby Show,” but “grinders”? What the heck was a “grinder”?

Upon moving to Manchester — where Sandler grew up, as it turns out — I discovered that a “grinder” is simply another name for what I knew as a “sub” sandwich. I came to learn that folks in these parts have several names for this type of sandwich. Some even refer to it as an “Italian” sandwich.

Call it what you will, Manchester residents seem to obsessed with the sandwiches. And with pizza. For reasons unbeknownst to me, you can’t throw a rock in this town without hitting a pizza and sub shop.

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