Photos by William Heately
From Bill Heately:
Took these pics of gulls on Ocean Grove beach today.
Camp Meeting sent out beach badge renewals last week, and if you act fast, you get an “Early Bird” discount.
Looks like 2 gulls have already got theirs.
One has both wings tagged with a red “815” tag and is wearing two ankle bands.
Second gull has band that says TA7.
Third gull is just an angry bird.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Thanks to Bill for his “information sharing” contribution on Blogfinger.
In Florida, no one pays to get on a beach, but it is not free, because you pay for parking. They do not have meters, and the parking lot spaces are not numbered, as in Asbury Park. Instead you pay $2.00 per hour and stay as long as you like. You go to a pay station machine and buy a ticket (cash or credit card) that tells what time you paid and what time your stay is over. You place the ticket on the dashboard so that the traffic officer can see it.
In Ocean Grove, like the birds in William’s photos, the senior citizens have their own tag. That’s because they get a discounted price. Their beach badge reveals their “special status”because it looks different from everybody else’s. Even with senior discounts at the movies, no one has to know that you are old. If 70 is the new 40, then why force seniors to wear a label that sets them apart and invades their privacy? At least we can hide our Medicare cards in our wallets. I know, it’s because a regular badge, discounted, might then be given to some thirty year old. Here’s a solution: Have the senior badges look like everyone else’s except for a barely noticeable S on the bottom that only a sharp-eyed teenage badge checker can spot. And, how about a star to stick on the badge of anyone who helped with the clean up of the beach front or who helped with Sandy related activities.? —Paul Goldfinger, editor.
Julius LaRosa is glad he’s not young anymore: