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2008-06-02 - 1:41 a.m. The Ceiling at my apt and The Crane Collapse There is a link. Thanks to cheap labor and fast, investor-funded, and 'iffy' city inspectors who never show up, once again I was left with not a roof over my head, as the ceiling opened up in two of my rooms on Memorial Day weekend and I was left with a flood of several inches, drenched with water to the knees of my pants and all over my head. Even the dog was soaked. I spent Memorial Day weekend with 5 Mexican illegal immigrants in my apt, on ladders, using exacto knives and hammers to hack apart my ceiling and try to figure out where the waste-pipes from the $3,600.00 hastily constructed apt upstairs was leaking, exactly. Meanwhile the women who this week just rented the apt upstairs had laughingly said, "Have a nice weekend!" as they carried their suitcases out the front door, and I was passing them on the staircase, heading up to find anyone who spoke english...I had to use sign-language to explain two rooms in my apt were raining. I spent the next day curled up on the couch wearing a safety mask as they hacked the ceiling apart. They patched the ceiling really badly after that, leaving all the rusty brown stains where the leaks had occurred, and didn't bother to move all my stuff back into the living room from the kitchen, where they'd dragged it. It took me two days until I located my meds etc., etc. because they just moved them really fast into my kitchen, throwing them into a box. Forget about the stupid mask they gave me to wear - all my stuff is covered in plaster and lead dust. They came in with what they have been required to execute (because we complained to the DOB), a heppa(sp?)-filter, but it had no suction whatsoever, and I did better cleaning up after them with my little Target Cone. White dust is all over my LR on everything from my tv to my clothing. Then the smallest Mex began virtually stalking me...he began tap-tap-tapping on my door the next morning, and I (duh) opened the door, and he handed me a cup and said, "coffee". I then thought, OK, trying to be apologetic for all the hassle etc. of the day before. Never mind it was not coffee, but hot chocolate. Next morning he turned up with Snapple. Next day he kept tapping at my door for 15 minutes at a time - I refused to acknowledge the interruption to my morning. I got angry. I told my bf, who advised me to talk to one of the men who spoke English to tell him to STOP. It has stopped. Friday there was a shaking of the building that woke me at 8:06 am, the sound of an explosion, sirens, and heliocopters overhead; I thought it was a plane crash. You probably already heard of the "deadly crane collapse" on the Upper East Side. All the locals here have been watching this unsteady-looking crane - in that morning it sheared off the corner of a 34 storey building close by me; all the area was blocked off by DEP, fire trucks, police vans, Red Cross Relief, and Building Collapse Units (I didn't even know they had a Bldg. Collapse Agency - not so good to know!). Two workers died, one who fell, inside the crane cab, 34 stories to the street below. So far until tonight there has been no way to Get Out Of Dodge, as the area has been in a frozen zone - dogs had been searching through the mess - I had to stay home from work and of course go out to watch stretchers and FDNY rope rescue teams teetering from the roof and balconies, and try to dodge being interviewed by Fox news as someone in the neighborhood who heard the thing fall. I spoke to neighbors who were evacuated from the 7 buildings in the area just in case the remaing part of the crane fell, or gas lines broke. My street is open now, so I'll be off to work tomorrow. At the advice of my loyal bf, I did relax this weekend with a walk to a NYC street fair 10 blocks away...bought some broiled skewered chicken on Italian bread with sweet-buttered fried onions and peppers, a big paper cone of perfect crispy popcorn shrimp, a piece of prailine encrusted cheesecake, and a giant piece of chocolate-chip bread pudding with warm butter-cream bourbon sauce. Now, to bed.