June 7, 2013
Dear Everyone:
They keep turning the water off in my community.
Once is inconvenient.
Twice is disruptive. Three
times is positively annoying.
Last week, they closed off part of the street with sawhorses, yellow
tape and some traffic cones.
And they put out brightly-colored paper notices out at the pools, gym,
mailboxes, dumpsters, etc., to let everyone know that they would be
turning the water off all day the following Monday.
(“They” is the ubiquitous “they”, those people who do all that anonymous
stuff. Actually, it’s the
guy who has the master maintenance contract with the
Homeowners
Association and the plumbers who also have some kind of agreement with
said Association.)
It makes sense to shut it off during a weekday, when most people are at
work, and the kids are at school; except that school is closed now for
the summer. Water
emergencies wait for no man.
On Monday, I went out to lunch and hung out at the local branch of the
county library for most of the afternoon, since it has a restroom.
And air-conditioning.
When I got home, the street was still blocked off and there was no sign
that the water had been turned off at any time.
I think “they” realized that The Problem was Bigger than They
Thought.
Soon everyone got brightly-colored notices slipped into the front door
frame, announcing that the water would be shut off on Thursday.
Sure enough, Thursday morning, “they” dug a big hole in the
middle of the street and shut the water off all day.
By the end of the day, around 4:00, “they” decided “they”
couldn’t finish the job quite yet.
New, brightly-colored notices in everyone’s front door; the water
would be off again all day Friday.
Well!!!
I had already tried staying at home on Thursday.
Before they shut the water off, I filled a bucket and several
other large containers with water, “just in case”.
I figured I could hold out for a few hours.
The thing of it is: No
sooner does someone “tell” you that you CAN’T do something than that’s
the one thing you desperately want/need to do.
If you CAN’T use the bathroom, you NEED to use the bathroom.
Ditto washing your hands.
If you ever read the
Mark Twain classics
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
and
The Adventures of Huckleberry
Finn, you may remember a scene in which Huck and Tom had to stay
absolutely still, or risk death and dismemberment.
Huck went on for whole paragraphs about how much he had an itch
in the middle of his back, which he couldn’t scratch, or even reach,
without moving, which would mean instant death, of course.
Once the danger had passed, so had the itch.
So, having spent the whole day Thursday
not using the bathroom, I
opted to spend today in the Library.
Consequently, there was very little need to use the facilities
which were so readily available.
The San Ramon branch of the county library, established 1989, is a
lovely, quiet place. It has
about eight little carrels in a space labeled “Business Alcove” where
you can plug in your laptop computer and use the free
Wi-Fi (after
clicking “I Agree” to the Conditions, of course) to do
Internet
research, or just get caught up on
Dilbert cartoon strips.
When I arrived in the early afternoon, only half the carrels were
occupied.
I spent several hours working on the computer.
Over time, more people came in to use the carrels.
Mothers showed up with small children.
Teenagers arrived.
The place was hopping.
Eventually I packed everything up, made one last trip to the restroom
and headed home.
Where the water was still turned off and the power had gone out.
“Jeannie” said, “Your home has turned into a
Third World
Country.”
Actually, the lights and water all came back on in about a half-hour.
My computer is re-established with external monitor, wireless
keyboard and mouse, Internet connection all in place.
God’s in His Heaven and all’s right with the world.
Love, as always,
Pete
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