About last week.

Thursday, early morning, 7.30 actually and freezing. I have a phone call and a panic attack thinking it's a mother crisis again. It's a little man asking me about the hole in my backyard and would it be okay to come and look at it. Yeah, no problem, just straight through the carport and past the lemon tree if I'm not home.  No problem's right, he's sitting in his truck outside the gate. Up there is what he did after ringing the council. The outside of the box is the old concrete cover which you can see in the photo below which was after they fixed the broken storm water pipe and covered that up but left the connection cover.

 This was around the 16th of April and we're now in June. No, I didn't ring up, thinking they would be back to do something about the rusting cover. I mean it's only been about 40 years since it went in and then disappeared like a Pharaoh's tomb in the desert. And don't you love the mess they left. I rang after hernextdoor had them dig up the entire length of footpath because the nature strip tree roots were lifting it and cracking the brick fence. The tree is a Magnolia Grandiflora and not a council tree, she says, snitching. 

 Now this is the finished product. It didn't look like this on Friday but he came back on Saturday and cleaned it all up. I'm still not going to stand on it, I know how deep the hole underneath is. So that is 3 days work.  On Thursday when it started, it was a riot outside my house for about 2 hours.
For one thing, it's garbage day and two trucks are expected anytime.  Hernextdoor is fighting with Council because the footpath isn't straight and any water will run straight under her brickfence. I noticed that when I was complaining to them on Wednesday after the  concreting when they used my water again, didn't turn it off and I walked the bin out to a fountain spray over my drive. I was soaked because I couldn't turn off the tap, dodgy hands, but managed to get the hose connection off so at least the water was only running not spraying. Good thing I ran the bin out in daylight instead of forgetting and doing it in the dark. So as I was saying, I pointed out the footpath all up and down and not in line with the other paths either side.
So, council truck, cement truck, bins up the road, Combi van in front of my place to make way for the other combi to be taken away which it was on Wednesday but this is Thursday and I look out to see large truck about to deliver a replacement for the absent van. (possums are going to be pissed about that, they slept in it when it rained.) Truck doesn't fit through my gate so it's blocking the footpath and half the road, the half which isn't taken up by cement truck and council truck. Don't forget the garbage trucks are due but beaten by the postie on motorcycle who negotiated all this mess very well.
BrickOutHouse is thrilled with new wreck. But it's a FALCON, he says like I'm going to swoon at the thought of offering a home to it. Don't forget I have a Combi just waiting its turn to come up the drive. Slowly it all drifts away and quiet descends until Eric the Mower turns up 20 minutes later.

IceBear decided this was more interesting than hiding under the bed and took up position on the dvd player and making another hole in the shreds of curtain. As things moved, so did he, from hole to hole. He was by this stage getting a bit desperate and finally at 2pm, he went out and had his leisurely 9pm piddle under the apple tree. I swear he sat there for all of 5 minutes and him, with a box full of lavender scented kitty litter he could have used at any time. He just wanted me to feel bad.  I didn't.
Today I passed the Falcon, looked in and thought it was a bit tidier than it had been on Thursday. Of course it is, he better get here on Wednesday and drag the flaming bin out, it's full of car junk.