HOLLY NADLER

508-274-2329

(hollynadler@gmail.com)

Progress is a long and serpentine road. Can I extend the metaphor? It’s also dusty and strewn with pebbles and in places washed out completely by unexpected floods. Enough? I’m talking about the long-awaited completion of the pharmacy and affordable apartments in the building that once housed the old Oak Bluffs library.

Now I know some of you have secretly longed for the library to magically reinstate itself in that spot. We’d still have the Taj Mahal Book & Tech Center up at School street and Pacific avenue, but a small in-town branch of the library would once again open its doors to the nostalgia freaks among us. Let me be the one to bear the bad news: that’s not gonna happen.

The situation in the last few years is that the abandoned building languished, looking increasingly Beirut-ish or Baghdad-ish or whatever bombing site springs to mind. There was resistance from some of the neighbors. There is always resistance from some of the neighbors; neighbors by their very nature have too much time to look out their back windows, and they really ought to get out more.

But it’s finally happening: Mark your calendars for July 1; that’s when Tamara and Stan Hersh of Conroy’s Apothecary in West Tisbury will be officially opening their branch on Upper Circuit and Pennacook. If you’d care to view the premises, including the three apartments (a studio, a one-bedroom and a handicapped-access two-bedroom) before then, come to the Summer Solstice festivities at 5 p.m. and have a look around. Conroy’s will be handing out refreshments and good cheer. Also, if you’d like to apply for one of the apartments, stop in at the town hall for an application.

Selectman Ron DiOrio is delighted this turn of events has finally come to pass. “We’ve salvaged a derelict building and made it income positive!” In a recent phone interview, he explained that all this was accomplished after a big push from the selectmen and the Oak Bluffs Community Preservation Committee. Yeah team! The next targeted site will be the police station across from the ferry terminal which ought to be earning its keep by selling T-shirts or cheeseburgers. In other words, it should be income positive (man, I love that expression), while our crime fighters are off chasing n’er-do-wells and looking for clues, all from another location.

In the continuing adventures of Charlie Nadler and Sam Reece on the far side of the world, last week we left them in the northern Thai city of Trat where they were meeting kooky ex-pats and knocking back shots of local rice whisky. They spent a couple of days on a remote island called Ko Chang, then caught a minibus to Siem Reap near the great ruins of Angkor Wat. Minutes into the bus ride, the driver started picking up passengers along the side of the road. Charlie writes: “It was a little weird the way the driver kept putting a rock behind the tire when he parked but, hey, it’s the Third World.”

The bus stalled out on a hill, the driver made everyone get out, he started back up the hill, waved the riders inside again, then got out himself to inspect the undercarriage. The vehicle began to slide backwards without him. The people bailed out before the bus crashed at the bottom of the hill. Sam and Charlie decided the fates were blocking them from visiting Angkor Wat; they would grab a bus back down to Bangkok, then take a late-night train to Chaing Mai. Past midnight they were still cooling their heels at the ferry crossing at the Cambodia /Thai border. Their bus finally arrived, and it was the same one from the crackup at the bottom of the hill!

Since then they’ve had some fine times in Chaing Mai. On Sunday night they rode a longboat across the Mekong River into Laos, and on Monday they were heading into the rain forest for their zip-lining escapade (I know nothing about this: I checked into the ER and had them put me to sleep throughout all of Tuesday). After the zipping and the zagging, the boys’ plan is to spend a couple of days in Luang Prabang, laced with ancient forts, gardens, monasteries and waterfalls, described by Lonely Planet as “one of the most beguiling towns in South Asia.”

In the meantime, I’m feeling a little groggy from the hospital knockout.

Speaking of which . . . the hospital is going to be shelling out $1,075,000 for Island community health projects over the next five years. A broad-based citizens planning committee has been working over the last five months to review data and identify our most pressing health needs. Here’s how you can get involved:

Two forums are in the immediate offing. The first will be held on Tuesday, May 18 at Howe’s House in West Tisbury from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The second will take place at the Vineyard Haven library on Thursday, May 20, also from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Come and voice your reactions and recommendations. For more information you can call Dedie Wieler at 508-693-0410, extension 203.