The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

I now live dead center of a construction site. They are doing what is called in Japan a complete "reform" of the outside of this building. While this should be a good thing when it's done, my life is currently a living hell and this building is worse than I've ever seen it.

Monday a week ago, 8 a.m. preparations were being made 3 1/2 feet (1 meter) from my bedroom and living room windows for what was to become ground-to roof scaffolding to surround the entire building. This scaffolding is composed of 3 meter (nine foot) hollow steel tubes, corregated steel planks and all the connectors and is anchored to the building by bolts drilled into the walls. There is also some kind of urgent need for people at the front of the building to have conversations with the people at the back of the building even while using hammers on hollow steel and pnuematic drills on brick.

For the next month plus (even if they stay on schedule), every window and curtain must remain closed...not just because of the considerable noise, but because all the work is being done just inches from every window and door in the place. Last Wednesday I checked to see how close they were to finished killing me with noise for the day, only to open a window and find less than ten inches (six cm.) between my head and some guy's crotch.
This is what it looked like in the beginning, while they were still putting up the scaffolding. The window behind the tree that the scaffolding plank is up against is inches from where I sit now.

Around last Thursday they began high pressure water cleaning. Loud, messy, wet...dangerous. I kid you not that my building has (what I can only guess is a mandatory) sign posted on the front of it designating the area as a hard-hat, no smoking zone. I don't know how they can even allow us to live in a zone designated as "hard-hats required". Just leaving this place and returning is a real challenge. Staying here is worse.

This is the front of the building now.

Despite wanting this place to look better, I have not been a happy camper! I am very sensitive to sound (at least inside my apartment), as my endless complaints on the kids upstairs will confirm. I have had a headache that comes right up to migraine level for the better part of a week and a half now, and doubt things will be getting better any time soon because a) I have caught a cold and b) they start using highly volitile chemicals from tomorrow (if they stay on schedule). Leaving the house doesn't even seem to relax me, because just getting my bike out is a major hassle and getting it back in even worse. I leave really stressed and return to instant stress.

As of today (about a week and a half in), the place looks worse than when they started. I'm not sure of the thinking, but they had someone on my balcony with a pressure hose Saturday and today they were doing balconies above mine and all the dirty water from that splattered and dried all over my balcony. This is in addition to the fact that whoever was out there Saturday kicked all the wood tiles around and broke one of them without straightening up or replacing all the planters, etc. that were moved. As of now, it's about fifty times woorse than when they started...and all my plants are dead because there isn't enough light coming through the scaffolding cover.

This is a rant that could eat up pages, but I'll end it here.