Big day in the hole. This is how the scene looked a couple hours ago—the orange crane swinging around, that green backhoe (see it?) lifting sludge out, the workers in bright clothes (behind the tree) closely watching. The boring machine that started its journey in the U District was estimated to break through the near wall (the wall you can't see, near those workers) tonight at 9 pm, but I was just down there and the estimate has been revised to midnight. News crews have been crawling the block for hours. Now they're not going to get the footage they were all looking forward to for the 11 o'clock news. The boring machine is said to be under the sidewalk and moving slowly, cautiously, just about to break on through.

Meanwhile, from the building across the street, even from the upper floors, you can hear a low, distant groan, like the building's stomach is growling.