Day 5 - 194 -- Being Home

Friday, and when I left the house today there were no construction crews on the street. Two weeks ago, the replacement of the town sidewalk began. This is only on my side of the street. A narrow boulevard of grass is next to the curb, then the sidewalk and then our yards. No use of the driveway has been in effect for a nine days. I did drive in later on Wednesday, noting that there was a few inches between the entryway and the sidewalk. Last evening, this was filled with asphalt -- an upgrade from the gravel that has always been in place. Later in the evening, several of us drove back into our driveways. I've been parking behind one of the apartment houses across the street (with permission) and the past two evenings parked in a private lot behind the house until the workers cleared the driveway and street. On Monday, the contractor had parked in my driveway, when I was told I couldn't drive across the new cement <sigh>. On my way out for the day, I asked that he move out of my driveway (he'd let another car in behind him, too). His response was that it was just someone's driveway and no one was parking there -- a poor justification from my standpoint. He told me all I needed to do was ask, which is what I'd done. I also noted that he could have done the same -- a little courtesy could go a long way. In a passive-aggressive response to my simple request, that evening I found the front lawn and driveway were being used as a staging area. Really? This was a bit less the following day, but there were still coolers and water bottles littering the driveway. Now, I am one of the few houses back from the street and not built right up to the town sidewalk, so there aren't many other places -- but that isn't a good enough reason to use private property when the town property is available complete with grass. Very odd week that brought much stress as it felt like strangers were invading my space <smile>. When I drove home tonight, I saw the full crew at a new site on Town property, so work on our street must be officially done. YAY!

The concept of home as a safe place without intrusions is deep within each of us. Any threat to this safe enclave can bring anxiety. I've encountered this with roofers, painters, or neighbours (once choosing to practice their golf chip shots on my front lawn <shaking head>). Remaining calm to ask people to move along or inform when they plan to work in the yard can be challenging. I feel tense but want to be polite -- even in the face of gross impoliteness. It takes so much energy to keep an even tone with no rudeness and then be faced with unexpected aggressive responses that only increase the anxiety levels. Moving all involved to a problem-solving place can be impossible. As one who thinks logically, this type of response makes no sense at all. What is the basis of their lashing out? Do they realize their error and feel embarrassed or does their sense of entitlement lead the response? Either way, spewing vitriol at someone making a polite request is shear silliness.

The feeling of being able to drive straight into my driveway after work felt so freeing. A big weight was lifted. I was home and so was my car <smile>. It may sound silly, but having things back to normal brought a sense of calm that hadn't been there for a few days. Lyrics of the song shared today mention feeling like a prisoner, being uninformed, and waiting a long time -- all feelings I've had in the past couple of weeks. This selection is from the solo career of a drummer for an outstanding rock band. He made history at Live Aid on July 13, 1985 (33 years ago today) when he sang at Wembley Stadium in London, flew on the Concorde to the USA and sang at JFK Stadium in Philadelphia -- each venue was part of the Live Aid concert that was broadcast around the world. Enjoy!

Take Me Home -- Phil Collins