Dibs and the summer punks

So as per usual this morning I walked with Cherie part way to her job with the dog, then I turned on 10th Street to walk the dog back home (that's one of my jobs now). Ran into my old locksmith friend Dibs who lives on Ave. B between 9th & 10th in an old storefront. He has been fighting his landlord since the 1980s (seriously), but he still hangs on to his storefront with it's inset front that he uses as a little porch. It could be a really nice apartment with a little work, actually.

He bought me a coffee and we chatted on the porch about how to replace window gates with those kind you can put an A/C into, Williamsburg and the summer punks.

The summer punks are in full bloom right now, by the way. They start arriving with their dogs and leather jackets with dated band references and drug problems around May. By now there are about 6 of them who sleep on 6th Street every morning and dozens of them that sit in Tompkins Square Park who probably sleep out in the East River Park. They generally make a mess and bother people, but they have become a seasonal fact of life in the East Village, like pollen in the spring. I wonder why no one told them that the East Village is totally gentrified and yuppie now and that the cool kids moved to Williamsburg then Bed Stuy years ago. Nothing ever really changes for the summer punks though. They have listened to the exact same music, worn the exact same clothes and done the exact same drugs for as long as I can remember.

It's funny what Dibs had to say about them. "I like those kids, except that they are all drug addicts." Ya think?