A Vertical Survey

Morning light hit the balcony rail. I stepped out from my overnight quadrant to inspect the boundary. Directly ahead, the vertical bars rose in a series of identical steel slats. A structured sequence. I paced the distance between bar one and bar two. Exactly four blocky footsteps. I gripped bar one with my right hand; the painted metal was cold and perfectly cylindrical. A dropped yellow plastic cable tie lay near the base. I picked it up, looped its flexible strip around the vertical post, and pulled the ridged tail through the head until it clicked twice. Two audible notches. It now forms a fixed horizontal datum mark against the upright post. The perimeter parameters are logged.