Small-town living...

Small-town living at its finest.

I went to town hall to pick up the permit for our deck, and found out they have my name as "Christine" in all the systems so I had to go to 3 different departments (and wander around the basement) to get it fixed.

Then the lady behind me says "You just moved here?  Let me tell you about everyone who's running in the elections next week" (for road commissioner and school committee) and then the town clerk had to tell her to go away and yelled at her (twice) for attempting to influence the election (again, this is the election for road commissioner).  I'm pretty sure she had spiked her Diet Coke, because she followed me to the parking lot, told me her life story, interrupted herself at least 8 times to switch topics, and then turned around and left walked to her car in the middle of a sentence.

The town clerk also introduced me as "Mrs. Gardner" to the 107-year-old woman who finally fixed my name in the system.  I think that's the first time I've been called that seriously, and not like "Hey Mrs. Gardner!" by one of my friends.

I also discovered that even though I registered to vote when I applied for my driver's license on March 15, because no one moves to Acton (like ever) the DMV only sends new voter registrations to town hall every three months.  So they didn't have me enrolled as a voter.  How am I supposed to vote for the next road commissioner if I'm not registered?

Then when I got home, I opened the free regional daily paper that comes in the mail, and there were THREE ADVERTISEMENTS for the Acton road commissioner election!  Guys, this is probably the hottest election since Bush v. Gore.

I might have to start hanging around at town hall more often on my lunch break, but they're only open like 3 days a week.