Look, I'm doing it!!

Sure it's only two days in a row, but with the interest of Sandra and SuzannaBanana, I'll keep at it, I'm sure - thank you guys!

So, what's new around these parts?  One of the biggest things (literally) has been the almost year-long, still ongoing, renovation next door.  Immediately next door.  I have learned lots of valuable lessons during the course of the year, for example, construction workers seem to feel themselves to be above the bylaws that govern the rest of us (not starting work before 7am, not parking illegally, not blocking driveways for extended periods of time), and they don't take kindly to having those bylaws enforced (ask me how I know).

I've learned that there is no point in dusting with a project this size going on next door, as the dust makes it's way through closed windows and doors and is everywhere, all the time.  The noise is perpetual, whether from power tools, noisy trucks, or the workers themselves yelling at each other, often as early as 6:30am, and none of it ever achieves the status of 'background noise'.

I think ultimately I've learned that current and longstanding residents, in our case some as long as 40 years, have very few rights when confronted with a project like this, and that in the end, the rights belong to those self-entitled few who hold the purse strings.  Or their fathers, who really hold the purse strings.

Bitter?  Me?  Nah... I've just been living through this:

becoming this:

You can see the remnants of the original house, with at least double the width, and more than double the depth.

I know that, from my perspective, a word from the new buyers prior to starting construction would have gone a long, LONG way towards establishing a greater level of tolerance.  As it stands now, a few of us in our little cul de sac are now in a position of open warfare - well, okay, maybe mostly me - but it is ON. I gladly summon our useless city representatives - or less frequently, the police - to help maintain some semblance of order on the street, and have become virtually fearless when dealing with the workers themselves.

So, that's a little of what's new in these parts - there's been lots of much more positive stuff, too, but I was having words with one of the aforementioned workers this morning at 5:45am, and I needed to vent.

Tomorrow, we get positive!