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Kathryn Nicolai
Hi friends. Want every episode ad free? Tap the link in our show Notes to subscribe. If you're on Apple Podcasts, just hit subscribe on our show page. Easy and it helps keep the show going. I grew up in Flint, Michigan, so I've never taken clean water for granted. I know what it means to worry about what's coming out of your tap and what a relief it is when you don't have to. That's why I just bought a second Aqua Tru water purifier for our cottage on my own dime. I loved it that much in my house. It's just part of our daily ritual now. Coffee, tea, soup, the dog bowls. It all starts with Aquatru. Aquatru purifiers use a four stage reverse osmosis process to remove 15 times more contaminants than ordinary pitcher filters. Stuff like PFAS, lead, arsenic, chlorine, microplastics. All the things I absolutely don't want in my body or my family's. According to the Environmental Working Group, almost every home in America has harmful contaminants in its tap water and long term exposure to things like PFAS can lead to serious health issues. Aqua Tru is certified to remove over 84 of the worst offenders. You don't need a plumber. The countertop units are plug and play. No tools, no installation, and it tastes amazing. We're all drinking more water without even thinking about it. Today my listeners get 20% off any Aquatru purifier. Just go to aquatru.com that's a Q U a T r u dot com and enter the code N O T H I N G M u C h at checkout that's aquatru.com use code nothingmuch. Welcome to Bedtime Stories for Everyone in which nothing much happens. You feel good and then you fall asleep. I'm Kathryn Nicolai. I create everything you hear on Nothing Much Happens with audio engineering by Bob Wittersheim. We give to a different charity each week and this week we are giving to Rain Coast Conservation Society. They inspire action to protect wildlife and wildlife habitats. You can learn more about them in our show Notes for an ad free and bonus filled version of this show and to support the work we do. All for just a dime a day. We hope you'll consider becoming a premium subscriber. There's a link in our notes and Spotify and Apple users can click the handy join button right on our show page. The first month is on us. Just because you might be a grown up. And it's okay if you're not. All our stories are family friendly. It doesn't mean you've outgrown the need for a bedtime story. It's some old time medicine for insomnia, which we might now call cognitive reshuffling. All you have to do is listen. I'll tell the story twice and I'll go a little slower the second time through. The more you use this technique, the more quickly you'll fall and return to sleep. If you wake later in the night, don't hesitate to turn another episode right back on. Our story tonight is called Street Sweepers and it's a story about an early morning tending of the village lanes. It's also about hoppers and windrows, zinnia heads and locust pods, clearing small floods near blocked up drains, and a simple but important way to care for a place you love. Now, lights out campers. Snuggle down into your sheets and let your whole body relax. The day is over. It's over. Nothing left to do or attend to. Soften your jaw, your shoulders, your hands and your feet. Draw a deep breath in through your nose and sigh from your mouth once more. Breathe in and let it out. Good Street Sweepers There was certainly a time in my life when I didn't find much pleasure in being the first one up. When my body just required too much rest to rise before the sun. Those days still hold their own allure. Being able to sleep into the late morning waking, feeling so replete and relaxed. Then able to stay up late to have adventures that didn't start until long after the sun went down. Maybe I am romanticizing those times now, but no, they were romantic. They were fun. And now so is this. So is being alone on the street at dawn as the sky just begins to shade, lighter by a degree at a time. The air is so fresh and clean it feels like the molecules have just come off the production line. I stood for a few moments, breathing them in, breathing them out, knowing a moment of true excitement for being alive and awake just where I was. Then began to sort through my brushes and rakes, outfitting my sweeper for the morning's work. There is more than one of us in the village, a whole crew in fact. But our sweepers are stored all across the town, so I was on my own. As I climbed aboard. She started right up and I steered her out of her garage and onto the street. Each neighborhood gets to name their own sweeper, and this has led to a friendly rivalry. Each set of streets looking for the best name. The cleaner by the park was called a broom with a View. Grime and punishment worked through downtown west of the village by the cemetery. The grim sweeper cleaned up, and my own avenues were tended by sweep dreams, a nod to my own tendency to be the first one at work quietly cleaning while