The hurricane barrier holds the mouth of the harbor like a closed fist, and on the streets behind it Surrounding's Landscaping Co. is out before the city is awake. Winter mornings start in the dark — headlights on wet asphalt off Route 18, a plow pass and a shovel pass, a driveway opened all the way to pavement so whoever leaves first finds nothing in the way. Snow arrives heavy and wet off the water here, and it gets moved the same deliberate way every time, banks set where they won't blind a turn. Come July those same addresses are mowed on a straight line, string-trimmed close to the fence posts, edges cut clean against the walk. It is ordinary work done with care, in a city that has always taken its measure from the weather.