sign of the times

Just how much time is one and a half months? Is it long enough for buildings to go up or neighbors to move out? Is it short enough that there are only six or seven large weeds in the garden? It certainly seemed like quite a while when I was gone, but now that I am back it seems like nothing much has really changed. My room was exactly like I had left it, my roommates are still pretty much invisible, and I haven’t passed one store on my street that’s changed.

All I could find that I wasn’t expecting was a sign on my gate saying, “Don’t let your dog pee here.”