destruction chronicles - paved with good intentions
I am curious as to how long I will get to appreciate all the shiny new streets and sidewalks and driveways before the snow starts. I am very ready for all of this to be over now, please. It's almost done, it has to be.On Monday I was home sick but I did happen to get out of bed in time to see a man slice up our driveway with a very powerful handsaw.
I'm sort of glad I staggered out of bed when I did Monday afternoon because I was able to close the windows in the living room to keep out the huge amount of dust that thing kicked up. Also it was loud. Not the sort of thing one wants to hear with a migraine so bad it's causing vertigo and nausea. Luckily most of the driveways had been done the week before - no idea why they waited until I was home sick. Oh! Maybe they wanted to be sure I could capture it on film for my chronicles! How nice of them!Today we were woken up at the crack of dawn by the sounds of someone trying to tear down our house.Or...
Perhaps it was this here tractor pulling up our asphalt and the men with pickaxes helping them. I tell you what, at 7AM, with your open window right above the driveway? It sure sounds like someone is trying to tear down your house, or at least break through the front walls. Yeesh. I leaped out of bed and woke up Shawn and said "I think we need to move the car NOW or we'll be on the bus!"And may I take a moment here to tell you all how ticked off I am that even with my earplugs in this wakes me up and yet Shawn sleeps through the whole bloody thing? REALLY! What the hell!? This is so unfair! Gah!But I digress, or as a lovely blog friend of mine says, I'm tigressing.
Since the line was so close to where the car was the men had to help the tractor pull up some of the driveway. I am sort of baffled that they didn't want us to move the car (Shawn ran out and asked them). How do you explain "A tractor dropped asphalt on it" to your insurance company?Then it took about 5 men to figure out what to do with some tough roots and weeds under the patio stones. I kid you not.
They pondered this a while actually, it was funny to watch. Best was the two older men with big burly mustaches tried to poke at the weeds a little and seemed to have been thrown off by their toughness because the gestured at each other as if to say "Unh, huh, huh huh (french person noise) dis is impossible, eh? We cannot dig up dis weed!" Only in French. So they left them for the younger (Young Cousin John) guy to do and they walked away and smoked cigarettes. This is NOT a joke!
Then Young Cousin John used the "ba-dump-a-dump" machine (as I called it) to flatten down the gravel they raked into place. Then he left it behind our car and went on to the next driveway. They promised we'd be able to get the car out by 8:30 but then they sort of left their heavy (had to be moved by tractor) ba-dump-a-dump machine behind our car. *tsk* So I said to Shawn we should go back outside and start to get into the car to see if they'll remember us.
They did.
And when we got home today -
WOOHOO! Paved driveway! Half of it anyhow. Was really hoping for the entire thing since there wasn't much left to add to it.
But they did do this...
Not entirely sure why. I mean, they didn't fill the grooves in all the way and the car wasn't even in the driveway today! Not sure what this deal is but they did it on my neighbour's driveway, too. Maybe there was a gap between the new pavement and where the grooves were in the old? Maybe it levels it out? But it still drops down at the end.
And it LOOKS STUPID. I am way too OCD to have my driveway look like this. ARGH!
Not to mention they didn't put our patio stones back either. So it's sort of hazardous right now.
We don't even have a cone this time to note the hazard. You'd think we would. And it's not a very straight line now is it? I mean, even if we put our own stones back (which I refuse to do, they took them up, they can put them back, yo!) it won't line up very well. Plus we're down two full squares that they broke and took away with the trash. So we're OWED two patio stones. Hmm.
And we have this pipe/drain THING sticking up and in our way. Yet another hazard! And there's this gap thing now and a drop and I could break something! Knowing me it's more than possible!
But I am trying to focus on the GOOD things, like,
- our street is paved
- we're getting mail at the house (and today I got a boxalope from Penguin Canada! It's not quite an envelope or a box, it's a BOXALOPE!)
- our driveway is paved
- it's the weekend and I shouldn't be woken up by trucks and tractors beeping at 7 in the morning
- our street and driveway are paved
- I AM GETTING MAIL AT MY HOUSE!
These are all very important and happy things. I can almost see the end... of course even when we think we see the end it just keeps on going and going and going. Sort of like some really long and born English literature book you were forced to read in high school for 90% of your final mark.