Monday 6 August 2018

Maniana.....water metre saga

13th June  ... 2018

The saga of our water metre.  After ten years our water metres are going to be replaced and sited outside our front gates, with new piping coming down from the top of the road.  The work begins ...............

13th June



A little digger came along and dug a trench from one end of our road to the other, only about 100 metres



Three weeks later.  The trench now has a pipe going through it.  The road is narrowed and the gravel a little treacherous.  We filled in a piece of the trench so we could get in and out of our gate without me stumbling and landing head over ar**.

The old lady next door is collected by her sister who now refuses to drive down to the house.  She parks at the top of the road and the two women have to lug groceries and rubbish up and down by foot.



A curtain of foliage covers Vaso's entrance way and behind it is an overhang of bougainvillia and jasmine which narrows the road considerably.  Gravel and a hole on one side, a forest on the other, not a place for little old ladies to negotiate






Orange cones  warn of a big hole where the main water connection is sunk
Our big station wagon only just makes the turn without me scraping the sides and banging the mirror


A month later. 
 We have been parking our bikes on the other side of the road but the rocks over there are wearing the tyres.  Grandson fills in more of the trench so we can park outside the house and fills in our neighbour's bit as well so she can reach the road without breaking her leg


Meantime the wildlife is getting caught in the trench-trap.  A poor tortoise fell and got stuck.  Alas,  the blow flies had found him before us.

27th July,  all the local big-wigs were cornered after the fiesta in the church across the gulley .   The very next day the trench was filled in And the road was swept to clear all the gravel and rubble.

31st July the trench was officially closed up with concrete and 1st of August some sort of tap or metre was joined to our house supply.

3 August another truck came along and a serf cleared all the sand leftover from the concreting.  There were no bags of concrete left.  They disappeared 'miraculously' overnight.  Anything left out is fair game in this neighbourhood.  We all know and usually take precautions.



Overall a job well done, well finished anyway.

I will suggest we cut a ribbon and have a street party.  K will love that!




5 comments:

  1. That would drive me absolutely crazy!! It reminds me of how long it takes for things to get done in the Caribbean, as well. -Jenn

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    1. All our neighbours and us cornered the mayor and his underlings and they got an earful after the local church service, otherwise the road would have stayed a mess till winter.
      The guys who did all the piping etc are busy fixing water leaks all through summer so it isn't really their fault. The council needs more manpower

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  2. You were able to corner the local "big-wigs"! Yesssss! That was the magic trick!!!!

    Isn't it awful, that such, is a necessity... Yes, it is. -sigh-

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  3. Some similar work has been done here in my village. Our back roads are very narrow, and encountering a gang of workers with all their machinery is a nightmare.

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  4. That poor tortoise and, tortured by blow flies!
    Greetings Maria x

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