For reasons of little importance, I found myself in Carmel-by-the-sea this weekend. For those of you who don’t know, Carmel is an extremely wealthy beach community in northern California; home to it’s former Governor, Clint Eastwood, and, a city whose main drag begins with Sak�s Fifth Avenue.

I was a stranger in a strange land.

To illustrate just how milquetoast of a place affluent Carmel is, let me quote from the police blotter printed in the local paper, The Carmel Pine Cone:

– Report of a green pickup truck in the driveway of a Scenic residence and two or three subjects walking around the driveway and front of the residence. The area was checked and the subjects were gone on arrival.

– Observed a vehicle pull to the side of the roadway at Junipero and Ocean. Rear seat passenger became ill; however, he did not need medical assistance. Driver was warned.

– River Place resident reported one of her former tenants was playing golf near the house he used to rent from her.

– Unknown juveniles called an elderly man several names while riding their bicycles.

It�s a thin blue line my friends, a thin blue line indeed