The making of a curmudgeon

 

Today we are going to turn our attention to the modern day curmudgeon. Typically a retired man living in a comfortable home but idle. No longer having to go to work and often abandoned by wives and offspring, at least during the day, he notices little things about the neighborhood and becomes aggravated. In the past he was at work from dawn to dusk and had his kids and wives  to keep him occupied, but now he is alone and sees things that he never noticed before.

One thing he notices is construction projects in the neighborhood. "Oh great", noting they are putting in a new sidewalk. He reads a memo in his mail slot asking him to avoid parking in front of his house. "Well, it will only be for a few days," he ruminates. Trucks, cranes, cement trucks fill the neighborhoods. Then the following day, the job maybe a quarter done, all the trucks are gone. A beautiful day but no crew. The next day, the same. Thursday it is threatening rain and it starts to sprinkle in the afternoon. The trucks all show up and the crew has to hustle to get the work done before the rain. "Oh why couldn't they have finished the job when the weather was nice?" cries the man, now inching towards becoming a curmudgeon. 

For years young men have been tearing through the neighborhood on their motorcycles. He never noticed them because he was always at work. Now he is home and is infuriated by the sound of unmuffled motorcycle engines. 

Children he never knew existed suddenly appear in the neighborhood in the afternoon. Basketballs bouncing, bouncing, bouncing. "Why do they have to play in front of my house?" he asks. Another step on the slippery road to curmudgeondom. And he was such a nice guy when he was at work all day.