Cut Off by Construction

The apartment complex I live in is bordered on two sides by impassable obstacles: a railroad track three blocks over on the East, and a freeway a block North. There is no direct access from the South due to a separate apartment complex which has no through-way to ours. On the West side is the only good access, a main street that normally serves a lot of traffic North/South. I say normally because it's been under construction for a few months.

I can hear the heavy machinery out there now, back-hoes and dozers and little one-man Cats. They make a lot of noise, especially at 8 o'clock in the morning. If I remember right, they're revamping the sewer/drainage piping. They dig holes, put in concrete pipes, fill the holes, dig more holes, move the dirt around. Because of this, the entire street from the north end of our complex to the south end is barricaded off so no cars can get through.

The only way to reach us now by car is from the south along a narrow frontage road next to the railroad track, then down the single street that runs along the north edge of the complex between us and the freeway. It's a hell of a hassle giving directions. It used to be, "Just go South on this street till you hit that street, turn left." Hopefully they'll be done before snow flies.

Every time I walk to the store and I feel like a kind of olden-time outcast striking out from the forbidden zone toward nearby civilization, hoping to barter my meager coin-of-the-realm for supplies.