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Tuesday
  August 7, 2018

 
Just started my third two-week
subcontracting carpentry stint
here on Orcas Island. It's been
a pleasant summer gig. Today
we finally got power, a big
step that means no more gen-
erator grinding the silence to
shreds. There's a neighbor
who drops by once in a while.
He never says hi, only asks
whatever question is pressing
on him. I don't know if it's a
cultural thing, his Britishness
causing him to regard "the help"
as beneath notice, or maybe it's
just who he is. It's hard to sep-
arate the two. I cut some wood
as he was leaving. "Ah, nice to
hear a saw without a generator,"
he said. He was being friendly,
and so was I when I bragged,
"It's cordless!" He got miffed,
"Well, guess it doesn't matter
then." Communication is hard.