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JAYNE WITH A WHY |
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Sunday, June 13, 2010WALLED INSince moving to this compound/complex last year, a few changes have taken place. (Before going any further though, let me just explain that the compound on which we live is one of many that have been thrown up in recent months, to accommodate employees for the Medupi Power Station. All properties in these compounds are owned by Eskom & are rented to the contractors involved in building their project.) Initially, each stand (house plot) was divided by a 4ft wire fence. Rumour had it that this fencing would come down & concrete panel walls would be erected. This left me wondering why put the fencing up in the first place? Mind you, Eishkom (Eskom) has got heaps of money to throw away, because it got the government to let it increase the price of electricity some 98% over the next 3yrs, plus it recently announced a rather obscene profit this past financial year. But I digress................back to the walling........... Concrete panel walls have indeed now been erected around most of the houses in the compound. Some have had to be removed & re-erected, because panels were sitting at varying angles & lets face it, if you've got a 'wonky' wall, it can be rather asthetically unpleasing to the eye. Let's have straight lines people! So, the walls were thrown up & the contractor blessed with the job (oh my gawd, what a larf!) took a bit of a breather when he realised that the line the dividing wall must take, was right over the sewer manhole. Plan B - leave a gap!  Next up, the pallisade fencing was erected at the front of the properties. All very nice, but according to the contractor, Eishkom doesn't want to pay for 'double' gates. This means, if you're in a property which has 2 garages, you must manoever your car(s) through a single-sized gate, which has an opening of 2.7m. A meeting was held between the contractor & Eishkom & the latter begrudgingly agreed to pay for double gates for the properties with double garages. Now we only have a single garage, but we paid an obscene amount to get a carport erected & the contractor saw this, but insisted he couldn't put a double gate up, because "Eishkom has counted the properties wif dubbel garages". At present, the single gate hasn't been fitted & neither has the additional panel of fencing, which will be where there should be another gate.  So consequently, there will be an open space. Because I refuse to move our car. I asked the contractor to leave the 'gap' open & he informed me he couldn't because Eishkom says so. I can't have a double gate & I can't have an open 'panel' of pallisaide fencing, because Eishkom says so. I can't reverse the car, hook up the bike trailer & drive out through a single gate, because there isn't enough space. I did a 'test run' of reversing the car, from the carport & out through the 'gate' (space at the moment) & it took me 3 attempts. This resulted in me muttering "fukkit" many times & parking the car in a place where it can be manoevered easily enough. So if Eishkom would like to come & fight with me, I shall greet them with the aggressively menopausal housewife* attitude, complete with arms folded across chest & pinched lips & tell them I refuse to move my car because "I said so". Two can play at their fucking game.  Finally, I'd like to share a few photos of the standard of 'elf & safety the walling/gate contractor practices. Yesterday, a labourer asked if he could plug his extension in, as he needed to use an angle grinder on the wall panels. I s'pose I should be grateful sed labourer didn't end up all black, shrivelled & with an instant perm (there's something ironic about that description) & his work was completed without incident.    I'd like to say that this kind of thing is unusual. Sadly, it isn't - it's very, very normal. *I'm neither menopausal nor aggressive, but I can act the part when necessary :-) Labels: 'elf and safety, Eishkom, Eskom, life in Leperlarfnie aka Lephalale  
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