This is the scene outside my house. That's my driveway blocked, and my narrow street in shambles, but what you can't see is the noise of the big excavator hammering ledge for 10 hours straight. Being in the house feels like being in a day-long chronic low-grade earthquake: everything shaking and vibrating and clanking and rattling, hour after hour after hour. Working from home has lost all of its charm. I can't garden outside; I can't think inside; I feel as if my house is collapsing around me.

The hammer-free weekend is a blessing, but now my dad is in the emergency room with an as yet undiagnosed G-I issue, and so life goes on with the worry and the strain. I'll keep you posted.