Working in the City

Some of my clients live in areas in and around Boston that are just impossible to find parking. When it’s anywhere near downtown Boston, the Boston Common parking garage I usually use costs $22/day. If I’m very lucky, I will find a Visitor Parking space, which allows parking in such residential areas for up 2 hours, but a minute after the 2 hour time frame, you will find a ticket on your windshield. The streets are all one way here and very narrow. When I have a lot of supplies to unload, I have to park in the middle of the street, blocking all access, and quickly unload to just inside the door, jump back in my car and go park somewhere. Everyone is very used to this system and patiently wait if they should get stuck behind such a vehicle as mine.

I had to return to a Beacon Hill residence to do a two day repair job. A bathroom ceiling I did a few years ago had sustained some water damage and needed to be redone. I bit the bullet and parked in the expensive garage after unloading, because it was just the easiest and quickest way to get this job done. When I returned the second day, I needed a few small supplies, so I just put them in this handy little tote on wheels. I always feel like I’m in the the PBS series "Upstairs/Downstairs" when I work on Beacon Hill. There is clearly a class system. You see a bevy of services providers like myself navigating these very narrow streets with their specific tools of the trade. We all pleasantly nod at each other in passing. Then, you see a lot of government officials and politicians all suited up, making their way to the State House, which occupies a prominent space on top of the hill.

The first day I arrived, I saw the area that had been patched. I had already decided that since this was a metallic finish, it would be more time and cost effective to repaint the whole ceiling than trying to blend in a good match.