amissae rei

Something lost. We’ve all experienced it. You long for something, fantasize and think, daydream and wonder…  only to finally move to action and have the opportunity lost. We find pools often. We search and that is why. One has to drive systematically. One has to look for the signs.  Eyes open for anything that can get you past a homeowners reluctance and fear. I use honeyed words and a glib tongue. I am an expert at reading human beings. Manipulation. A master. I am he. One has to watch for threats. Dogs. Drug dealers and users. Thugs… everyone’s looking to make a name. I don’t want to be the corpse over which someone stepped to get theirs. Caution. Sometimes, a pool is far from my home. I weigh it all out. This pool was found by a friend in December of 2010. He told me after he stopped and took photographs. Recon. Lay of the land. “It’s sitting at the end of a cul-de-sac in a pretty high end neighborhood. The pool rests on a really big property and unfortunately sits in the very back left corner.” I digested this bit of Intel and looked over the images.

There was at least three feet of water in it. Also, it looked like someone had pushed one of the surrounding brick walls into the deep end. I ran an experienced eye over the rest of the photographs. There were cancer holes visible in the plaster of the waterfall directly below the hip. If these were present, I assumed there was other such damage beneath the brick piles and rain water. As good as the pool looked, it would take a great deal of work and money just to get it rideable. I put it off for awhile. A month became a few and a few became another year. As all things go…  time climbed by.

I would come upon the pool images from time to time, but never was in the area to invest what it would take to see the project through. I just figured that my window of opportunity was past. I drove over today. Wrought iron fence posts on red brick walls, wrapped the property. My eyes scanned the area, searching for the house that should’ve been there…  but wasn’t. I swore to myself. Dirt and thistles covered what was an opportunity, now lost. Life. Amissae rei.  Thank you to Brandon Wong for the images. Skate- Ozzie