I love work — I could watch it for hours. 

That’s my mantra now that I’ve been retired for a few years.  

To me it was a matter of leadership.  This is how I do it; climb on up here and do the same beside me.  Next time, I’ll be doing it again and someone else can join me and learn while you do the same elsewhere.

Despite theoretical protests of the desk-bound to the contrary, it is no real trick to maintain a leadership role while working beside the rest of the team; I’ve never found that the ability to direct and control suffers when joining the team in the trenches.  They aren’t stupid — they know who is in charge, and to think otherwise disrespects the team members.

With that as a background, I appreciate good work done by good workers.  I appreciate workers of any trade or profession who actually know what they are doing and do it efficiently and effectively.  That kind of performance is worth watching and there is enjoyment in doing so.  It’s a bonus when there is a team of workers and they all exhibit those same qualities.

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Sunday night I spotted water coming up through the joint of the sidewalk sections in front of my house.  It had apparently been doing so for some time because it was running down the county’s part of the driveway, the apron part between the sidewalk and the street, and into the street, all the way down to the culvert at the corner. 

My first thought was that my irrigation system had sprung a leak.  Yes, that translates to my first thought being something that was my fault — I laid that system myself a few years ago, so of course whatever happened had to be my fault. 

It took only a few minutes and a look at the water meter, located on the county’s side of the sidewalk, to verify that it was in fact not my fault.  The vernier dial on the water meter was rock solid, not a hint of movement.  That didn’t deter me from insisting internally that it HAD to be my fault, however.

So I went to the garage, got a wrench, and turned the valve off.

Well, of course no meter flow means just that — no flow.  Turning the valve off isn’t going to slow no flow to less than no flow, after all.  The leak kept running up through the sidewalk, however.

It was time for mixed emotions.  On the bright side, a leaking water main under the sidewalk in front of my house wasn’t going to cost me any time or labor — not my problem.   On the other hand, its being immediately adjacent to the driveway is not a good thing.

So, I called it in to the county water folks and waited.

Monday morning, while I wasn’t watching, someone sneaked out there and put a blue line in the grass, halfway between the street and the sidewalk, and running parallel to each.  No big deal until I noted that the line ended at the edge of the driveway apron, and there were two large blue dots in the middle of the concrete.

Things were going downhill fast.  Anytime someone puts a target in the middle of a large chunk of concrete, it is not likely to turn out to be a good thing.  OK, so call me a pessimist.

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