1/20/10

Up on the Rooftop


That's a picture of my house (compare to my masthead above) and the Firestone, in 1951, back when God laid an egg. (I grabbed it off the Florida Photo Archive Collection, one of the coolest spots on the web if you like that sort of thing.)

60 years later, the trees are bigger, the road is wider, and the Firestone no longer sells gas, but both buildings are still there and holding on. Normally, they're the best neighbors I could ask for. No funny smells, no littered lot, gone at night, and not fussy about us using their back wall to show movies on at night. Well, they may not know about that last part, but you get the idea. Through some right of easement situation, we use the alley that runs along the back of their property to access our parking lot - it's the only way in or out of our complex. Otherwise we play catch as can catch on the downtown streets.

So, Monday night I'm sitting in my house doing my best imitation of a little old man, afghan tucked around me in my chair, eating shepard's pie my sister made, when my friend and I hear a great big BOOM! Normally, a sound like that means that a few people are having a very bad night on Monroe Street. We jump up and peer out the front window, but no wreck. Must have been a block or two away, so we return to the tv. Then, again, BOOM! BANG! and people babbling. What the fuck?!

I jump into my flip flops and head outside to figure out if I need to call 911. It seems to be mostly coming from the back, and as I round the corner I realize, between the giant lights and the heavy machinery I can see poking up over the lip of the building, what's going on. They're reroofing the god damned Firestone.

And it's going to take 3 weeks, dusk to dawn.
And I won't have access to my parking lot entrance that entire time.
And there are chunks of concrete all down in our lot and my side yard.
And it sounds like the demolition derby.

They could have at least warned us. The joys of living downtown. Anybody need a house sitter for a couple of days?

16 comments:

Lois said...

That sucks. I work in the Fine Arts Bldg at FSU and they started re-roofing our building last May. They were supposed to be done by the time fall semester started. It's January and they are still re-roofing. It's driving everyone nuts. They could have built a whole new building by now!

That Hank said...

That sounds terrible. If these guys take that long, there's going to be trouble, because I need my sleep.

Benjamin said...

My sympathies. I hope the next few weeks pass quickly for you.

That Hank said...

Thanks! Honestly, by the end of the week I won't even notice it.

Ms. Moon said...

Honey- come stay in our house. Plenty o' room. And always grub.
Love...Mama
P.S. Taylor can hang out too.

May said...

Oh good lord. That shit sucks. The picture is awesome though. You could come move in with me. My cat will bite you in the night, but the offer stands.

That Hank said...

Thanks, y'all! I will actually be fine, of course, but I wanted to bitch about it a little bit.

Steph(anie) said...

Bitching always invites suggestions for solutions. You can't stay with me though.

Sarcastic Bastard said...

What a drag, man. The photo is cool though.

Love,

SB

Petit fleur said...

Back when God laid an egg...?

I love that. At least you still have your sense of humor!

Hope it's over soon darlin.

xo

That Hank said...

I think it was Billy that coined that phrase.

Petit fleur said...

Ha! Works either way. You both make me laugh.

We have some great pix of Gman oggling over his tats, and one of him gnawing on Billy's arm and making the funniest face! I just got all the pix from like the last couple years from Marc's puter onto mine, so I'll send you copies.

xo

Rachel said...

I have mutinous thoughts every time they send out the goddamn snow plows at 3am because of that obnoxious backing-up screeching/beeping noise. And I swear they plow in front of my house for 4 straight hours, but when I go to leave for work, no snow has been removed. This goes on from about November thru April.
Ah, the joys of civilization. At 3am, I think it's highly overrated.

That Hank said...

I can't imagine dealing with snow and plows on this street.

Anonymous said...

Get a pair of slippers instead of flipflops and some good headphones to drown out the noise. You should be ok. Have a good weekend if you can. Loved your blog.

That Hank said...

Thanks! Luckily, I survived the noise. Now I'm just waiting to see what the new sign they are putting up looks like - I was partial to the old, classic one.