“Remoted” – Day 502 (Saturday)

There was a text from a neighbor Tuesday night that a tow truck was coming on Wednesday to remove the dismembered car from the yard next door. This is the red Audi that was briefly road worthy before experiencing issues and being planted in the yard where it sat for about a year. The wheels were removed long ago, the front bumper sat on the ground around the corner at the back of the house, a cluster of air fresheners dangled from the rearview mirror, and the driver side rear window was cracked open a couple inches for months, exposing the interior to the plentiful summer rain. The red car used to be the pot smoking lounge of the guy next door. Last summer, he said the engine was blown, he still owed money on the car, and blamed the automaker for the engine situation. 

There was a recent delivery to the driveway of a silver Mercedes with New Hampshire plates via flatbed truck marked with the AAA logo. The Mercedes has several times been pushed to various parking spots in the vicinity. Apparently, it doesn’t run either, and reminds me of my brother’s ordeals with motor vehicles while in his 20s. There was a series of  two and four wheeled vehicles that suddenly didn’t run or worse, were wrecked in accidents.

The sometimes waterfront parking spot.

Wednesday morning, at the suggestion of the neighbor who sent the text, my car was moved to the driveway on the other side of the house. I rarely park on that side, partly due to the giant puddle that collects there and creates waterfront property every time it rains. Plus, it means schlepping bags through the porch and the dining room and climbing over the gate to get into the kitchen. The spot where I usually park is closer to the back door off the kitchen, which is where the dogs are confined when I go out. 

At night, the guy and the girlfriend who seems to have graduated from occasional visitor to permanent guest/resident convene in either her car, parked on the street, or the recently arrived Mercedes with the New Hampshire plates, parked in the driveway. Cell phone screens glow, the aroma of pot wafts from the cracked open windows, and every night I feel like an intruder to the idyllic scene while taking the dogs outside before bed. One recent night, as I descended the stairs with the dogs to my side of the shared driveway, the guy and girl came out of the house. She cradled a huge bong as if it were a baby and seemed startled by my presence as she came around the car to get in for the nightly smoke.

Friday afternoon's home office
  entertainment.

I wish there was privacy at this house, but the close-set houses and shared driveways on both sides make it feel like I am always intruding on something. I fantasize about installing breezeblock walls to define the space and shield the views a bit, but it isn’t realistic. It would occupy too much precious space and be a nightmare for winter plowing. That’s when I start thinking about moving, instead. Someday, when the dogs have left me the housing requirements will be different. I won’t need a yard, but it’s likely I’ll still have a traditional house on a lot, as condo fees seem expensive and for years rents have been higher than the combined monthly principal, interest, and escrow, which is why I  buy instead of renting. 

The imagined yard at the imagined different house is a no-maintenance yard like a development Grandpa Ray once took us to see in Fort Worth. It was new development he said was being marketed to people who were downsizing and gravel played a starring role in the landscaping in the small yards. A  deliberately designed yard that avoids grass and the need for mowing and watering sounds like my kind of yard. All show and no mow.

Friday afternoon, the tow truck finally arrived. It took one guy just ten minutes to attach the car with no wheels to big rusty hooks and chains, drag it up onto the flatbed and secure it, and roll out of the driveway. This was the entertainment break for the day and I had a front row office chair seat.

Commercial filming with
Elizabeth Banks July 23, 2019.

At the office downtown, the out-the-window free entertainment included the shirtless man posing in a window directly across the street from ours (almost daily), movie and commercial filming in the street below (twice), the arrival of emergency services and finally the coroner to deal with a deceased person in an apartment building across the street (once) and a street brawl involving about a hundred high school kids (once). The one guy with the tow truck directly outside the office window at The BungaLowell was moderately interesting and far less exciting, but here, we appreciate the entertainment however it presents itself.