the houses around me slept. I rode close to the curb, watching the bristles of the gutter broom, rotating and clearing away debris. This time of year we were cleaning up linden blossoms and locust pods. There was still a bit of cottonwood fluff, plenty of grass clippings and whirlybirds. I could see marigold heads and zinnia leaves that had blown from someone's yard. It was all swept into the main broom. The rotating bristles that lived in the belly of sweep dreams. They in turn swept the windrow into the hopper. Behind me a fine mist was spraying out onto the pavement to keep dust down until the next cleaning. It was a very satisfying experience to roll slowly down the street and see the clutter in front of me, then to turn in my seat and see the clean, damp road behind. The scope of work for a street sweeper depended very much on the season, and while you'd not likely be surprised to hear that autumn is a very busy time of year for us, there are moments from spring through summer that rival it. When the cottonwood flies at the end of May, the sweepers shake their heads at the snowdrifts of sticky fluff piled along the curbs. We sighed and clucked our tongues in July when the heat led maples and lindens to drip SAP onto the street, turning every loose leaf gummy, clogging up our bristles. And don't even get me started on parades. Heavy end of the season storms clogged drains with twigs and mud, though, and I think I wasn't alone in this. Coming across a small flood at a gutter and raking out the debris till the water began to spin and spiral and empty through the spillway was actually something I looked forward to. Sometimes a homeowner would wave me down point toward a blocked up drain on a side street, and a small crowd would gather till I cleared it out. They'd clap as it drained and I'd stop to take a bow. I turned down another street, continuing to sweep away dust and dirt. I noticed a gray cat in a window watching me as I inched past. I raised a hand to wave to her, but she blinked in a slow way that felt like a returned greeting. In another house I saw windows being pushed open on the ground floor. A front door pulled back to let the breeze in. The village was starting to come to life. So far I hadn't seen a stretch of road that needed more than one pass until I rounded the curve by the corner store and saw the cement speckled with nickel sized purple stains. I paused Sweep Dreams then turned her key to off and climbed down the arch enemy of the street Sweeper had arrived. Mulberries. I circled the stained section of concrete, eyeing the mess and taking out my handkerchief to wipe my glasses. Out came my hose. I started by washing down the curb and pavement with a bit of cleaner. Then I selected the right size hand broom and got to scrubbing. The next few weeks would see me doing the same here day after day, but I wouldn't be bowed by the persistence of the berries. I too could be persistent. After I scrubbed and rehung my broom, I climbed aboard and started Sweep Dreams back up. We rolled over the sudsy mess slowly and I looked behind us to see that we'd made good progress. At the corner I turned and made a second pass. The street was nearly stain free now, but still I stopped to rinse the spot with my hose one more time to flush the last bit, bits of soap and seeds down the sewer. I liked a job well done, a job that was completed even if it took a bit of extra time and energy. It was a point of pride to me that the streets in my territory were well tended and cared for. It was probably something that people didn't really notice. They'd only be likely to notice the mess, not the lack of it. But that was okay with me. I was happy to work in the background and give the village a sense of order being well kept. I thought it lent itself to the overall sense of this place just as a good place to be. That was enough. I rehung the hose and kept on with my work. When I got Sweep Dreams back to her garage, I cleaned out the bristles of her brushes, emptied her hopper and refilled her tanks for tomorrow. Outside, the sun was rising above the horizon and traffic was just beginning to pick up. I gave my sweeper a pat on the hood. Those mulberries would be back tomorrow, but so would we street sweepers. There was certainly a time in my life when I didn't find much pleasure and being the first one up when my body just required too much rest to rise before the sun. Those days hold their own allure. Being able to sleep into the late morning waking feeling so replete and Relaxed, then able to stay up late, to have adventures that didn't start until long after the sun went down. Maybe I am romanticizing those times now, but no, they were romantic, they were fun, and so is this. So is being alone on the street at dawn as the sky just begins to shade lighter by a degree at a time. The air is so fresh and clean it feels like the molecules have just come off the production line. I stood for a few moments, breathing them in, breathing them out, knowing a moment of true excitement