SWEDE was the NH vanity plate on the green wagon driven by the new manager of the Riverview Restaurant in Kennebunkport in the summer of 65. Ron Johnson seemed to be a real straight arrow, didnt like me hanging around the kitchen or the back deck and bothering the waitresses. He seemed ok, but standoff-ish. The next summer Ron appeared again with a new car, a white Thunderbird Sports Roadster and several of his crew from Manchester, Vt. The vanity plate was new as well, VT plate, 5 FLYS. He introduced us to his crew, Sally, Odd Job (blonde surfer type dude, who looked anything like his Goldfinger namesake) and some others. They all wore a small gold fly pin on their shirts. For the next two summers the Five Flys, who had a restaurant by that name back in VT, would show up at Goochs Beach, open the trunk and the party would begin. Stocked with bottles of booze, mixers and accoutrements, ice and plastic cups, several days in those summers would be spent laughing it up with SWEDE and the FLYS. 10 or so years ago I was in the Red Parka Pub in Bartlett NH. Displayed on the walls and ceilings were hundreds of vanity plates from all over the world, mostly U.S. It was there that I spied an old green NH plate SWEDE, some 40 years later.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 14:19:04 +0000
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