There are many things that bother me, in addition to the economic situation, the prolonged resistance to cooperation exhibited by Windham’s Town Council and the over-all attitude of apathy about the health risks that will affect overweight children.

Junk e-mails are near the top of my list of issues to complain about. During the period of heavy fax machine use, junk faxes proliferated. In the newspaper office, we’d hear the churning out of paper, jump to get that incoming mail, thinking it could be a full-page ad and it would be a promotion for something happening in Aruba.

Now that the Internet is in major use, we get junk or spam e-mails. This morning I got an e-mail, which went into the spam folder, looking for “typers” to make up to $35,000 a month. I don’t think typer is even a word. Furthermore, I never made that much money in a year and I typed about 70 percent of the time.

Having my routine upset, upsets me. In order to save gasoline and in an attempt to become organized (better late than never), I often combine six errands to be tackled in a day.

On my errand day last week, my last stop was the library where I’d relax and pick four or five books for the next week’s leisure time. Unfortunately, it was afternoon when I arrived at the library, forgetting completely my resolution never to go to the library when the “kids were out” and schools had closed for the day. To avoid being bumped into by overloaded, swinging backpacks, and tripping over piles of coats, books and other paraphernalia piled haphazardly on the floor, in every conceivable place, I suggest you go to the library in the morning.

I’d be impressed if all these (I counted 23) youngsters were there to get a book, movie or for some other intellectual pursuit. Other than the 8 or 9 at the computers, the others were posing, snapping digital pictures, reliving some exciting thing that happened during the school day or text-messaging and reading the message aloud for the world at large, and of course swinging backpacks. Loud talking and running through the building does not enhance the library experience. When the library staff has to ask for quiet – several times – adults wonder what is going on here. Oh yes, the school libraries are closed. I can’t imagine school libraries function this way.

It is as though the public library was a mall annex. There are even people who drive a carload of youngsters to the library and drop them off to spend the afternoon.

If I had my way, I’d encourage those busy, active and energetic kids to clean up the graffiti on the little wooden bridge behind the library parking lot. You remember, a grade school class built that many years ago and I believe Sen. Susan Collins attended the dedication. I walked over to that little bridge last year and was appalled at what was written. Snow banks have hidden the bridge for a while but I expect easy access will attract more scribes. My guess is that this clean up project would be considered community volunteerism – definitely a hot topic to be avoided.

Today I will plan my errand day for next week. The library will be a stop during the morning hours.

See you next week.