Infrastructure

 

Recently, there have been some problems with the city’s infrastructure. This is expected for a city incorporated in 1742. The pipes and pumps and electronics are old and need constant maintenance or replacement.

My little part of the neighborhood was constructed just after WWII. Plumbing and sewer pipes were laid down and connect to equally spaced plots of land to newly constructed brick cookie cutter houses. Paths were widened and paved and poles were installed carrying telephone cables, electricity cables and street lights. Schools, churches and corner delis and markets found their spots as sidewalks linked the neighborhoods. Cars parked on the streets.

My family moved here in the early 50’s and settled into the comfortable early suburbia. Walking and riding bikes were suitable transportation for kids to get to schools and neighbors. Buses took us downtown for shopping at department stores or movies. The automobile was only used for groceries at shopping centers, Sunday church attendance and the long ride to the country club. Everything seemed to work for there were no new drains on the infrastructure.

In college I moved downtown where the infrastructure was a bit older, but never had any problems. I bought a house in an area that was developed in the 1920’s but the previous owner had updated much of the electrical and plumbing to accommodate two people (and a cat).

In the late 70’s, I moved into this house. It was the same neighborhood as my family’s original move. The electrical plugs had two sockets, the power was four screw-in fuses and there were no water shut-offs. Typical post war construction.

Through the years, I’ve paid for upgrades to the plumbing and electrical along with roof and windows and that world wide web thing. Meanwhile, my neighbors have done reconstructions requiring more energy and water putting a drain on the available infrastructure.

Occasional power outage due to stores become more frequent. I see it as an opportunity to rock on the porch until all the batteries to the digital gadgets run out. Then it is back to pencil and paper until the sun goes down.

Recently the city requested we not turn the tap for there was a problem with incoming water. Being a river city, there have been floods that fouled the water and what came out didn’t look appealing, but that was an emergency. This explanation was some sort of pump problem at the water plant and backup failure. Signs of an ancient infrastructure breaking down.

At a certain age, we contemplate our own infrastructure. That elastic sack that carries all our skeletal scaffolding protecting our tubes and pumps and nerves that make us human is breaking down. The years of abusing our bodies with unknown substances or acts of insanity takes their toll. The food we declare as ‘junk’ has conditioned us to consume large quantities and wear stretch pants. The bones become brittle and the joints need lubrication. Our tubes are clogged making the pumps work harder. Our sight deems and our hearing fades. Sleep is not a reboot for our memory banks.

As the end nears, there are no excuses. We did this to ourselves. Life’s longevity is how well the infrastructure holds out.