A couple months ago we installed security cameras on my house. We don't necissarily live in a bad area, but you're better safe than sorry, I guess.

As expected, not much of interest was caught except for someone trying to break into my neighbor's house. But who cares about that? Here's something that I would never have guessed would happen.

In front of my house there's this wooden retaining wall thing that had been in the process of falling over for the past 30 years... and we hadn't really done anything about it because it hadn't fallen over yet, and even though it looked like ass, it was still somewhat structurally sound. The street view imagery above was from 2020, and looked somewhat better than it did by 2023, but you get the idea.

But one day, on January 29, 2023, I awoke to find it.. fallen over on the ground. I didn't think much of it, since I had been expecting it for the last 6 years, but opun closer inspection, it was evident that this was no natual event. Someone did this - deliberatley.

It was clear since the metal spikes holding the wall together were still intact, the rotted wood logs had been ripped right off of them and were sitting in front of the sidewalk. Initially, I expected the culprits to be some unruly 7th graders going around smashing stuff up for fun, and I wouldn't be wrong to think that, considering that all the recycling bins in a portion of my street were set on fire one night a few years ago! (The evidence of repaved asphalt is still visible today) But I figured I'd check the cameras anyways.

The angle wasn't great, but guess what I saw?

Between 2 points, the wall had moved. And it wasn't just 1 swift movement. It moved for over 10 minutes. I realised that whoever did this was really putting everything they had into it. I couldn't imagine even a pack of kids would spend that long on it. But after 10, long, confusing minutes, the perpetrators revealed themselves...

And what the hell? Of all the people who could've done something like that running through my mind, the 2 old ladies I see walk past my house almost every day never crossed my mind! But I guess that also goes to show that you just can't guess someone's personality and actions based on their apperance. Not every grandma is the cookie making, newspaper reading, crossword solving old lady that you think of.

But that honestly leaves me with more questions than answers. What was their goal? Why did they do it? All I know is those 2 must have cause quite the trouble in their prime.

But, the only thing I could think of is simply that... they didn't like how it looked? Cause well, we have to build a new one now, so mission accomplished I guess. If something in a neighborhood you don't live in bothers you that much. I'm not so sure yet.

three : self