Thursday, May 19, 2011

Fire Hydrant

Earlier this month we had a little adventure out front. A couple of cars over at the In-and-Out Burger driveway got into a dispute and one of them sheared off the fire hydrant as it careened up onto the sidewalk.

When it happened, Alison and I were wasting time chatting in my office. Mid-sentence she flinched, turned around, and walked quickly up front. She had heard the cars collide but didn't know what the sound was.

Much laughter and shouting ensued as she excitedly informed me of the geyser across the street and I grabbed my camera. And I actually remembered to take pictures!

Fortunately, LAFD was quickly on scene and it only took about 5 minutes before the water was shut off. It took a while for the traffic to clear, though. This happened just as Taft HS was letting out.

The geyser:


The cavalry has arrived:


All fixed:


Now, most of you probably won't see the humor in this. But the exact same thing happened to the fire hydrant 20 feet from my apartment late one night a couple of months ago, and the geyser came down directly on my (flat) roof, making me wonder if my bedroom would soon be flooded. And there was also the kerfuffle with the switchblade-wielding lunatic trying to carjack people at my apartment complex in March, but that's another story altogether and not cat-related at all other than the part about my cats gawking at him when he broke his bedroom window not 30 feet away.....

I have had quite enough excitement of late, thank you.