The Cambridge City Council passed its nobillboards law, provoking Ackerly Communications to post a huge, ugly billboard in Porter Square reminding Cantabridgians about the Fifth Amendment. Not to be outdone, Dapper O'Neil and the Boston City Council passed a law cracking down on 130-decibel boom boxes. Yet the beat goes on. And on. And on.

In the most shocking story of the summer, the City of Cambridge completely lost track of not one, not two (drum roll, please), but 14,000 parking tickets issued during the early '80s! Yes! Congratulations to our efficient friends in the Cambridge parking bureaucracy! Incidentally, this paragon of an organization nailed me for not one, not two, but 10 parking tickets this summer. I paid.

While I was burdened with unexpected debts, public figures all around me were enjoying unexpected windfalls:

The most political crook in Boston, Whitey Bulger--brother of the most crooked politician in Boston, Billy Bulger--actually won the state lottery.

A convicted bookie also won the lottery.

A state representative from Jamaica Plain received a $200,000 inheritance upon the death of a bag lady he had once helped with a housing matter.

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts received a $500 million budget windfall when a mid-level bureaucrat discovered a loophole in the federal health insurance codes.

The bureaucrat--whom Gov. William F. Weld '66 declared his "favorite employee on the state payroll," received a $10,000 bonus. Go figure.

Welcome back. The beat still goes on.