Construction in the City

I experienced a very Carrie (of Sex and the City) moment this morning. My city has been full of construction since…well, the entire summer so far, and the newest addition has been sparkly new curbs. I was trying to cross the street to get to the office, and I guess I stepped on the wrong part of the curb, because all of a sudden all these construction guys were yelling at me, “heyyyyy, heyyyy, get off the curb! Get off the curb!!! Off the curb lady!!! Ohhhhhh, ohhhhhh off the curb!!” Geez, I thought construction workers only behaved like that in movies and/or TV shows! It’s not like the curb was roped off or anything! How am I possibly supposed to know that I am not to be stepping on it?

A similar thing happened to Carrie in one episode of Sex and the City where she stepped on some freshly paved sidewalk, and the construction workers had about the same reaction as I experienced this morning, except there might have been swearing. The whole thing would have seemed much more charming had it happened in NYC, because you almost expect it, but in St. Catharines, it was just…rude. How about starting with, “excuse me, but could you not step on that curb”, instead of ramping it up to full on yelling right away. Plus, it’s 8 o’clock in the morning, I’m not fully awake yet! Anyway, lesson learned: avoid the curbs in construction zones.

While I am on the topic of construction, I think I will rant a little bit longer. I enjoy watching large machines operate as much as the next person, okay, not as much as the guy who sits outside EVERY morning for hours to watch the big machines do their thang, but holy crap, when giant, metal, spiky things on wheels (wow, don’t you love my knowledge of proper machinery names?) are swinging 10 feet above your head, it becomes slightly scary. I’m not sure what the safety protocols are in this city, but you can be driving your car down the street, la de da, then all of a sudden, a huge backhoe (there it is!) shovel is hovering just mere feet above your car. Why allow people to drive down the road? My car is small, and I’m pretty sure it would be crushed instantly by a backhoe. The same thing happens when you are walking down the sidewalk. I’ve found that the best way to avoid getting hit with a random bit of machinery as you round a corner, is to first make eye contact with whatever construction worker is running said machinery, and wait until he waves you by. If you don’t do this, walking the downtown streets can be a leeetle dangerous. I suppose it is a good lesson in learning to watch out for your surroundings, but as a person who is easily distracted by life, I could be walking along minding my own business, when randomly, the song Barbara Ann by the Beach Boys pops into my head, and I’m suddenly lost in my own little world of wondering if The Beach Boys just improvised that entire song as they went along, because it is so haphazard and who was Barbara Ann anyway, and the next thing you know I’ve fallen into a large pit or something. Danger!

I’ll be excited when the construction is over with…I will not miss the constant noise or the mini earthquakes that happen in our office. It’ll be nice to have our downtown back to normal, and it’ll be nice to be able to return to my daydreaming state without having to worry about potential calamities.