Boston requires property owners to clear the sidewalks in front of their property. Naturally, the law doesn't apply to public authorities, such as the MBTA, which maybe is why one entire side of Belgrade Avenue in Roslindale Square (from South Street to Corinth Street) is covered in ice - it's next to the T's Roslindale Village commuter-rail stop. They couldn't even be bothered to clear away the ice at the bus stop where seven different lines are supposed to pick up and discharge passengers (that's the retaining wall for the train station parking lot next to the sidewalk). Picture taken Sunday afternoon, several days after the nor'icester.

AnnaB spends some time in Roslindale:

... My friend's place is the top floor of a 3 story Victorian which a porch. She has skylights and lives surrounded by various churches. Sunday morning, I was woken up by sunshine and church bells. Very Disney, no? Every block, there was some architectural masterpiece. The quaint little shops, the fantastic restaurants, and the small neighborhood feel made me fall in love with the area.

Neighborhood disclosure: OK, OK, I admit it: I live in Rozzie. Obviously, I need validation!

Just when Roslindale is sighing collectively that the Alexander the Great statute is just gone for repairs, not forever, along comes some elderly guy to drive right into the brand-new Greater Roslindale Medical and Dental Center on Washington Street.

Patrick makes a point during his speech at the Democratic unity rally in Roslindale Square this evening.

Adam Rosi-Kessel has more photos and details on the speeches at the unity rally (um, Mr. Reilly, where were you?), but I'll focus on the Greta/Patrick debate.

You may recall Greta from this post a couple days ago - in which she expressed (over and over and over again) her disgust for Chris Gabrieli and his proposal to lengthen the school day. She decided she wanted to go to the rally; on the way over to the square, she informed me she now really disliked Patrick, too, because she'd read a newspaper article that said he also wanted to lengthen the school day.

When we got there, some Patrick volunteer thrust a Patrick sign in Greta's hands. She went in back of the stage they'd set up, out by the street, where a knot of elected officials and other people surrounded the newly arrived Patrick. He began to walk to get up to the stage. But there stood Greta. Patrick bent down to say hello. Not so fast, bub. She had a determined look on her face. Her lower lip was jutted out. And she told him she doesn't want her school day to be any longer. He laughed, she fled, and the speechifying began.

After being introduced by Tim Murray and Tom Menino, Patrick gave a rip-roaring campaign speech, the main theme of which was to call for the recognition that government can be a force for good:

Government is not some thing. It's us! It's you and me!

In the middle of his speech, he talked about education. And he talked about this glum-looking girl holding one of his signs who wanted to know why he wanted to lengthen the school day. He allowed as how it was true - he did want to lengthen the school day. But, he went on:

It's not just about time in school. ... It's about exercise. It's about art. It's about music. It's about after-school activities. It's about tutoring. ... It's about the whole child!

The crowd went wild.

Afterwards, over dinner at Village Sushi, Greta still wasn't willing to budge on the issue of a longer school day. But she no longer hated Patrick. And I felt really proud, not because Patrick brought her up in a speech, but because she went up to this guy who might be our next governor and told him what she thought.

You can make me hold this sign, but I don't have to like it:

Kids from the Washington Irving Middle School wait for the bus home in front of Wapo Taco in Roslindale Square today.