road work

I am a pretty cranky person, generally. I try to keep it upbeat here. Here, I am trying to focus on "small pleasantnesses," as Jane calls them, but there are times.................................

They are working on our road. This began with people coming along and marking the locations of the water and gas lines, and lining the street with orange barrels. No problem.

Then people came and marked which sidewalk squares will need to be replaced (at a cost to the homeowner, in our lovely town, of about $200 per 5'x5' square).

Aggravating, even when one walks and appreciates good sidewalks, as they mark one of yours when, really, the problem is with the neighbor's adjacent square, and then you can't get any response when you contact the city phone numbers and email addresses they give you if you have "questions."

(We now pause for a moment to pity the people on the northwest corner of my block, cursed with double the number of squares we non-corner people must maintain, and whose sidewalks are not just lifted by trees but are rotten and crumbly -- they have 22 squares marked for replacement!)


After sidewalk triage, the next step(s) involve exceedingly noisy machines, at 7:02 am.

One of the advantages of being a parent of a big kid is that you no longer need to get up in the middle of the night to take them places. They can take themselves, and you can blissfully sleep.

Unless you are having roadwork............................................


All of this is not improving my ambience. I loathe getting up early, and, even more, I loathe noise.................................................

I could be much more sanguine about how this will make things ever so much better in the long run and the disruption is only temporary, EXCEPT that this is the THIRD time they have done significant work on this road since we moved into the house in 1985.

Please.

Just FIX IT (RIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!) and be DONE.

Sigh.

Aside from the absurd and aggravating hour at which they begin, and all the bone-jarring noise, Noise, NOISE, the process is moderately interesting.

The noise begins with this saw machine. They cut a division between pavement that stays and pavement they mean to remove. When the construction guys bother to wear headphones to protect their ears, you know it is loud..........






Next comes this jackhammer machine, which chowders pavement. Concrete is much harder than asphalt, we conclude by the much louder noise when the concrete is chopped.











In less than five minutes, the end of your driveway has been reduced to rubble.

Next comes the steam shovel. (What *does* one call that thing, nowadays? I'm sure "steam shovel" is hopelessly antiquated terminology........) Rubble removed and dumped in large truck.

(Please excuse reflection on the inside of window. Each of these shots taken from my study window, so you can see how up-close-and-personal all of this is..........)








Cleanup guy, with shovel.






Go take a shower, and when you come back, they have built forms for the concrete, and are almost done filling the bottom of the ditch with gravel.






We will now pause for breakfast.....................