My Apartment in Davis Square

Davis Square, in Somerville, MA ("Slummerville", "the Paris of the 90's"),

has a bunch of trendy cafes, restaurants, and bars,

an active arts scene,

and of course

the T (don't call it the subway).

My building is just off the Square. Pre-war construction, hardwood floors, eat-in kitchen, laundry downstairs -- not a bad place to live ...

until the morning they started tearing down the house next door, piece by piece. The sound of wood debris falling three stories into a metal dumpster is not relaxing, especially at 7 am on a Saturday. Did I mention that I'm a late riser? At least, I used to be. Did I also mention that Somerville is the most densely zoned city in the country?

It sounds as bad as it looks. The other building just visible in the second picture below is -- yes -- a library.

The cement mixer directly below my bedroom window one morning can only be compared to the Russian tanks on the streets of Prague during the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Remember those old shaving cream commercials where the guy opens his medicine cabinet and finds his next door neighbor in his face? ("Mona?...") At least that guy didn't have a jackhammer. These pictures were taken from my bedroom window, and I did not need a telephoto lens.