The Renovations.

Here’s something that I first noticed a few nights ago,  and I’m pretty sure I stood there with my mouth open for maybe a couple minutes?  Thankfully we don’t have a lot of flying bugs.

You may recall the renovations that were going on down the street?

Well,  they’re done. 

I went up just now and took a photo,  and unfortunately there’s still a certain amount of cr*p out in front of the “Friseur”.

 

Click on that one and you’ll see the white patch up at the top.  It’s not something that really snags your attention during the daylight hours.  Hey,  I even did some editing in Picasa.  Oh my. 

 

You’ll also notice too that,  even though that work is done,  there’s a massive project going on in the building next door that takes up the entire block around the corner.  That’s where the crane is located.  It’s in the courtyard.  I have pictures of it somewhere.  Doesn’t matter.   You’ve seen it.

According to our Hair Lady,  it used to be a factory of some sort,  had been sitting empty for the longest time,  and is now being converted to condos.   So even though her shop front is no longer hidden under the scaffolding,  when I went in there yesterday morning to make an appointment,  there were workers going in and out of her salon.  I guess she’s a very patient lady.  My head would explode.

Mind you,  the construction aspect is a good thing, while admitted just ever so slightly annoying from time to time.  I think there are a many city planners in parts of North America who could learn a few things about mitigating urban sprawl,  but I’m not going to get up on that particular soap box.  Not right now anyway.  Feel free to talk amongst yourselves.

 

So like I said,  I’m up on our terrace getting a little air,  sort of letting my eye wander across the vast expanse of rooftops, and I happen to notice movement at the newly renovated “Dachgeschoß”.   *Roof top apartment*  or Penthouse.

 

Seemed a bit odd.

Well, the fairly unnoticeable white patch on the side of the building was there as a screen for a projection TV!

Holy cats!  I thought that was awesome.  They were watching one of the soccer matches.   An outdoor, patio/man cave!   Resourceful.  Creative.  Well,  *awesome* really.  I’m running out of superlatives. 

 

Now,  speaking of things that might go unnoticed upon first glance,  I happened upon this fellow this morning as I was out and about.

 

Any ideas?   Any IT geeks out there might be able to guess.  

Ever heard of fibre optics?   (Well,  “Optical Fiber”  if you’re south of the 49th)   Those are two different links by the way.  Gobs of reading if you’re brave.   There’s even an Alexander Graham Bell connection in there.  Not kidding.

 

This chap was either fixing a break,  or splicing in a branch feed.  Not sure which,  and I didn’t ask.

 

He was pleasant enough to not tell me to go ‘take a hike’,  so I didn’t annoy him too much. 

Without getting too elaborate,  his splicer works in a fairly similar fashion to the type of film splicer we used to use back in the olden days.  A little more complicated.  OK fine,  HEAPS more complicated.  It’s called a Fusion Splicer,  and that puppy there is probably worth about 15 large.  Seriously.   It welds the strands of fibre together after the technician has stripped the colour coding and cleaned up the ends with alcohol,  and then the connection is tested to see if everything is OK.   There’s no way of telling with the naked eye.

Usually these guys work out of the back of a van,  but maybe the location was such that it wouldn’t have been a good idea.  Fun for me though. 

Like Rosana Danna used to say,  “It’s always something”.

 

I realise you didn’t NEED to learn anything today,  but I try to do my part.

 

Thanks for moving those eyes back and forth. 

 

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