Mercury is in Retrograde

I thought this sight was funny. Imagine being in Friday night rush hour and getting a free car wash!

But the joke was on me. The reason for the high-pressure shower in the 100 block of East Seventh Street was a breach in the temporary water hoses of New Jersey American Water, which is cleaning the mains and must bypass the system with these perhaps antiquated hoses.

When I got home this evening, I found the leak had caused us to have no water pressure in our building.

Earlier today, we had no water pressure and it was just as workers were coming to unclog my kitchen sink. I called New Jersey American Water, but then despairing of a quick response, I went to Park & Seventh and pleaded my case to "the guy in the white hard-hat," as other workers described the person with the power.

Just as my landlord's workers needed water to test the efficacy of their drain cleaning, the water came back on. It seems an employee of the contracting firm had somehow turned our water off instead of on.

All's well that ends well, we thought, until the water cut off again this evening due to the hose failure.

So what is all this about Mercury and so on?

The late great Pepsi Charles always described a debacle as being due to "Mercury in Retrograde." No truer words were spoken for what is going on right now.

According to one expert, the Mercury in Retrograde situation started Sept. 24 and won't end until Oct. 31. Click here for one viewpoint.

Gannett may have not invented the phrase, but while employed by the great company, I learned the term Clusterf*ck to describe such a confluence of disasters.

Anyway, I feel any action taken in this timeframe is doomed to disaster. So I am trying to be very still and not attract negative energy to any of my endeavors.

Under the radar, I will try to enjoy the block party to which I have been invited Saturday.

To all others, I say, Mercury in Retrograde be what it will, we must do our best to go forward!

--Bernice Paglia