Plans go agly……road to hell is paved with good intentions…………no good deed goes unpunished……..Murphy’s laws………he said, she said…….mea culpa, mea culpa, mea culpa

I thought I’d write a piece today that is a bit unusual for me – up here. It is still real, tho. Very real. Everyday life in a small community. It is still ‘good’ as they say, but it is not just another snapshot of paradise. Because into every paradise a little bird-poop must fall and I am currently feeling somewhat splattered.

Bird-poop happens.

Or, put another way: in any group of two or more, disputes are inevitable and the likelihood of more disputes increases exponentially with extra members. More birds, more bird poop.

Of course, some human endeavours are more inclined to disputes than others and, after marriage, construction projects are probably the second most likely to cause bad feelings – temporary as they may be.

We just may have some of that going on right now. We have a bit of Construction opera. Thought you’d like to know about the ‘dark side’ of a small community.

But before I say anything about our ‘project’ or community, this story all has to be held in perspective: it is just a small ripple in a small pond.

Especially so when compared to big ripples in big ponds. I recall attending the completion celebration for the then-new Victoria General Hospital some years back and the CEO toasting the crowd by saying, “We did great! The consultants did great! And the construction crew did great! This is a wonderful day! Only seven lawsuits!!”

I asked my friend, who was the architect on the project, what was so great about seven lawsuits! “Dave, Dave, Dave……….Jim is right. This is good. Typically the project grinds to a halt with lawsuits and typically there are dozens if not hundreds of lawsuits on a project this large. This job got completed before the lawsuits. That is what is so great! I am ecstatic and I am named in all seven suits!”

I have never filed a lawsuit nor have I been the respondent to one but I don’t feel as if I am missing anything. I think bird-poop is bad enough. Call me crazy.

Which brings me to our community project. Sometimes it is crazy up there. No lawsuits, tho. No punch-ups. No real disagreements. Not really. Just opinions and feelings for the most part. But we have had our tense moments. Construction does that to people. Today we had a few tense moments.

Old guys with old habits are working with other old guys with equally as old habits. I’m one of them and I have a few. And they/we are not always compatible. Sometimes the antlers get squared and the moose snort and paw the ground a bit. Moose-poop hits the fan! It is a primal thing.

And, of course, our ‘clients’ have opinions and wants and needs which don’t always seem do-able by the crew.

And yet we are all trying hard to build 400 square feet of building and almost as much again in deck as a ‘community’ project. And we are just human…..

Or moose.

Or birds.

Whatever.

The really interesting thing is something that might bother me, bothers no one else and vice versa. Some guys ‘float above’ the whole thing, others get immersed. You just never know what is going to set someone off. Put another way: no one is bad. It is all inadvertent.

The hard-of-hearing seem to handle it best.

When I get wrapped up in a little tempest like this, I dislike it. When I step back and survey the scene, I still dislike it. But when I think about it in the bigger picture, I realize that it is all part of people working together and it has a place. Like bird-pooping has a place. Kinda.

I have no idea exactly what function all this drama serves but I am guessing that it is for the greater good. It has to be. We all seem do it so often.

For us, today, it was simply a mis-phrased question, and later another verbal short-cut (mine) that caused someone stress, and a third-hand conversation misinterpreted. It all combined to take the fun out of the day. Frowns and feelings ensued. A few terse exchanges. But work carried on. And we will be back at it again tomorrow.

And I’ll be there. I sure hope the air has cleared.

Epilogue: The next day things were back to normal. Work progressed. Life carries on.