Digging Time

This is at the corner of our street, looking left.

and this is looking right, up toward the bus stop.

Our street is blocked and the bus must now take a detour,

like the rest of us.

They are replacing old, eroded water pipes.

Cap-de-la-Madeleine sector is said to have the 

best-tasting water in the area.

Am not sure, but I think those long, thin blue pipes over there
will be the new ones.

Of course they have to fill in all the huge holes and
  repave the road when they're finished.  A neighbor
told me last night that it'll take several more weeks.

It's not so bad, except there's this one truck that makes this annoying peeping sound, CONSTANTLY, all day long, from 8 a.m. till after 5:00 p.m. when they stop work.  Try trying to concentrate on anything when you're at your desk in the middle of something--it's like having a bird on your shoulder peep-peep-PEEPing in your ear, nonstop.

I envy people who can block such things out:  construction noise, a TV blaring, someone yakking in the background, heavy-metal "music", a child screeching.  I knew a five-year-old Chinese girl once who was able to do that.  She was amazing.  She had the ability to concentrate on the task at hand in the midst of total, mind-scattering chaos, when all the children around her were jumping up and down and the teachers themselves distracted and frazzled.  This was years ago. The family moved back to Berlin and I lost track of them but heard later that she'd gone to Berkeley, majoring in math, I think.  I wish I knew her secret.  Is that something you're born with--or can it be learned?

The work guys, having lunch on the hillside.