for being alive and awake just where I was, then began to sort through my brushes and rakes, outfitting my sweeper for the morning's work. There is more than one of us in the Village, a whole crew, in fact, but our sweepers are stored all across the town, so I was on my own. As I climbed aboard, she started right up, and I steered her out of the garage and onto the street. Each neighborhood gets to name their own sweeper, and this has led to a friendly rivalry, each set of streets looking for the best name. The cleaner by the park was called a Broom with a View. Grime and punishment worked through downtown, west of the Village, by the cemetery. The grim sweeper cleaned up, and my own avenues were tended by sweep dreams, a nod to my tendency to be the first one at work quietly clearing while the houses around me slept. I rode close to the curb, watching the bristles of a gutter broom rotating and clearing away debris. This time of year we were cleaning up linden blossoms and locust pods. There was still a bit of cottonwood fluff and plenty of grass clippings and whirlybirds. I could see marigold heads and zinnia leaves that had blown from someone's yard. It was all swept into the main broom, the rotating bristles that lived in the belly of sweet dreams. They in turn swept the windrow into the hopper. Behind me, a fine mist was spraying out onto the pavement to keep dust down until the next cleaning. It was a very satisfying experience to roll slowly down the street and see the clutter in front of me, then to turn in my seat and see the clean, damp road behind. The scope of work for a street sweeper depended very much on the season, and while you're not likely to be surprised to hear that autumn is a very busy time of year for us, there are moments in the spring and summer that rival it. When the cottonwood flies at the end of May, the sweepers shake their heads at the snowdrifts of sticky fluff piled along the curbs. We sighed and clicked our tongues in July when the heat led maples and lindens to drip SAP into the street, turning every loose leaf gummy, clogging up our bristles. And don't even get me started on parades. Heavy end of the season storms clogged drains with twigs and mud though, and I think I wasn't alone in this. Coming across a small flood at a gutter and raking out the debris till the water began to spin and spiral and empty through the spillway was actually something I looked forward to. Sometimes a homeowner would wave me down point toward a blocked up drain on a side street and a small crowd would gather till I cleared it out. They'd clap as it drained and I'd stop to take a bow. I turned down another street, continuing to sweep away dust and dirt. I noticed a gray cat, a window, watching me as I inched past. I raised a hand to wave to her and she blinked in a slow way that felt like a returned greeting. In another house I saw windows being pushed open on the ground floor, a front door pulled back to let the breeze in. The village was starting to come to so far I hadn't seen a stretch of road that needed more than one pass until I rounded the curve by the corner store and saw the cement speckled with nickel sized purple stains. I paused Sweep Dreams then turned her key to off and climbed down. The arch enemy of the street sweeper had arrived. Mulberries. I circled the stained section of concrete, eyeing the mess and taking out my handkerchief to wipe my glasses. Out came my hose. I started by washing down the curb pavement with a bit of cleaner, then selected the right size hand broom and got to scrubbing. The next few weeks would see me doing the same here day after, but I wouldn't be bowed by the persistence of the berries. I too could be persistent. After I scrubbed and rehung my broom, I climbed aboard and started Sweep Dreams back up. We rolled over the sudsy mess slowly. I looked behind us to see that we'd made good progress. At the corner I turned and made a second pass. The street was nearly stain free now, but I still stopped to rinse the spot with my hose one more time to flush the last bits of soap and seeds down the sewer. I liked a job well done, a job that was completed even if it took a bit of extra time and energy. It was a point of pride to me that the streets in my territory were well tended and cared for. It was probably something that people didn't really notice. They'd only be likely to notice the mess, not the lack of it. But that was okay with me. I was happy to work in the background and give the village a sense of order and being well kept. I thought it lent itself to the overall sense of this place as a good place to be, and that was enough. I rehung the hose and kept on with my work. When I got Sweep Dreams back to her garage, I cleaned the bristles of her brushes, emptied her hopper, and refilled her tanks for tomorrow. Outside, the sun was rising above the horizon and traffic was just beginning to pick up. I gave my sweeper a pat on the hood. Those mulberries would be back tomorrow, but so would we. Sweet dreams.