a welcome change

I've always felt that American construction crews have a reputation for not doing much while on the job. For every guy digging a hole in the street, you have two people holding signs, for every hour paving, there are two hours spent laying out cones in the road, etc. Well, I have to tell you: we could stand to learn something from BP's construction industry.

For one thing, they don't bother with all those extra people standing around for "safety"'s sake. If somebody's in the street, they have a jackhammer (and it's running). Further, they approach the opportunity to tear up a street with the same enthusiasm that I would--when we lived in Buda, I saw people working at all times of day, from 7am until like after sunset... seven days a week. And this is in a country where grocery stores close on sundays. Needless to say, they tear up a hell of a lot of road pretty quick. This is probably good, because it seems like there's no shortage of work--there's always another block getting razed and they have a fourth metro line under construction indefinitely.

Another thing: half the cars here park on the sidewalk, and it's not clear why.

I gotta run, actually, and sign the foreign resident for more than 90 days lease contract on my apartment, but I wish you all the best! szia!

sam