[rockrr]

I’m envious. I live in a small town about 35 miles away from the Dark Hole of Seattle, where intelligent thought is sucked away never to be seen again.

Even at our outer orbit this town falls prey to the insidious stupidity and, as a consequence, rules by the same idiotic diktats.

So I can come and go as I please, but there isn’t anywhere TO go. The activities - the bars where I played, the car shows, etc. - are all suspended indefinitely (if not abandoned altogether).

[Steve_Seattle]

I live in Shoreline, just north of Seattle. The decline here is palpable, spreading out from Seattle. Crazy people walk the streets, garbage and shopping carts line the streets, people are living tents, dilapidated vans and RVs, and shoplifting is rampant. (A Walgreen's about a mile from me now has some brands of toothpaste in locked display cases).

Many single family homes are being converted to rooming houses, with the attendant clutter (cars parked on lawns, etc.). There is often the smell of marijuana in the air as you drive down the street. (This is not the smell of marijuana smoke, but of the plant itself.)

And a couple signs of the times: a few days ago I saw a young, homeless-looking black man, shabbily dressed with a huge backpack, staring at his smart phone as he walked down the street; and two weeks ago, a homeless person's truck (a retired U-Haul truck, based on the paint scheme) caught on fire in the parking lot of a local supermarket. The truck was gutted, and someone towed it to the street right around the corner from me, where it still remains.