Road Re Do

   All summer long the neighborhood I live in has been undergoing a major transformation. The shopping centre down the street is being erected at break neck speed and the highway behind my building has been repaved. None of that is as bad as the road re do going on in front of my home.

   Imagine waking up to this outside your bedroom window at 7:00am...

Notice how only a couple of guys are doing the work while the rest of them are just standing around talking about it.

   I understand that upgrades need to be done. Old utility lines and sewer pipes need replacing every few decades. What I can't understand is why is seems like they're doing everything twice. Or several times over for that matter. The crew will dig a hole and cart the dirt off in dump trucks, then they'll do whatever work needs to be done and bring in new dirt by the truckload. Then, the very next day, they'll dig that same spot back up and repeat the process. Can't they get it right the first time?
   Perhaps the biggest blunder has been with the sidewalks. New sidewalks were poured last week and they've already had to break some of them up and re pour them. In some spots it's because they forgot to install something underneath and in others I'm guessing the measurements were off. Again, can't they get it right the first time?
   More than anything else, I wish it would rain more. The dust generated by all of this has completely coated the entire neighborhood and the watering trucks have failed to keep up.
   I also miss the oak trees that were outside my home when I moved here last year and I really hope they replace them with new trees. Since the new sidewalks will be right at eye level with my kitchen window, and 10 feet closer, I really feel like we've lost our privacy. Here's a wider view of what the area looked like last summer...

   The old retaining wall shown in this picture has been completely covered over and the new wall shown in the first picture is much closer to my balcony. The new sidewalks are right about where those trees were. I hate people staring into my home as they walk by.

   I know that when all is said and done we'll have a nice new road outside our home and things will be quiet again, but it sure has taken a long time. The original bulletin said "July to September", but the new projected end date is sometime in late November! My tax dollars at work indeed. I hate to say this, but sometimes my wife and I regret buying into this building. Too bad houses on nice quiet streets are stupidly expensive in this city.

The Wandering Oak