Early Morning in Hudson

This morning, William and I were out walking shortly after 5. When we left the house, the street sweeper was making its way down the north side of the street toward the river. As dog and I leisurely jaywalked across the intersection of Allen and Second streets, I noted from the lights on the vehicle (for it was too dark and foggy to see much else) that the street sweeper had reached Front Street and was making a U-turn. I had just succeeded in hustling William to the safety of the sidewalk on the far side of Second when the street sweeper came roaring back east on Allen Street, doing, I estimated, at least 40 miles an hour.

This isn't the first time I've witnessed the street sweeper being operated in a reckless manner on the streets of Hudson in the early morning. A few weeks ago, at about the same hour, the street sweeper came barreling west on Union Street, slowing down at Second (there's a stop sign there) only enough to execute a very wide right-hand turn before heading north at the same hurried pace.

But driving around recklessly in the early hours of the morning, on streets that cannot be assumed to be deserted, appears not to be the only offense of the street sweeper. A Gossips reader recently reported witnessing, at about 6:30 a.m., the street sweeper dumping its accumulated load of waste swept from the streets into South Bay, at the edge of the paved area on the R&S property. This photograph, provided by the witness, shows a petroleum or chemical sheen on the surface of the effluent that had been dumped there.