The "Faces of Strangers: #33" Story

Mike, who is busy at work and wasn't
allowed to pose for a photo.

It was an ordinary day.  8:00 AM and I'm walking the boards in Ocean City, NJ looking for some photographs of the city my family calls home for one week each June.  Runners, bikers, walkers and naturally coffee drinkers fill the boardwalk from one side to the other.  I found my way to the beach for a few photos then headed back to the boardwalk for some action.  Directly in front of me as I exited the beach was Mike, nailing one of the yellow pine planks back into place along the boardwalk.  I snapped his photo and walked over to him to ask a few questions.  The sweat was dripping from his brow, even at this early hour of the morning.  He told me that the majority of the boardwalk was New Jersey yellow pine, but a section had been replaced a few years ago with a Brazilian hardwood known as ipe bethabera.  It is a very dense wood that doesn't splinter, but has to be installed with screws since it is so dense that you can't drive a nail through it.  But, Ocean City stopped using the wood after it was said that it was going to be put on the endangered list, since so many locations in the world were using it for their seaside boardwalks and the wood was beginning scarce.  Mike had worked for the city as a mason for some time and then was switched to the carpentry crew.  He and his driver roam the boardwalk from one end to the other looking for boards that either need replaced or need to be fastened better.  Some days they travel back and forth all day looking for repairs while other days, such as this morning, two crews work the boardwalk and they will be done by lunch.  To many the job seems glamorous since you get to be on a world famous boardwalk with all the tourists, but the hot sun and intense humidity make the job tiresome pretty quickly.  I asked Mike for a photo, but he said he wasn't allowed to do that. I'm sure he would be posing all day for the young ladies if he started to pose for tourists.  It was another extraordianry day in the life of an ordinary guy.