Those Important Neighborhood Support Services

ambulance

UPS truck

Segway cop

Sometimes I don't see all the support services that we have in this city neighborhood and it's easy to forget how useful they are. For instance, there's those cable guys from Verizon or Comcast hanging about on the lines in the alleys. And, every once in a while someone calls an ambulance and it arrives!  It's worth noting that ambulance service is now dispatched much more efficiently than when I first moved to Washington DC when this service was also being used by some for non-emergency visits to local hospitals and consequently, service was more erratic!  Then there's those marvelous UPS (and Fedex) trucks which leave us so much of value on our front porches (ask them to hide stuff under the porch so it doesn't get pinched in the recent wave of thievery!).  And, up until recently, it seemed like we had police patrols using Segways rolling around and preventing drug dealing and other miscreantry. Of course there are other support services, such as police, the US postal service (USPS) and store delivery services like Sears and Peapod (both of which I've used and find very helpful), services that one sees occasionally making a foray into our streets.  And of course now is the season for UHaul and other similar vans as it again is moving time for the more transient population living here. I suppose I could mention the dry cleaners, bars, hospitals and a public library all within walking distance, but I haven't got around to photo'ing all of them yet and didn't want to have too many thumbnail pics jammed into this one blog. I could also mention the mostly 24/7/365 clean running water, gas and electricity but that's really basic infrastructure and might be the subject of another blog about things we take for granted. But these services here really do make our life in the city so much easier, don't you think? And, Thank God!

Sometimes the Signs are Confusing

Lately I've found myself a little amused or puzzled by some signs I've been seeing. Maybe I'm just getting old and not thinking so clearly or maybe I'm just taking things too literally but these three signs pictured here caused me to pause a moment or two to be be sure I understood them. For instance, a large ad by a defense contractor talks about "the value of canes for information dominance."  I'm sure they know what they mean by "canes," but working in the disability community the first thing I think of are white canes used by people with low or no vision. Then there's that troubling reference to "canes" and "dominance" in the same sentence, as if they are referring to some form of punishment. Then in a building I often go into there's the sign with the words "this building promotes a non smoking policy."  Just promote? How tentative is that? Why not just say "No Smoking"?  Why only "promote"?  Seems a bit vague, doesn't it, like I can smoke in the building and nothing much will happen as it's just "a building promotion." Then parked nearby was the truck with the sign that says "Driver does not carry cash" but just below that, someone has added another sign that said "only cashews." In fact, this pair of signs was on the back of the delivery truck as well. So, I wondered, why does the driver carry "only cashews." What's wrong with peanuts, for instance? Or walnuts?  Then, silly me, I realized it was about "cash" and not nuts so I went "ha ha ha" and wondered who thought this up.  Just idle thoughts on the way to work that tell you how my mind goes off in odd directions sometimes.

The Big Dig Downtown DC at H and 9th Streets NW

big hole at 11th and H st NW

Just one of the concrete trucks

I've been in awe of the big dig going on at the site downtown at the block between 9th and 11th and H and I streets NW for the past year. I've been watching the action as I take a bus by this site often. First it was a demolition of the old DC convention center with literally tons of debris and dust created and trucked out. Then they started digging the ground out with literally tons and tons of brown clayey earth being taken out in those larger Mack trucks. This then became a huge brown hole that I kept meaning to photo but missed it. Then they drove piles around the whole perimeter, framing the huge pit with wooden planks. That pile driving noise must have annoyed many of the people working in the buildings overlooking the site, or at the nearby hotel. It's now at the stage where they are putting down the concrete floor and hundreds of tons of concrete seem to be going in there. There are at least five cranes looming over the site.  Hundreds of men are working in the pit site, and now they are building the floors and whatever it takes to put up a new construction. I've been meaning to photograph this for a while but it's only now that I got to it. And I'm amazed by how fast the work goes!

Serious Crash on Route 7 East, Virginia

When I drove home from Leesburg, Virginia today about 5 pm traffic was tied up for about 45 minutes. I suspected an accident but hoped it was just back-up from all the construction going on around Tyson's Corner or maybe just heavier-than-usual Christmas shopping. But about 25 minutes into the 10 mile-an-hour crawl, I saw flashing blue lights and orange blinking lights up ahead and knew that some accident had occurred. By the time I got to the site of the accident they were cleaning it up. The car that had been impacted the most -- that is destroyed-- had been hoisted onto a tow truck. I think there had been ambulances and maybe a fire-truck or two. Apparently a lot of gasoline or oil had been spilled so there was a small crew pouring sand or gravel onto the liquid and then shoveling it up. I couldn't look too long but I was astounded and shocked by what little I was able to see as I drove past (and snapped this photo quickly!). Of course, right after, the road was totally clear and I was able to speed home, at normal speed, you can be sure.  What can the sight of the remains of an accident do for us but remind us at the very least to drive more carefully, more respectfully of each other and to pay closer attention.

Get me out of the Drilling and Digging Noises

For the past ten weeks -- or even longer -- they (whoever they are) have been waking me up each morning drilling and digging on the street outside my house. Just when I want to roll over for another 5 minute snooze, the gouging, whirring, screeching, crunching, dragging sound of heavy machinery starts up propelling me to unGodly words and unladylike oaths and forcing me out from under the cozy covers and flannel sheets that cuddle us each night. Apparently, there's some gas pipes being replaced that is causing all the fuss. But it's been a noisy, long drawn process and it's still not over. The street has many large holes in it, covered with one inch thick sheets of metal bolted down and those orange traffic cones scattered about and one of those hideous blue portable toilets smack dab in the middle of the sidewalk for the workmen. All the earth digging has kicked up lots of dust so our cars are covered in dried up clay in addition to the autumn leaves that find their way into every crack of the car. I don't know where I'm going with the blog but it's your basic whine about a public works project and its noise and inconvenience. Don't get me started on the parking places lost to trucks and piles of earth and so-called tree protector fences that aren't protecting anything. Usually, our street in the fall is pretty with orange and yellow maple leaves and the last of the roses and marigolds. This year, it's been mud and dust and drilling and digging noises for weeks and no end in sight.

Vans Full of Money

You see these vans full of money all over the city if you stop and look a while and don't let the hustle and bustle of the traffic blur in front of your eyes. While waiting for the Route 80 bus at the Kennedy Center, along came this big ole Hummer-looking Dunbar money pick-up truck on a Sunday (!) afternoon. It reminded me that in all cities you will see these trucks going by, doing their business. I don't spend much time wondering how much money is in them, or where they are going, or what happens next with the boxes or bags of cash they carry. Is it cash or do they also take checks?  I do observe how there are usually two or three guys guarding what is other people's property and what a responsible, invisible and thankless job they have. I find myself always a bit more alert if I focus on these vans as movies have conditioned me to think of hold-ups and shoot-ups involving money vans. Alas, I've never been a witness, thank God, and don't have to worry about the car plate number of the get-away car or ducking the bullets if they start flying.  But, like the water we take for granted, the bags of money are being moved about within a system of their own. Seeing the van on the street is just the tip of that iceberg, in my humble opinion.