Looking Back on 2011 Part 3

by Marcia Barhydt

As I wrap up this series on looking back on 2011, let's find out what's happened with the Biscayne Bay piano, Cinderella Man, and Lego Man since I last checked in.

Have You Seen My Piano, April, 2011. So, there were two young men in Biscayne Bay who though it'd be good fun to take a grand piano that had been pretty much trashed on the inside, out into the Bay and leave it. Think of it as a kind of a conversation piece. For this cute story, there is a real follow-up. While the kids were working on a plan to remove the piano after a visit from the authorities, a salvage company beat them to it them by removing the now famous piano. The latest information is that a lawsuit has been launched by the kids' family against the salvage company. Ahh, there's nothing like a lawsuit in America.

Cinderella Man, January, 2011. It's been a year now since velvet-voiced Ted Williams was 'discovered' and dubbed the Cinderella Man. Ted today is quite an amazing change. Watch a brief video here. "A year ago today I was living in tents under bridges, smoking crack, doing all the wild things," he says. Now he has a fireplace, a flat-screen TV, and a walk-in closet that doubles as a recording studio."What a difference a year makes," he said, as he admits to not being able to dream of living in a spacious home more than a year ago. "It's a halleluiah moment every day I wake up." Here's to a lifetime of halleluiah days Ted.

Stay Out of the Water! Lego Man Surfaces Again! November, 2011. It's still not clear how the 100-pound, 8-foot-tall Lego man washed ashore. The local tourism bureau hoped to use Lego man to promote the area, but the man who found it has placed a claim on it. He can keep it if the owner doesn't collect it before early next year. I have to admit this is my favourite story of 2011. There's something oddly endearing about an 8-foot man made out of Legos.

Let me add a final note to all this 2011 follow-up: writing humour, or trying to at least, for Women's Post, is such a treat for me. I hope I keep learning the fine points of this difficult craft. It's way more difficult that climbing on my soap box, but it's also way more fun.

Here's to 2012 - the weirdest year yet, I hope. Happy New Year.

©Marcia Barhydt, 2012

Images courtesy of Microsoft Office and stock.xchng.