[barmar]

kenberg, on 2012-May-22, 16:32, said:

They are relocating town troubles.

That's probably true. People generally need to socialize, and teenagers are no different. If they can't hang out in the school playground, they'll find somewhere else to do it. And teenage boys will occasionally cause mischief when they're hanging out -- it's in their nature. I was a teenage boy once, and even though I hung with an upscale, studious crowd, we still did things we shouldn't -- we had fake IDs so we could get into bars, although we didn't cause any vandalism.

[kenberg]

It's a cliche that times have changed, some for the better, some for the worse.

I have mentioned elsewhere that as a teenager I had a car. A '47 Plymouth for $175. With, it turned out, mildly warped cylinder head. The garage back of the house, facing the alley, had a pit, and since many of us had cars that required work it became something of an attraction. Teenage boys being what they are, the language got rough and eventually a neighbor came over to ask, politely but with some force, if I could do something about it. He mentioned that there were younger kids, specifically some young girls, living nearby and that the parents were concerned. I put up a sign "No Foul Language, BYON (By order of neighbors). Of course one of the guys greeted this with "Who the **** put up that **** *** *** sign". I explained I was serious. Using the garage was a great asset and the language got a lot better.

There was an "old guy" in the neighborhood, maybe not as old as I now am, but retired. He would come down and chat with us as we worked on our cars. He was an interesting guy and we looked forward to his visits. Generally it went well with the neighbors.

I don't much see this sort of thing going on anymore. We moved a few years back and we both decided we wanted to live where there are, among others, young families with children. I like kids. If something happens I expect the parents to handle their kids, but I don't go crazy.

Growing up is tough. Somehow I don't think that electronic gadgetry is the best way to help young people do that.

PS Shaving down the head to correct the warp was done for repair purposes. But it also had a peppy effect on performance. I whipped a 53 DeSoto in a drag race.