Okay, so I don’t take great pictures but can you see the backhoe and the pile of rubble in the one? (Click to enlarge if you can’t get a good view of the rubble.) And then there’s that sad looking hollowed out attic in the other. I wasn’t able to get a picture of the jackhammer in action – didn’t want to get that close.
This demolition work is being done two houses away. My entire house shakes and shudders while it’s going on. The wretched LOUD noise and thumping ka-booms start at approximately 7:00 a.m. I can hear & feel them now.
This is what I’ve been listening to for the past week and a half while writing/working at my computer. I amaze myself with my powers of concentration or I’m simply writing dribble and will come to that realization when I read over the hard copy.
Aside from the fact this is a pain in the ass (and ears) to live with, it’s also kind of sad. Well, it’s sad to a sappy-sentimental someone such as I. Yet another tear-down in the neighbourhood. Another charming home bites the dust (literally) to make way for a mini-mansion. Dear lord, some of these newly built homes actually have little turrets! For what? To watch for the approach of enemy forces?
Some have itty-bitty porches off the second floor master bedroom. Aesthetically pleasing? Not to me. And I have never seen a single soul on one of these porches. Can’t imagine why the owners wouldn’t want to watch the local traffic or take in a road hockey game while sipping on some wine. How romantic would that be?
Yes, the character and appearance of my neighbourhood are changing. Of course, so are mine. But at least I’m not sporting turrets. Yet.
18 comments:
I think it's a bit sad when I drive through 'cookie cutter' neighborhoods. I love a home with personality!
Hope you have some ear plugs. I find them incredibly helpful when I'm trying to study in a noisy place.
No writing dribble here. You are just as wise and witty as ever!
It's happening much too often. And your neighbourhood is one that has always held such charm (IMO). I love the older homes..they have character, not to mention how rich they are in the history of the lives lived in them.
For what? Turrets (you sounded just like Rick Mercer there!! lol!!)??? And balconies off bedrooms...I saw something on channel 14 yesterday -- the Princess Margaret dream home..with a balcony off the BATHROOM...say what???
Jiggle on...and get some ear plugs!!
I'm not a fan of new homes either. Or of the destruction of homes that were built solidly. Our home is almost 80 yrs. and I love it dearly.
Beth, my empathy is with you. As you know from reading my blog I moved into my home 22 years ago and I couldn't see even one house from my home. Since then over 50 houses have been built within a mile, forests have been cleared and I can now see 18 houses from my home, 12 of which are McMansions.
We were just driving through Markham this weekend and I haven't been up that way in forever. I mean there used to be fields up there. Now it's just crappy subdivision after crappy subdivision as far as the eye can see...
I hear your pain, I live in High Park and the road work on Roncesvalles has to be done but man I could go without the jack hammer at 7am!
Charlotta-love:
Ear plugs would help with the noise but I’d still feel those BIG BOOMS!
Deidra:
Thank you! I’m hoping the story I’m writing manages to turn out witty, too.
sherry lee:
Maybe that balcony is for the men to use? ;)
Rick Mercer! I take that as a great compliment.
apriliniowa:
I love mine, too. Alas, it will probably end up a tear-down when I finally sell.
Guy:
The (sad) transformation where you live is far worse than mine. To have lost such a beautiful view and surroundings...
Why is bigger so often considered better?
Reeny:
When I see suburban sprawl, I think, “Well, people have to live somewhere.” I’m just glad I’m still in TO.
rat-a-tat-tat-tat-tat...pop and advil and carry on...
Reeny:
I made a typo! "and advil"
See? This noise is getting to me! I never make typos! ;)
It bugs me rather a lot when perfectly lovely and usable houses are torn down. The environmentalist in myself has a little fit.
Change. We must accept change. Change is good, right? Maybe it was more expensive to fix the house than it was to build a new on in its place?
Sorry you have to deal with the distraction. Hope it's over with now.
The only thing worse than undergoing renovations is living next door to someone who is undergoing renovations. My deepest sympathies. It sounds like you need to get away for a while.
Good Luck with the noise Beth.
You may need some Frankenstein Bolts.
I use them all the time when I am in the bookstores reading and people around me are talking way too loud. I call them Frankenstein Bolts because you look like Frankenstein a bit......... you scrunch them up and then shove them in your ears and they expand.
These seem to be your only hope until your neighbors realize that the house was OK even before they started pounding it to smithereens!
I need eccentricity and charm and unique flavor to thrive.
oreneta:
Supply and demand or demand and supply – either way, such a shame.
Shari:
Not all change is good! And this distraction won’t be over any time soon…
Bodhi Chicklet:
I need to get away for many reasons...a trip to the cottage is in the works.
cip:
I don’t mind looking like Frankenstein in the privacy of my own home…
Maggie May:
Ditto – both in my surroundings and in myself!
I feel for you. We had constructions in our neighborhood a few years ago and the blasting was bad. I felt we were being bombed every hour or so!
But it's getting cold, so they should work quickly ;-)
People come up with the oddest renovations in my neighbourhood too.
My absolute "favourite" on new houses is the portico - two storeys high and to protect what? We live in the tropics and the rain comes horizontally sometimes - totally useless!
Finials are another - what are they for? Even a bird would find it useless to land on and if they slipped it could be mortally wounding.
That is exactly what is happening in my husband's old neighborhood. All these charming, beautiful older homes are being torn down to make Mc Mansions. It is crazy and they go up higher too. It does take the charm out of the neighborhood and the noise is nonstop. I swear, they pay tons of money just for the land, when the home that sits on it is so beautiful, and full of character. I don't get it.
Hopefully, the noise will stop soon and you can have some peace back.
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