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Monday, June 18, 2007

Hell. Day 1.

As soon as the roadworkers finished working on the intersecting street across from our house, as soon as they blacktop that and I think the noise in the neighborhood is over...guess what? Stan discovers a pile of shingles in the driveway in the house next door...the house that can't keep owners for more than a few years. It finally sold after being vacant since the beginning of the year.

Yes, the roofers are here. As I was fixing coffee this morning, I see one looking at the ladder on the side of our house (NOT the side of the house next to the house they should be working on, mind you, the other side, the far side) where Stan is fixing paint. There was a whole crew of them on that side, looking at the house. I yell out the window, "what are you doing?!?" several times, and then go outside and tell them, gesturing (I should have said, pardon my poor Spanish...it's been ages... "El Otro Casa!" but I wasn't thinking) "It's the other house! The OTHER HOUSE!"

The house they're working on is about 4 feet from our house, and naturally, my bedroom on the first floor and my office on the second floor are on that side of the house. Both those rooms are air conditioned, and it's really the only places I can work when it's this hot.

It's a tear-off job too, not just a putting a new layer on.

A kid who looked no more than 12, who I assume is part of the crew, rang the doorbell. I didn't go to the door because the dogs were in the way and barking, so I yelled out the window, "What do you want?"

"Can I use your bathroom?" he asked. WTF?

"Why do you want to use MY bathroom?" I asked him.

"Because there's no one home over there."

"Well, that's not my problem."

Yeah, right. And if you let the kid in, then the whole crew will want to use it. OK, so if YOU were having your roof done, wouldn't you want to have someone around who could be there to supervise stuff, like, "no, not the neighbor's house!" Or "The bathroom is upstairs on your left?" I mean, not being there when the crew you contracted arrives? What is this? Oh, this is not looking good.

Welcome to a week of hell. And it's not even the roofing noises that is concerning me at this point. It's the absentee neighbors. I can see not wanting to move in before the job is done, that makes sense, but why can't they have someone there at least initially when the job is starting? They almost tore off my f-ing roof! If I wasn't home and awake, they would've!

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5 Comments:

Blogger Stan said...

It's good that they actually finished in one day, so you don't have to suffer more than one day. It is really good that you were home - otherwise we might have had unwanted roof work and a lot of smashed plants.

I had a strange Monday with catching the bus this morning. They moved the pick up points again because of road construction and I wasn't in the new place. Not that there are any signs to tell riders any information. Strangely in the end I was only a little late for work and the rest of the day was fine.

It's a good thing this was only a Monday, because the early problems didn't wreck the whole day. If these kinds of things had happened on a Thursday the day only would have gotten worse and worse.

5:50 PM  
Blogger Erik said...

If he really really needed to go, you could have charged him $100 for the bathroom ;)

1:29 PM  
Blogger Ann said...

If he really needed to go, there's a convenience mart down the street. Or the roofing company should provide some kind of port-a-john or something, or it's the responsibility of the homeowner who hires them, not the neighbor who is not associated with the whole transaction.

I am so glad it only took them one day. I've seen some roofing companies take a whole week. But these guys worked fast and there were a lot of them. And all things considered, they weren't that loud...no annoying radios or anything.

The road construction work still doesn't seem to be over. And then there's the noisy lawn mowing old guy across the street. Most people around here have a) a hand mower (like we do) since the yards are small, or they've converted their lawns to gardens and landscaping that doesn't need mowing (like we've also done) or, also in our case, we just don't mow it a lot. It keeps the remaining grass that we do have a lot healthier that way, especially in dry weather. This old guy I wouldn't expect to use a handmower (he can barely walk) or re-landscape his lawn, but I wonder if he's considered a quieter, more energy efficient electric mower? This noisy gas mower is a real pain in the ass to listen to and to smell.

On a side note, someone made a comment in a neighborhood mailing list I lurk on that we are so easy to jump on kids (often of color) with those booming stereo cars which are annoying but last less than a minute as they drive by, but no one wants to jump on the old (usually white) guys with the loud lawn mowers that go on and on and on and on and on....I think it's something good to think about. I've hated both sounds as long as they've existed, but then I never grew up with a gas mower even though all the neighbors had them.

10:47 AM  
Blogger Stan said...

Strangely I wasn't the one made responsible for mowing the lawn by my parents. My parents made my sister responsible for firing up the gas lawn mower and whacking the grass.

Other than mowing the lawn a few times for my parents I've never had to use a gas mower as an adult.

Even with the fairly large lawn at Grant Street we used a push mower.

5:04 PM  
Blogger Ann said...

My parents would pay me a small, meager pittance for mowing their lawn with a push mower. You know how large that lawn is, Stan. It about killed me, and that was when I was young at the peak of my strength and fitness. I was so broke that I'd take the bait, and feel like hell for the rest of the day. For some reason, push mowers work the most havoc on my hands.

I'm glad you mow the lawn now, Stan. Last time I tried it my allergies were so bad it about killed me again.

If we get rid of all the grass and use only "steppable ground cover", that would be fine by me. Actually, a goat would be ok too, but it would probably also eat the flowers and I don't think they allow them in the city. Mmm....goat cheese...

5:11 PM  

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