Bump!

No more earthquakes for the moment, but the road fixing is going on and on and on. The workmen are replacing the wastewater main in the adjacent street; they start at 6.00 in the morning now, and have a pump (they call it a de-watering device!) going all night. It's not too noisy, I can sleep with it going, but it's there. There's a lot of heavy lorries and diggers too, and they are shaking the place every now and then. I had to get out of bed this morning because I could feel the shaking of the earthmover, and I swear, I was sitting on the toilet and bounced after one particularly hard bump. What I wonder is, are they doing damage to the houses around in their zeal to get things done? I must take a sqizz at my foundations to see if anything has recracked or reopened. Everyone in the city is fair fed up with it. At first we were philosophical, yes, it has to be done, but now it seems to be taking so long. Particularly swearworthy is when a road is 'finished', then along comes another lot of workmen and it gets dug up again. There seems to be little co-ordination between the various contractors.  It also makes it difficult for shopkeepers and businesses that have re-opened; one shopping area, Victoria Street, an upmarket boutique-y area reopened in a blaze of publicity several months ago, but now their economic viability is threatened by yet another round of roadworks.
  At least there's the garden to admire.

 

The plum tree is full of blossom, and the magnolia is coming out.