I don’t usually have the time to watch television, but after dinner last night I managed to catch one of the new programs about home renovations. Unfortunately, watching that poor young couple tear their hair out over problems with their new kitchen only reminded me of my own worries.
No, I’m not doing any work on my own house—as DDS, I would hardly have the time to enjoy it. I’ve been busy overseeing some renovations at the library to advance my work in the Security Section, but it is bogged down in all kinds of niggling hold-ups.
To start with, the cost of excavating the new sub-basement under my area (yes, my office is in the basement...a sacrifice to patrons) has ballooned by 30%. Thank goodness the Director was able to make a successful case to Town Council for additional funds. They are a broad-minded and visionary group to whom I owe a great debt.
The main problem with the sub-basement is that the interview room (the main reason for the excavation) needs extra thick concrete walls with soundproofing. Thanks to our friends in the Far East, concrete is dearer than ever these days. There is also a drainage grate in the floor that required plumbing underneath it, thus requiring some work on the whole system. I have had to make economies by leaving the interview room's walls bare, rather than having the whole room painted black as per my original proposal, and by delaying some equipment purchases until the next year. Oh, the headaches of capital planning!
Still, I need to remember what a great help this will be once it’s complete. The boys in Fine Enforcement Branch have been shackled by all kinds of constraints in getting the information we need to do the job, and the interview room will be a great help in making life easier for everyone, especially (as I reminded the Town Council) our honest patrons. There are all kinds of people out there in town who should be providing us with the necessary assistance to recover overdue books and late fines, and having them over to the library to share their information in a helpful chat is best for everyone concerned. Never mind what Eunice says, the higher purpose must prevail.
Listen to me, I sound like that poor girl on television show whose plumber never showed up. Well, pride of ownership has its downside, but it’s also one of the things that makes our little town so great.
Safe reading,
Margaret
Thursday, November 1, 2007
Renovation woes
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1 comment:
Dear Margaret,
It was with considerable joy that I read that, all things considered, work is proceeding apace on the interview room. It has been many years since I left Melford, but so much of my spirit's youth (with its attendant concerns) resides there. I fondly remember those sunny summer days spent in the pacifying shadow of the book stacks, devouring many a happy tome on European ideologies of the 1930s. But there was, in those days, another shadow, less calming, and that was in the shape of worry over unreturned books and neglected fines. How lucky Melford is to have a treasure such as you!
I am, however, deeply distressed over the posting of October 31 and the alteration of the library's anthem. Surely it was not allowed to stand? My childhood memories will be forever tainted if I did not think the librarians were still singing the stirring lyrics about the hammer.
I, and other Melford ex-pats here in Teutonica, AB, await your news.
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