Builder Dave is at it again- more new construction has appeared at The Sandbar.

We've had the same wobbly tables for a long time now, and the convenience store remnant tops have always irritated Dave more than the wobbles. I doubt the customers care- it's a dive bar, after all- but Dave's rather particular.

Since he had nothing else to do one day, he shaped and sanded and varnished new tabletops in his home workshop a few weeks ago. He had ulterior motives, also- the old tabletops caused the chairs to sit farther out into the path from the front of the bar to the back, and on busy nights it causes quite a bottleneck.

Now, the two anchor tables- the one right beside the fishtank and the one in the back right in front of the window box- are triangle shaped. The tables in between are much smaller and sort of shield-shaped. The smaller size helps keep people's chairs pulled in closer, leaving a larger walkway through the bar.

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Funny story about these table tops. Dave took them to the bar late on a recent Monday night. The bar randomly got busy, and he was distracted by the crowd and also by some good friends who were there. He set the table tops down in the corner while he chatted, and when he looked up they were gone.

He was pretty sure which group was the culprit, and fortunately a good friend (who also happens to be one of Lawrence's finest) knew at least one person in the group and where they worked. He made a trip down to their downtown Lawrence place of employment the next day, and Dave followed up a few days later. The manager made a phone call, and our tabletops finally showed up that Thursday night.