All of which are heavy machines

One of the added complexities of our furniture arriving at the house was the ongoing road resurfacing. Our neat residential road, Hawthorne Avenue, had a pretty ropey road surface, even by American standards, and it was resurfaced a couple of weeks ago, meaning that parking was suspended for 14 days. The work involved ripping up the existing surface, then relaying a couple of inches of new asphalt on the top.

The folks doing this spent the week preparing the things. Come Saturday, it was like that awful schmaltzy country song about CB radio which ends with several blocks full of 18-wheelers ready to give some terminally ill kid cab rides (late edit: careful research by the librarian of the house indicates I was recalling Teddy Bear by Red Sovine, and the power of the Internet is amazing in allowing us to both rediscover this fact and even enjoy that classic recording once more) - up and down the street we had tipper trucks full of steaming asphalt ready to tip out on the road. We decided not to get the car out that day ;-)

Of course, American trucks are cool. Big, chrome-plated, shiny, and slightly old-fashioned looking. Having a street full of them excited the kid in me.

They worked quickly, with lots of exciting-looking machines that laid the asphalt, smoothed it out, and joined it all up neatly. All of this was done at about 30 Centigrade ambient temperature, so I thought it'd probably melt and get churned up, and having just bought a white car this didn't seem like an enticing prospect. Still, that doesn't seem to have happened, and we have a nice smooth street out the front of our place.

Don't forget the hi-vis

As luck would have it, the resurfacing happened on a Saturday, the day after our furniture arrived, and there was no disruption to the delivery at all. If anything, the parking suspension made it easier for us, as we could guarantee some space outside the house.

To quote the late, great Red Sovine:

Breaker 1-9 came the voice on the air

Just one word of thanks from mama Teddy Bear