This weekend we had to dig two holes on
site for a soil test. The Engineers needed the holes dug 1,5m deep,
and about 1 m across. We did so on Saturday morning. It was
relatively easy going, the soil being sandy and soft. Then on Sunday
afternoon we dropped by the site just to check that the holes were
still OK following an overnight rainstorm.
 |
| Two little Indians and a Tepee |
Shock and horror greeted us. Over one
of the holes, three little neighbourhood kids had erected a makeshift
tepee out of palm leaves, and were camping in the hole! The other
hole had been mostly filled back in. And to top it off, one of the
kids' father was merrily sitting in the tepee! Needless to say, we
were just a little upset at the brazen disregard for private
property, as well as the audacity to fill in a hole which was dug for
a reason. So we were even more upset to find the father being
somewhat aggressive towards us, and blaming everyone else [including
ourselves] for filling in the hole! At one point he even told us to
get off our own land!
 |
| One of the filled holes... |
He went back home [he was a near
neighbour] and returned in a few minutes in a far more amenable and
friendly mood [maybe his wife gave him a good talking to?]. He told
us not to worry, and that he would reinstate the holes to their
former condition. We decided to give him the benefit of the doubt
and left him to it.
A few hours later we returned to find
the site a hive of activity. Our neighbour had reinstated the holes,
and there were a few other neighbours happily chatting on the site.
Anyway, it was a good opportunity to meet some of them. We even
shared a few glasses of wine in the setting sun. What started out as
an ill-tempered confrontation with a neighbour actually turned into a
great little ice-breaker. And it was good to meet a few of the
neighbours, and reassuring to find that they are good, friendly,
down-to earth folk. All's well that ends well.
 |
| We left the tepee intact to give the kids a few more days of playtime |
 |
| The hole, reinstated and cordoned off |
|
|
 |
| The site and holes cordoned off to discourage messing about |
No comments:
Post a Comment