131. Safety issues (3)

 And then the digging starts. For hours on end they noisily dig up the street. The weather turns unbearably hot and I keep appearing at the front of the house with bottles of water fearing one of them is going to drop from heat exhaustion into the now deep hole. I want to say it is time to 'assess the situation' but their mood has changed from nonchalance to sheer determination. The jack-hammers shake the whole street and the ancient houses threaten to collapse and tumble. Still, oblivious, they dig on. The neighbours walk past the house with a disapproving look on their faces probably thinking me completely irresponsible. I must have known the gas pipes were half a century old! Had I been trying to blow the whole street up?

Just when we are getting used to them everything stops dead. They simply vanish into thin air. No good byes. No warnings. Nothing. All that is left behind is the gigantic canvass tote full of soil and rock and a deep hole. It looks dangerous. We could run out of the house and fall into it. The bare gas pipes at the bottom look threatening. The red and white fences are neatly arranged around it though. A few days go by and, as promised, a fresh team arrives and fits some lovely shiny bright red and yellow pipes and they knock a wall in my home to set the brand new gas meter thus adding to the collection of holes in my house. At the same time neon green and orange marks appear here and there in the street signalling more digging is going to take place to avoid a series of gas explosions. But still the neighbours' house remains grey and dull, no shiny colours, no neon signs to brighten up their days. I try to cheer them up.

'If there's a gas explosion, we'll know who the culprits are. Ha ha ha!'

Then this second team also disappears. We come and go, we go to work and on holiday and still the hole is here.

Passers-by take it for a dumping ground and it gets littered with plastic bottles, wrappers and even cigarette butts! Cigarette butts! I am considering putting up a sign to inform people about the type of pipes down there but the weather changes and the heavy summer rain soon fills up the hole. The rubbish is now floating disgracefully in the dirty water. But the weather turns hot and sunny again bringing out yet an other team which sets to filling up the hole. They also take away the giant tote but leave the fences around the area of the hole. Waiting for the cement to dry, I'm told. OK. These fences will soon go and all will have our street back again ...