Along for the ride:

Tuesday, March 29, 2016

Thumbs up!


 Having Facebook World Headquarters just down the road from our business premises has a certain novelty value. The ebb and flow of the Big White Buses sweeping along twice a day to transport the workforce hither and yon, although monochromatic, has lent a dimensional aspect, previously lacking in our commute.
It often takes more than thirty minutes now to go less than a mile; to escape from the grid of Feeder Roads;
( here I include University Avenue, which was previously better known as the Feeder Road, in the opposite direction, to Stanford University) and reach the bridge that will carry us across The Bay to less crowded freeways and lower property values.
It's entertaining, as we idle in the tired Conga Line waiting-out the traffic light at Hacker Way, to see inexplicable, multinational hoards, with selfie sticks, waiting their turn to complete the pilgrimage and return to Earth with digital proof of their presence before the big hand (and thumb) of Destiny.
Our plain industrial warehouse building, which used to stand out among a crowd of rickety structures that had seen better days, is now outshone by mixed retail and luxury apartments that are stretching steadily skyward just across the street with not even a nod to their blue collar foundations. The attractive banners with renderings of what is to come promise a Fitness Center, Doggy Day Spa, Custom Bicycle Emporium and more. The multilevel garage has already been completed and windows and doors fill the openings in the walls of the project.
Did I forget to mention the coming transformation of our space into a well protected berth for exotic cars and a home for collector wines? All to be tastefully arranged so that the new tenant can also entertain parties and conferences in such intriguing surroundings. I do think it's a smart business plan to be paid to store and because you store such things. He already has one such Event Space. He knows what he's doing.
As a local Police Officer said the other day, during a visit to write tickets for illegally parked motor homes that have been an ongoing blight on the neighborhood "Just wait until those additional cars start streaming in and out to further snarl traffic and also the place will be a magnet for property crimes"
Well, the good news and the bad news are that we won't be here to see it or experience it. Today we signed a lease on a new work space further south. The move is on. Our commute will be but a memory. We are reclaiming a couple of hours of our living time every day. I may even have time to get a dog of my own again.

9 comments:

  1. 'Gentrification' ?
    I can see why you're leaving ! But you'll have to take your next dog to the Doggy Day Spa ... I need to see photos .

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    1. S&S, a swanky place to drop your dog for the day, like playgroup with grooming.

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    2. Our play school did 'grooming' , too . Looking back , I spent twelve years wiping noses !

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  2. Our house in San Jose is attracting offers - even if not for sale - as two huge urban regeneration projects are being set up on either side of our little area...the developers move fast...

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    1. Helen, I'm guessing your San Jose is further South than ours? Economic booms for both.

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  3. I never can quite get over new development in areas when it changes them completely. Around here, in Central NJ, it's been warehouses replacing farms. It's been painful, to say the least. Some of the best quality farmland in the whole USA paved over by truck-filled warehousing. Won't even say what it's done to our local roads. *sigh*

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    1. Jean, and all the little habitats where animals and plants were thriving. Here, they cut down all the bushes and the cats living there were traumatized. Some were run over. The lady who'd been feeding them for years was so distraught.

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  4. A bit overdeveloped? We suffer the same fate here...Congratulations on re-claiming more time in your days and I hope you'll eventually enjoy a new dog.

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