9/2 Over the last few days, workers came and sprayed all sorts of markings onto the street in front of our house, and in front of our left-side and right-side neighbors too. Lines, arrows, circles and some cryptic letters. Most of it in yellow, some in blue and in green. In some places, where a marking is off the asphalt, they stuck little yellow flags on poles made of copper wire into the ground. Today, they even extended the markings into our front yard, onto our lawn, also with flags. The neighbors have markings and flags on their lawn, too.

It is not the first time this has happened, although the last time, there were far fewer markings and they were a whole lot less obtrusive. And then nothing came of it, the markings faded away and soon the flags were gone, probably picked up by children.

Totally unclear what will happen this time. Some big metal plates which are used to keep trenches from caving in have been dropped on the lawn across the street already. The weirdest part is that nobody tells you anything at all about what’s supposed to happen.

Yes, our road has some of the most worn-out pavement in the area – and other roads close by were re-paved with slick black asphalt a few months ago. Also, we’ve noticed some unpleasant smells from the sewer system recently.

I parked the Jeeps in front of the house as I normally do, in the same spot, this time on the markings, and I knocked over one of the yellow flags in the process. I’m charging the Jeeps as usual – slightly concerned about the 240V/50A cable that I ran from the house, a few inches under the lawn, to the charging port on its wooden pole next to the front steps.

I wonder when, or if ever, somebody will talk to us.