about three weeks ago michael attended a merry maker’s (think fraternity for post-collegiate boys) golf tournament which was really just a thinly disguised excuse to drink a lot of beer (and flip two golf carts … eek) and kind of play golf.
since the merry maker’s house is very, very close to my mother’s house (where we are still staying) michael walked his tipsy self home and managed to break (so he claims) his toe on the uneven sidewalk right beside our house.
he whined about it to everyone within earshot for the next few days (but who can hold that against him? toe injuries really, really suck). and so, of course my mom was fully aware of what had happened to michael when a friend of hers (just two days later) told her she’d just learned that if you have an uneven sidewalk that is in front of your property and someone gets injured, you can be sued. that is, unless you report it to the city – in which case, now the home owner is off the hook and the city is liable.
so, my mom promptly informed the city of tampa that we had a very uneven sidewalk running along the side of our house, and can you believe that they came out to spray paint the dangerous parts bright yellow within days!? and then, on monday morning we woke up to jackhammers (at an hour much too early for jackhammers outside a bedroom window). they came out, removed the entire sidewalk, and replaced it with a brand new, smooth, safe, unblemished one!
… at least, it was unblemished for a few hours…
