Leaf pick up

I was pretty sure all morning that I was going to get in a ride today despite heavy overcast and cooler. I had lunch a little early just to be sure that I could get an early start but as I turned to go upstairs to don my bicycle apparel it was apparent that the drizzle predicted to develop "in the afternoon" had developed at noon. It didn't really rain but the pavement is wet and the drizzle is likely to persist and recur. Cold is one thing, cold and wet is two things.

But I already had my photos for the day, here goes.

They arrived earlier than I expected, the first photo is time stamped 7:47am. I wasn't expecting government workers before 8 but this is outdoor work and all outdoor work at this time of year has to obey the rules of daylight. The sun rose at 7:08 and will be setting at 4:46. It will be pretty dark by 4:30. It is best to start work as soon as it is light because no matter when you start it is going to be dark when you finish.It is now apparent to me that there are at least three crews doing leaf pick up as that truck is not either of the two that I spotted yesterday. Both of yesterday's trucks featured front mounted vacuums. This one has a trailer mounted vacuum being separately towed by the receptacle truck.

It's a four man crew, one guy stayed in the truck to move it up as necessary, two guys on rakes, the foreman on vacuum. It is also a two truck job, one raker riding in the vacuum truck, one riding with the foreman in that pick up across the cul de sac.It's a dirty job. Note the cloud of leaf dust forming in this photo. In the next photo note the dust obscuring the light on the back of the foreman's pick up across the street. I was surprised that none of these guys had dust masks or ear protection. One or the other of these is likely to be an OSHA violation.The guy in the truck has been given a signal and moves the whole parade forward to allow the vacuuming to continue. They're almost done.All right, let's move on. We are the house on this street that has mature trees, we are the only ones who pay the municipal fee to have these guys come and get our leaves. The crew is going to have to move at least off our street before they come to their next pile of leaves.The last photo is time stamped 7:51 am. The whole thing is over in less than four minutes. I compare the four minutes and the $25 I paid to the hours of bending over to pick up leaves and happily wave good bye to the crew. All they leave behind is a giant spot of leaf dust.Short story, I was at the grocery store after yesterday's ride. I find that I go to the grocery store a lot more often now, like 3 or 4 times a week, so I seldom have much in my cart. I always qualify for the express check out lane so yesterday I was standing there with my less than 15 items waiting my turn. A guy shows up a second or two after me with only a gallon of milk. I offer to let him go first, he has only the one item. He says, no, no bother. He said, "I got nowhere to go and all day to get there."

Even though I didn't get in a bicycle ride, I am going to put today down as a day well spent.