The Middle Distance

I even had a flashback to that last year when one of my big bay windows blew right into my living room in a storm - didn't break, just popped right out of the frame and let all the wind and rain come rushing in.

There was a work crew rehabbing the apartment upstairs (and that was lots and lots of "dawn chorus" noise for a few months, too) so I ran up to get them, thinking they'd be able to help, right?

Wrong. They just stood there staring and scratching their heads until my neighbor across the hall came running in cause she'd heard the noise and suggested I get our DOWNSTAIRS neighbor, Phil, who's like the unofficial building handyman. He took a look, came back with some screws and brackets and fixed it in like 30 seconds and then started yelling at the construction crew in Spanish (which is what they spoke) for, presumably, being so useless.

I have a feeling those were the guys who did the shoddy rehab work in the first place.