Rebuilding

Last week, a couple of men appeared outside to do some minor works on the wall across the road from here. They were announced by signs warning that things would be happening for two days. OK, I can live with that, and as it turns out they weren’t a major disruption: no more than a little noise; no clouds of dust and fumes.

But having cleared the wall of the vegetation that was holding it up, they discovered that having stood for hundreds of years it was in imminent danger of falling down.  So next day there’s a surveyor looking at it in detail: if the wall goes, the road and the houses are at risk!  Evidently he too concludes that it’s falling down, because the powers-that-be move with lightning speed, and this monday new contractors appear to fix/rebuild the section of wall.  I spoke to one of them, and he told me they had an emergency budget granted by the council in record time to get on with the works.

These new workmen are the Heavy Gang.  As I write, my earplugs and closed (aaargh!) double-glazed windows are utterly ineffective against their equipment.  If I open a window, the dominant aroma is petrol fumes.  And having spoken to one of the men, I understand they’ll be here for a long time.

Ouch!  I think I’d rather let the road take its chances 😦

I should perhaps add that this is no ordinary roadside wall.  We’re on a hillside, and the far side of the wall is a big drop.  If you look over the wall, you look down on the roof of the newly-built three-storey apartment block on the far side, and recollect how those building works shook the whole surrounding area including road, houses and (presumably) wall.

View from my window