Orange Barrels in Southie

For the better part of the Spring and Summer, my part of Southie has been under construction.

The elderly home on my block has been undergoing a major face lift, with crews drilling and replacing its entire brick edifice.

I Street has been torn to shreds.

And the mother of all projects - Columbia Road - has been an ongoing eyesore. Massive concrete blocks, heavy machinery, steel plates, and diverted traffic all welcome pedestrians and drivers as they attempt to saunter to or drive past the beachfront. I understand that we have about another year to deal with the Columbia Road nuisance.

All of this construction at the same time. It's a bit much.

When I walked outside of my home last week, I saw three orange construction barrels at the foot of my steps.

Great, I thought. They're going to be working right outside of my house.

But then I looked around and saw no other orange barrels.

I looked on the "No Parking" sign taped to one of them, and the period of time blocked off ended on 8/21.

So why are these orange barrels outside of my house?

The only thing I can think of is that they were pilfered from a site and placed in front of my building.

But why??? Who knows.

Here's the problem - how do I get rid of these? I doubt the trash men will take these today (while they are curbside....are they actually garbage?) I suppose I could just move them to stand in front of a neighbor's house, but that's just like sweeping dust from one room into another, moving the problem instead of eliminating it.

I thought about moving them to my basement and using them for parking space savers during snow removal. Gotta plan ahead! We're probably only four months away from the first snowfall.

If they're still on the sidewalk in a week, that's what I am going to do. City of Boston (or National Grid, or Boston Water...whoever owns them), if you want them, you have a week to take them back.