I was strolling the street of a town I was visiting and stopped for a quick bite at a sidewalk cafe. There I saw a curious activity going on.
A man, with an orange safety vest, would dig a hole between the sidewalk and the street. The hole was as wide as it was deep. He would then walk about 100 feet down the road and dig another one.
About two holes behind him, another man in an orange safety vest would shovel the dirt back in and fill up the hole.
This went on and on, block after block. I sat there in stunned amazement, curious about what they were doing.
Once they were about two blocks away, I walked in their direction and caught up with the man filling the holes. I told him I'd been observing their hard work, but didn't understand what they were doing or why. He was happy to explain:
"Well, we usually work as a 3-man team," he said casually, "but the guy who plants the trees is out sick today."