oooh! Heavy Machinery!

There's things happening here......things that involve big machines....trucks and bobcats....

A while ago, there was a residents meeting in the community hall where several persons from I-forget-where attended and spoke to residents then walked up and down the driveway looking at the surface and admiring the gardens.

The driveway, which goes right through from the main road to a side street and also runs around behind several of the blocks of flats, is in pretty poor condition.

 all cracked up

The inspectors put in applications for roadworks, depending on what needed doing there was a decision to be made regarding resurfacing or repairing. After the last few rainstorms, it was decided the whole driveway would be resurfaced.





edges and gutters are in bad shape

 pot holes


Work began last Monday and would be broken up into sections, two days per week per section, then the small areas behind the flats where the washing lines are placed would also be replaced as they are very uneven and a hazard for those with "gophers" and walkers.

I was woken on Monday morning by the sounds of trucks arriving and a lot of crunching type noise which turned out to be made by this big machine breaking up the blacktop ready for removal.

 the crusher

A damaged spoon drain along the main driveway was removed and replaced while the whole back section where most of the garages are, was removed and scraped level.





old spoon drain was here


pouring concrete

working on the drain gang....




the new spoon drain

men at work

getting right in there

witches hats were placed at both ends of the driveway

one of several mini skips filled with broken up road surface

the first of many truck loads of waste leaving from my end of the driveway.


The first section was resurfaced on Tuesday but I didn't take photos then as the strong smell of hot bitumen would have given me a headache.
I'll be out there with the camera a bit later this morning.








Comments

  1. Always fun to watch men work.

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  2. Hi there...I hope you don't mind my popping in unannounced and uninvited. I was visiting Elephant's Child and read your comment.

    Thank you for your empathy. I felt it in your comment. :)

    I'm glad the temperatures have dropped down your way. You sure have had more than your fair share of heat. Let's hope that's it for the rest of summer. Enough is enough, I say!

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  3. Delores; several of the men are Italian, I love hearing them speak as they work, Italian is such an "alive" language.

    Lee; welcome to drifting. No one needs an invitation to pop in here. I still get bad feelings when I think of that movie. Usually I can watch horror movies and crime shows on TV, but this was just too real, it scared me so much.
    It's lovely to be cooler now, but there's probably going to be one last burst of heat somewhere in March, there usually is.

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  4. By the speed it is being done, they are spending some serious money. Often work like this is strung out for months if there are not many workers.

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  5. During some work on our road the crew parked equipment in our very big drive for the weekend. Little children who visited were very impressed with the very cool machines on hand.

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  6. Good to see work is getting done.
    And, I agree, Italian is such an "alive language".

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  7. Yes, I agree River...re that movie. It was raw, too raw for me, I'm afraid. I can watch "Dexter" and not blink an eye...I love Dexter...and enjoy all kinds of similar shows/movies, but "Once Were Warriors" was far, far too real for me.

    Nice to meet you, River. :)

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  8. Andrew; the repairs are long overdue, the driveway was in poor condition when I moved here and it is much worse now. With so many elderly people it needs to be done quickly to prevent accidents.

    Joanne; the really big machines are parked behind the flats in one of the larger parking areas then driven away after the two days. Today there is just a small crew working on replacing broken and dropped sections of gutters. Dropped is where the ground has sunk away underneath the guttering causing it to be several inches below where it should be.

    Vicki; I once worked in a shoe factory where more than half the women were Italian, it was a real joy to listen to them chattering and laughing as they worked.

    Lee; I love Dexter!!and own the DVDs, I should watch them again, I've forgotten most of the stories.

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  9. I read Dexter, but couldn't watch the movies. Or Once Were Warriors either. River, and Lee (and probably lots of others) are both much, much braver than me.
    I hope your new driveway is a distinct improvement.

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  10. Ahhhh... when I read "Men at Work" I immediately started to hum "I come from a land down under..." Hee, hee... old habits die hard.

    You are right in that the roadway was in bad shape. That's not just a pain for cars but also for cyclists, pedestrians as well as those needing walking frames and pushing prams. Not good.

    That's a really impressive gum tree in the fourth photo. They really have a very special grace and beauty.

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  11. Love the comments about Men At Work. Hahahaha.

    So glad that you are getting those much-needed repairs. Pot holes are just bad news. For cars and people.

    Plus I learned some terminology today. I didn't know that was called a spoon drain. I can't wait to use that in a sentence...

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  12. Elephant's Child; I haven't read any Dexter novels, I think I have one somewhere, I know there are a few on the kindle. It will be a while before my end of the driveway is done.

    Marie; I was hoping someone would catch on about the song. The driveway has had bandaid treatments for far too long. We have a lot of huge gum trees around here.

    Robin; I've always known they were spoon drains, what I want to know is WHY they are called spoon drains. I've never found out.

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  13. I am sure it is all going to look really smart when the work is finally over. The old surface looked so very dangerous for anyone on foot especially the elderly.

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