I was watering my 'lower 40' early this morning, before breakfast, and while sipping my first cup of espresso, when a guy in a suit pulled up into Crane's Alley. He started asking me questions about the patch of gravel nearby, and I was evasive and brusque, since usually only nut-jobs and real estate agents talk to me while I'm standing in front of the building, working.
However, finally, it emerged that the guy was an Assistant to the Mayor [Daley], and wanted to contact the owner of the gravel patch to encourage him to beautify it. D&I have been discussing this for years, so suddenly I got all bubbly with the Assistant to the Mayor (Joseph H) and spewed out several ideas we'd come up with (iron fencing surrounding a little private park, hedges, railroad ties, getting a dump truck full of dirt, fountains, even a sculpture garden.).
He left me his number, and we've set up a conference call with the owner of the gravel patch.
Very serendipitous that I happened to be outside just as he drove by....
