Does anyone remember the canceled Irish Heritage parade? Seems
like a lifetime ago. I went to the council meeting to voice my concerns
about the cigarette ban on the beach. I think it was Item 16 on the
agenda. The big topic was ‘should we have the parade or not?’ I
thought it was a no brainer, considering everywhere else in the world
the parades had been canceled. There was this one lady, from what
I gathered was an actress, and used her 5 minutes to scare the crap
out of anyone listening by screaming, “DO YOU WANT TO DIE?!” all
theatrical and shit. Mayor Shirley had to rein her in a few times cause,
well, because she was full on “YOU CANT HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
mode. Then she made a very dramatic exit out of the building. I was
like, wow. Anyway, the vote was 3 to 2 to have the parade.
I was sitting with the Tybee Beach Clean folks. I used my 5 minutes
to talk about all the litter and made the suggestion that any litter
should be a $1000 fine.
Two days later was Parade Day. Rumors were flying that the parade
had been canceled. The parade floats were lined up and ready so I
put my money on the parade was happening. Largest crowd I have
seen in my ten years of Tybee. The parade was canceled and the
parade happened. That kind of describes 2020. I was happy to work
the parade cause I needed money. No joke, that is always the busiest
time of the year.
Next week’s council meeting was an unscheduled emergency
meeting. All the business owners were there. We were told that only
10 people could attend. I was like wtf? Why? What changed in 5 days?
Is there a pandemic? Long story short, they let us all in. We couldn’t
sit next to each other. We found out Tybee was shutting down until
April 9th. I already knew that date was going to come and go.
After two weeks of sitting home drinking, I came to the conclusion
I didn’t have nearly enough money to live that life. I decided to go get
a job delivering pizza for Papa John’s. I was hoping for Wilmington but
ended up at Skidaway and Victory. Busiest store in Savannah. Thank
God for Google maps. I had a really good time working with the people
I met at that store. I haven’t worked that hard for $100 in a long time,
but I did bring home a lot of pizzas and had the cash I needed for the
necessities of everyday life.
It was also nice not to be on Facebook, sitting in front of the TV, not
watching the news all day. For anyone who doesn’t know what it feels
like waiting on a hurricane, waiting to see what the world pandemic
was doing had the same eerie feeling.
May 3rd Georgia was in Phase One of reopening businesses. I asked
my Magic 8 ball, “Will we be busy?” It answered, “Be ready.” Let’s
just say we went from Phase One to Phase Ten in one day. Tybee has
been tilt since that day. I was so happy to be driving a Breezy car with
people and not pizza. I worked 14 days straight with no complaints.
During this whole time of new normal I really didn’t change the way I
live my life. No mask, no gloves, not compulsively washing my hands.
Just no hand shaking or tongue kissing anyone and everyone.
Don’t forget to tip your wait staff, your bartenders, and your Breezy
drivers. Leave only your footprints on the beach. Go Breezy.
20 TYBEE BEACHCOMBER | JULY 2020
By Ron Goralczyk
Located inside Tybee Visitors Center
“Make Us Your Tybee Destination”
Bring Ad in for Discount.
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