"Musical" Cars or Which Why Do I Go?.
My own little dead end got
paved last summer. It was a pain the you know what as the 14 or so
families on the block had to find places to move their cars and leave them.
The later you got home from work, the further away you had to park. Unfortunately
for me (at least when it comes to the parking situation), I go to work early
and get home late most days in the summer. (But then I get home early on
Friday.)
I don't recall if I bitched and
moaned about last year's situation. (Knowing me I probably did.)
But I/we did get a really nicely paved street as a result. A year later
it's still pretty nice.
Over the past several months or
so, many of the town streets have been closed off and portions dug up as public
service started to replace/repair old piping. It needs to be done, but it
seemed like roads were closed one day and open the next and then closed again
and then open...well, you get the idea. And it wasn't just in my town.
As I would try to figure out my way to get to the main highway to get to
work (or to get home), I never knew which roads would be open when. There
were signs for roadwork, but weeks would go by and there would be nothing.
Then, all of a sudden it would start again. Then stop. And
then start. (There is one particular road/area that I frequently used
that has been opened/closed for at least 3 months!) I'm sure there is a
rhyme and reason to all of this, but no one has told me and I sure can't figure
it out! This all makes my commute a "fun" (ha!) game as I try
to figure out which way to go and what to avoid. And since it's
constantly changing, I always have to be on my toes or I'll end up on the road
to nowhere. (Which has happened once or twice; usually when I am in a
rush and trying to get home!)
More recently, a main thoroughfare
in my town was closed due to paving. This road is about a mile long and
pretty well traveled. There are also a lot of home and housing complexes
on it. For all the people who lived there, it was going to be a major
pain NOT to be able to access their homes. But, it was ALSO a major pain
for me (and all the residents of my block) as it is the ONLY way in and out of
our street. There are also three one way streets that would be affected.
Where were ALL these people going to park? (I'm sure all you city
dwellers would have some creative answers and at this point are telling me to
stop my bitching... You're right. I shouldn't be bitching...but I am.
Plus I didn't sign up for this ride.)
What started out as a few days,
grew longer and longer. With the holiday weekend, work was put on hold
for several days. (And here I thought that by going away for the long weekend
we could avoid some of the mess and stress...WRONG!) While you COULD
drive on the avenue, it was torn up and cones, barrels and signs made it into
an obstacle course.
When actual paving began it
really became a game of musical cars. Told we'd have till 7 AM to move
our cars (or not be able to move at all), I happened to notice police closing
down streets as early as 6:15 (while I was out on my morning walk). I
hurried back to figure out where I should put the car. The street across
from our dead end was jam packed. The bank parking lot nearby was pretty
full at 6:30 (never mind the fact that the bank doesn't open until 9) and
parking in their lot would require some maneuvering to get me going in the
right direction. So instead, I parked at the local strip mall lot,
purchased a paper at the bagel store (promising that I'd move my car within an
hour since parking is only good there for 30 minutes) and walked up the hill
(through a semi-private driveway) to my house. When I returned home at
night it was late enough that I could get across the road and into my driveway.
The real challenge came AFTER
the holiday weekend. Since the roadwork would start up again on the 5th,
I'd need to get in and OUT of my block before 7 AM. Driving up from the
NJ shore I knew traffic could be an issue. So we left before 5 AM (hubby
and I; the boy stayed behind for more Marine Science Camp fun). We got
home a little after 6, just as the construction trucks were starting to move.
I pulled in, dropped off hubby and luggage and pulled back out again
parking a half a mile away. (I am not exaggerating...I had my walking app with
me!)
That evening, I could see that
nothing in our section had been done (despite the entire road being closed
down). According to all notifications we had received, paving would be
completed by the end of the next day.
My husband kept a close eye on
the paving progress the next day. (As did several of our neighbors...this
game of musical moving cars was obviously getting old for all of us.) He
was there when a neighbor asked when the road would be open again and the work
crew said the road should be open by eight that night.
Keeping that in mind, I had a
"brilliant" idea. We had some errands that we needed to do.
Why not do them that evening? By the time we finished and had
dinner at our local diner, it would be after eight. With a "perfect"
plan in mind, I drove not home, but to the local strip mall where my husband
met me. We did our errands, had dinner and went grocery shopping.
We were done by 8:30 and happily headed home...
...You know where this is
going, don't you?
Not only was the road still
closed, it was blocked by multiple barrels and yellow caution tape.
(Obviously left by the construction crew, NOT the police). So I
pulled up as close as I could (which was not easy as cars were parked on both
sides of the street I was on...something that is NOT legal), dropped hubby off
(thankfully we did NOT have a lot of groceries that night). I backed up
carefully (again not easy) and managed to find a spot on another street.
Meanwhile, other cars, were breezing down hoping to get across only to find
the road still blocked. Seems like a LOT of people had been told the road
would be open that night.
I'll admit, I was pretty
peeved. (It didn't help that a bunch of kids were on their bikes enjoying
the new pavement.) Ducking under the tape I stormed up the block. I
was not a pretty sight! I stormed back down around 10 that night...tape
and barrels were still up. ARUGH! I was ready to take those barrels
and throw them! (Where I do not know.) But being a law abiding
citizen (and a scaredy cat), I just fumed.
The next morning, Friday, it
was raining, so I didn't go out for my morning walk. But by 5:30 I
noticed that the neighbors had their newspaper. The only way it could
have appeared was if the road was open. The rain had let up, so I ran outside.
There were no cars on our street, but the block was open. The lines
of cars on the blocks surrounding us were still full to capacity (so obviously
no one else was aware of the situation). I found my car and drove home.
And just in time...because by
the time I had to head out to work it was pouring again. (Hurrah for me!)
I am, of course, grateful that
the road has been paved. No more pot holes to dodge. An easy
surface to walk on. (I'd been avoiding the area on my morning walks.)
But it WAS a big pain in the...And while I had to be done, it could have
been better planned/organized. (But that's could be the obsessive planner
in me talking.) Besides now that our road has been paved and this main thoroughfare
has been paved, we should be good for quite some time.
...of course there's the sign
that has just appeared on the highway by us (which abuts the road that was just
paved): "Caution: Roadwork starting July 10th."
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