I hate getting sick during the summer. Well, I hate getting sick anytime really, but particularly in summer. I’m only ever truly comfortable in cool temperatures, and when I’m ill, it can get ugly.

DC WASA, the local water company, decided this would be the week to replace any existing lead lines on my street. Over the weekend, the entire block received 48-hour notices that work would start on Monday. “No Parking” signs were posted on trees down my block.

As if parking wasn’t hard enough around here.

And now, thanks to someone’s lack of oversight, everyone on my street is partially without power thanks to a severed power line. Oh, and the manholes in the street are smoking.

The odor from the smoke crept into just about every house. At my place, it was strongest in the basement, but eventually wafted its way upstairs. I had to open some windows to help clear the smell out. My symptoms are bad enough without adding nausea.

Now that the fire department and PEPCO are here, this will hopefully get rectified, but I’m not holding my breath, much as I probably should.