Arguably the biggest election night surprise in Wiscasset didn’t come at the polls at Wiscasset Community Center. Selectmen delivered it down the road, in their majority vote to go to court over downtown parking and the Haggett building. Wiscasset has strong opinions in different directions on the state’s project. The court action selectmen are pursuing is termed a civil proceeding. We expect nothing less of the out-of-court debate, as well.

And now that the preservation ordinance lives on, let’s do what people on both sides of the repeal question said after the vote: Make it better.

Memo to fall: May I have a word? You were always an uneven season, giving us crisp air, a sometimes blustery wind and days when the sun’s warmth allowed short sleeves. Not quite the sailing season of summer nor as weighty as winter, you channeled your middle child syndrome for good, giving us foliage in all its brilliance.

Did we do something to tick you off?

Except for scattered moments of sun, you have left us with gray, mostly cold, damp and sometimes wet, windy and at times very windy, days and nights. You couldn’t help Philippe, these things happen. And I bear no grudge on my seven, power-free days. But again, except for those hints of sun, so welcome, but fleeting, what is going on?

A familiar, fickle fall is better than one steadfastly dark. Please, at your earliest convenience, go back to being your normal, mostly nice self.

And speaking of those power-free days, hopefully never to be spoken, or thought of, again, a tall thank you to the Alna Fire Department for helping us continue to get the news out by letting me plug in. The space and other amenities were a great help to so many of us Alna residents post-Philippe, just as Wiscasset Community Center and other warming centers around the Midcoast were welcome, close trips for those who live near them.