the house down the street

This house was down the street from my own. It was for sale a few years ago, before the real estate market exploded, and I'm sure they got a sweet sweet deal on it. My guess is the low $200's. It was an adorable little place, probably two bedrooms, on a lot straddling two streets, so not backing onto an alley. Really cute home.

The new owners ( I assume ) moved in and proceeded to ride that poor little house into the ground. The deterioration was slow and steady. There was always litter around, the door was always propped open and a television was always on inside. You could tell that the upkeep had just stopped, as paint began to flake off, the roof got a little more mossy, and broken railings were not replaced on outside stairs. So it went for years.

Eventually, the house was abandoned and the front was boarded shut with large 'DO NOT ENTER' signs spray-painted in orange. Sad. Occasionally, it was like the house would vomit up some more garbage, as some mornings when I walked past, the front yard would be full of fridges and pillows and children's toys, and then a couple of days later, it would all be gone.

I went away last fall for a couple of weeks and when I came back, some clever folk had nailed to the front of the house a copy of Hopper's 'Boulevard of Broken Dreams'.

I'm not sure if the owners were defiantly complicit in their destruction of the cute little house down the street, or if a neighbor shared my view that it was a neighborhood shame, given that many of the houses in this area are charmless Vancouver specials.

Either way, hilarious.

Shortly after the sign went up, the house came down . One day I came home from work and it was gone, not even a pile of rubble was left. What soon took place, given the neighborhood, was that the lot filled up again, only this time with garbage. Mattresses, household detritus, bags of garbage.  

Not hilarious.

It has since been emptied and a bright yellow fence erected around it.