Mercury is in retrograde until September 2nd:

I got an automated message on my cell phone yesterday telling me that the automated repair system had fixed my home phone at 2:30. I got home from work to find that it hadn’t. I called SBC for the third time and finally got a person who scheduled an actual – rather than an automated repair for today. The repairman called me at work to inform me that the problem is not inside my house, but on the top of a pole in my neighbors yard. He can fix it fast, but the gate is locked and even though the car is in the driveway, no one is answering the door. “What I’d like from you is to contact the people at 7256 and ask them to leave their gate open tomorrow so I can get at the pole. I’ve had to work on their phone before and I’ve had trouble getting them to leave the gate open when it was their own phone.” He must have grown up in one of those places where people know their neighbors. Three years in and I know the people in the bottom units to my right and left, but that’s it. He wants me to what? I don’t know their name. I don’t have their number. He, as a representative of the phone company has access to their name and number. “Well I left a note on their door so that might work, but still I’d really like you to try and get in touch with them.”

Hold the presses

Greg, the repairman, just called me back, “Hey, you seemed a little bummed out after I talked to you so I went down to the next pole and got a good signal on your line. I just happened to have some extra wire on the truck and so I ran you a new line out to that pole and I’m talking to you now on your phone line. You still might want to check in with the neighbors if you have any more trouble, cause I’m not going to be able to do this for you again.” If he ran a new line circumventing the neighborly contained one, why would I need to? Who cares – score on the Greg the repairman extra line hook up!

Apparently regardless of “utility” the universe would like me to meet my neighbors to the back and west. Maybe they hold the key to unlock my current funk – an unspecific malaise that has grayed my perceptions of late.