Wednesday, 8/24

It's been gong on for eight days now, and there's no end in sight.

I work in an old building in downtown Marquette, the Pythias Building, constructed by 1925 and one of the last designs of noted Marquette architect D. Fred Charlton. Like all old buildings, especially those approaching their centenary, it needs work every so often. And that's the case with the Pythias Building, especially the roof, which apparently hasn't been replaced since the end of the first half of that century. So since last Monday, workers have been up on the roof jack-hammering the old material off before replacing it with new material. And even though I'm on the ground floor, four floors below the roof, you know what's pretty much the only thing I can hear day in and day out?

Why, of course it's the jack-hammering.

I don't know how the sound travels through four floors of a building so loudly, but it does. As an experiment, I actually turned the mic on while I was on the air, said nothing, and allowed everyone listening to hear what I've been hearing.

And it came through crystal clear.

It's funny, because even outside the building the sound isn't as loud as it is inside the building. I'm guessing that's because the building itself is acting as a conduit for the sound; the jack-hammering going on four floors above us transferred through the walls and support beams of the building and delivers its full symphony of construction to anyone who's in the station (or in the office next door to us, because they get the symphony, as well). It's just of those freaky things that occasionally occurs because of physics, and we're the recipients of it.

We're just lucky that way, I guess.

The jack-hammering has to end some day soon, to be replaced, I'm assuming, by the sound of the new roof being installed. But once they're done they're done, right? And based on the way the old roof lasted, they won't have to do it again until 2072.

And this is just a guess on my part, but I'm thinking I won't be working here and won't have to deal with it then, right?

8-)

So if we happen to have to speak on the phone and you hear me keep saying “what?”, realize it's not the fault of either your phone or my hearing.

It's just the joy of working in a building being jack-hammered.

(jim@wmqt.com)