When they pave paradise and
put up a parking lot who thinks about repainting the
stripes, refurbishing the speed bumps, plowing the snow,
removing the sand, repairing the cracks caused by the
weeds trying to turn it back into paradise or at least a
weed museum?
So last week the condo management
office sent out a notice that we had to move all cars out
of the parking lot by 7:30 AM yesterday and today so the
parking lot painter can repaint the stripes and the
numbers and redo the speed bumps. This is slightly better
than having to move the cars by 7:00 AM for the
sand-removal people in spring and infinitely better than
having to move the cars on three minutes notice while
covered with a foot of snow so they can plow the parking
lot and knock the fences over. At least I suppose it is.
Especially if you get up at 6:30 or 7:00 anyway, which I
don't.
Ask me if I slept Sunday night? Why
ask? I did not. And when I dragged my wretched sleepless
body down the stairs to move the car at 7:15, what did my
wondering eyes behold but rain. Grrr. I went back to bed
and screwed up my entire day. Not having received any
cancellation notice for today, I got up at 6:30 again.
Rain again. All it does is rain. Actually how can I tell
if it's raining? It's so humid that air is
indistinguishable from rain.
I dared not go back to bed for fear
I would sleep through the shrink appointment. So how to
explain to my therapist that I have an anxiety disorder
entirely concerned with moving my car out of the condo
parking lot? I mean, I tore my rotator cuff dashing for
the phone on account of the parking lot situation. Night
before last I lost an entire night's sleep because of the
parking lot situation. And that's just the urgent "move
the car" anxiety. Then there's the neighbors blocking me
in anxiety and the crazy lady coming at me with a shovel
anxiety. And let's not forget those weeds growing up
through the cracks, shall we?
I actually found myself trying to
mow the parking lot today - just the part next to my
walk. Pajama Woman has been complaining about the place
looking like "the projects" because the landscapers
haven't cut the grass (really weeds) in the little common
areas between our yards and the parking lot. She
announced to me the other day that she is going to plant
flowers - geraniums and black-eyed susans and maybe
daylilies - in the strip between my fence and the parking
lot. Keep in mind this area is not adjacent to her unit
or her yard in any way. It's my yard, my fence. She did
not ask permission to plant there. She
announced her intention to do so. This is
particularly weird because the grass/weeds adjacent to
her yard are way more overgrown than mine and are
spreading to the parking lot. There's like a wall of
weeds between the parking lot and her walk. I don't know
how her little tiny white mini-dog can climb over weeds
that high.
So, yeah, I got out my newish
cordless weed whacker, which I can barely lift due to the
aforementioned rotator cuff thing, and mowed from my
fence to the parking lot, making a nice clean manicured
crabgrass area. Then I mowed the crabgrass and chickweed
in the parking lot cracks in front of my lot. I carefully
stopped directly lined up with her fence so it is
absolutely clear that I took care of "my" property. I
edged where her crabgrass extended over my walk. From
edge to edge the common area outside my "exclusive use"
area now looks well-manicured. Hers on the other hand
looks like a jungle.
And you can imagine what I am going
to do when she plants stuff on the common area next to my
fence. Mowed geraniums. Think of it.
