Street Closed Forever

I'm sure it happens in other cities, and that it bugs the people in those cities as much as it bugs me. Maybe more, if it impinges on their life more than it impinges on mine. 'It' is a street that seems to be perpetually closed or at least, under construction for repairs. In my town, that street is 114^th, between W Dodge and Pacific.

It didn't bother me too much until a year ago, when we discovered a new restaurant, now our favorite eating place, just off the corner of 114^th & W Dodge. I could get there on Dodge, but I seldom drive that section of Dodge; it's a busy, busy street, and I would rather drive on less-busy 114^th. At that time, it was under construction for repairs, but that is such a normal circumstance in our town, I didn't think much of it.

Maybe it is our favorite restaurant, but in this economy, we don't go that often. We went about a month ago, figuring the repairs were done, but no, they weren't. In fact, at one point, this fairly major street was down to one lane. That was a little bit odd, but surely it wouldn't last long, right?

Yesterday I was headed to the same area (not for the restaurant, but for another business in that area), and 114^th Street was completely closed! In that neighborhood, the back streets wander all over the place, and if you don't know them well, you could go in circles for the rest of your gas. I continued along Pacific to 120^th, only to find it was also closed as they repaved the surface. I gritted my teeth, turned around and headed back along Pacific to 102^nd, which was not closed, and I got there, eventually, a bit late for my appointment.

Some cities charge the construction company fines when street repair or construction takes longer than the contract allows. But this city has its own 'street repair crews', who seem to delight in tearing things apart all over the city in the spring, then I guess they all go on vacation for the summer, and sometime in the fall, they might start fixing things again. And sometimes, a particular street will take far longer than 1 year to get back to normal. It ought to be a crime.

Fourth of July Memories

I like fireworks as much as the next guy. As a kid, I shot off bottle rockets, waved sparklers around in the air, lit the little round pellets to watch little black snakes of ash emerge from the smoke, and even if it wasn't July, I was known to buy caps and set them off with a hammer on the sidewalk. (I loved the smell of gunpowder, and the noise was gravy on the biscuits.) When dad – or the neighbors – got ready to set off a small supply of roman candles and fountains, I was happy to sit on the ground and watch the pretty colors.

I was a kid. Fireworks happened once a year, so such a display was exciting, an experience I certainly didn't have every day. I don't remember having that experience before the age of 8, but my memory has been developing holes lately.

Since then, it seems like fireworks have become an everyday thing. Sure, they're sold on every street corner just before the 4^th of July, but they're also set off at every theme park. I've heard of them being lit after a night game, at wedding receptions, parties... They aren't a rare experience anymore.

For the past week, the neighbors up and down the street have been setting them off. I could hear them in the morning when I got up, and they continued long past dark. I can't imagine the noisy fireworks are as much fun during the day as they are after dark when you can clearly see the colors, but they shoot them off anyway. How much did the neighbors spend on fireworks this year?

And when are they going to stop? The dog has been hiding under my chair all week.