crossing the lines

In almost every saga, at one point the way will  be barred.

Roland in the pass. Horatio at the bridge. Gandalf before the locked doors of Durin.

San Patricio is having its own "the way is shut" moment.

Yesterday I drove into town to drop off my laundry and to pick up some groceries at Hawaii. I usually park on a one-way street in front of the funeral parlor. At least half of the cars were parked facing the "wrong" direction. I had never seen that happen before.

The reason was Holmesean elementary. The connecting street -- the street that runs through the middle of San Patricio -- was closed. For only a block. But it is a long block.

Street closures here are an informal matter. In this case, three small cones were placed to stop vehicles from driving down that portion of the street. Some cars simply ignored the cones and drove right through until they encountered the reason for the closure.

CFE (our government-owned electric company) has hired contractors to replace aging electric lines. The main lines get replaced regularly following tropical storms or hurricanes. The lines to houses do not get replaced with the same regularity -- unless something falls on the lines. The result now is of lines to residences and businesses.

I know very little about electric lines, but watching the installation is fascinating. It is a bit like watching a rodeo cowboy deal with a very unwieldy lariat. But these guys seemed to know what they were doing. And I am a sucker for watching any job done well.

I tried to get some additional information from the men installing the lines, but my accent defeated the possibility of sharing details. I must be really slipping because on two other occasions I made a joke in Spanish and what I said had to be repeated by people I know. A joke explained is an opportunity missed.

But back to those cones. San Patricio has a street grid that is mixed with two-way and one-way streets. Because street closures usually have no warning of the closure until the driver arrives at the blockage, improvisation is required.

Up north, a sign would announce a detour, and, if traffic needed to be re-routed, the streets would have signs announcing the driving path. Not here.

Cars driving south coming to the cones would appear to have only one option. The cross street is one-way to the east. Drivers wanting to drive west can do so legally merely by making three left turns and driving around the jardin.

No one was doing that. If drivers were driving west, they simply turned right -- right into oncoming traffic. Fortunately, the street is not well-traveled. But it is crowded. Drivers park on both sides of the street even though parking is prohibited on one side of the street.

I have always been amazed at the Mexican ability to improvise when circumstance change. Turing a one-way street into a two-way is simply an example of the economic theory of conservation of resources.

The only downside is when buses need to use the street. In the past two days, I have seen two mirrors on parked cars become victim to the choice of illegal parking. It is probably more expensive than a parking ticket.
     
As for the new electric lines, they certainly look sturdy. But I have nothing more I can tell you about them. Maybe the residents of the block will be able to tell us in the future how valuable the new infrastructure is.