Earlier this summer, there was construction being done outside of my apartment. It's still going on to this day. From what the foreman told me, considering I see the construction workers doing their thing when I leave for work (not only forcing me to say hi but also being cordial to strangers before 9am), he said they were "going to improve the water system", which would essentially benefit our building along with that part of town. I didn't really get what he saying because I'm not well versed in construction talk or whatever Eastern European accent he fashioned.
Still, he's nice and his eyes are kind and he asks me once a week how the sidewalk is looking. I give him a thumbs up and tell him, "you guys are doing a great job!" With all of this construction being done on the water system underneath the sidewalks, this forces them to rip open parts of the sidewalk and close other parts off, forcing passersby to walk on parts of the street along traffic. This is quite an inconvenience sometimes when I'm wearing too long (and also too big) of dress slacks and they brush on the dusty, ground. I sometimes have to wipe the soot off my pants when I get into my car.
Aside from the summer heat and humidity beating down on all of them, they really are a nice group of men. Or as nice as they'll ever be considering it is really hot outside. And they are doing a great job, aside from it taking pretty much all summer to fix. I didn't realize there was so much pipeage to deal with underground. In a way, it reminds me of how someone rebuilds their self to better function in society, in life, and in relationships...
And I guess I'm trying to do that.
According to my landlord, there's a power box underground that eventually people in our unit and the unit next door can access when the power goes out in their apartment unit. I'm not too sure this is going to work but essentially he said people will be able to go underground, into some sort of bomb shelter-like opening and flick a switch. This concept kind of reminds me how Keebler elves work when they make cookies and the power goes out. All in all, I wasn't really listening when he was talking to me, something I should probably work on. And what even confused me more was the connection between water and power so if someone could enlighten me one day then it would make this blog post less confusing.
In order for all of these pipes to be working, the construction workers have to break away pieces of the concrete, the exterior, and expose the pipes. There, in front of our apartment you can see the long, rusty, water pipe exposed in a deep opening in the ground. The pipe is vulnerable and everyone who walks on that side of the street can see what's inside. Like it's getting ready for surgery. Everything. Is. Exposed.
They break away huge chunks of the concrete too. Going around the curve to the parking lot in the back. A majority of the sidewalk is taped off so you can't walk on it. There's rubble, dirt, dust everywhere. You hear drills and jackhammers penetrating through the hard concrete, breaking away layer after layer of thick ground. Men are shoveling and scooping dirt and ground out to deepen the exposed pipeage. That noise when wheel loaders back up echoes in my head, and as it scoops dirt out of the ground to expose more pipe, you see more of a problem that has to be fixed. You can almost jump inside to take a closer look but I'm sure the foreman wouldn't want me doing that in my work clothes. And without a hard hat.
I guess in order to improve the productivity and longevity of an important energy source, a vital organ, you have to open it up to find the root of the problem and fix it so it'll work better in the future. And as you expose every layer of yourself, attempting to fix your own pipe, you're becoming more vulnerable to outside sources. But you kind of let that pain happen, knowing that after it's all over you'll get better. Your pipe will be in tip-top shape. Water, or energy, or whatever source is trying to be fixed will be able to flow again and life will go on as normal. Or as normal as you let it be.
Even after construction is complete, there's always room for error. Something could go horribly wrong and the pipe could encounter a blockage. Something could crack in the pipe, causing water or energy or whatever source is supposed to be flowing to cease. A complete shutdown. A curveball. An expected moment in time where you question whether all this work was done for nothing.
Like doctors, the construction workers have to go into the ground again and fix whatever error occurred. Not only is it like a rush to save a life but it's to lessen the inconvenience for all the tenants, myself included, who rely on this energy source in their apartments. Sometimes, it's an easy fix and other times it's not. And when you're trying to fix a pipe inside yourself, you don't really know how long it will take before you get better. You just know you have to get better in order to fully function to the best of your ability, and to maybe have better relationships, better health, better faith, whatever better you need.
The sidewalk is actually looking a lot better these days. They re-opened one of the traffic lanes that had been blocked off all summer. Since it was closed off, it was forcing all the traffic to merge into one complicated lane. The openings along the sidewalk are now covered with new concrete and sidewalk looks a lot cleaner. The gravel is paved and smoothed down for people to walk on. It kind of feels good walking on new ground, like it's kind of cushy on the bottom of your feet. A lot of the orange cones have been removed too. I now see them not in front of my apartment building but now across the street working on more pipeage there. Although it will take a while for everything in the area to finally be complete, I have no doubt that they will do a great job...and they may even encounter some bumps along the road over there too. But that shouldn't stop them from doin' work!
The pipes after being fixed can still encounter an unexpected problem. A repair to anything can still sporadically collapse. It just takes a little bit of tenderness, a dash of patience, a little faith that slowly but surely things will get better and the pipe, your pipe, whatever pipe that needed fixing, will be in tip-top shape.
Hang in there.
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