The Occupation is over
It is finally over. The army has withdrawn today from the streets of my town, after two years and four months of constant occupation.
The city is finally ours again. The whole city, with nowhere off-limits. The barricades are coming down, and soon the 'Red Zone' will be just a distant memory, something to tell the kids about, the time when the army patrolled the streets of our CBD.
And this all means that the demolition is mostly over. Every dangerous building that had to come down, is down. Town is just an empty wasteland that we now get to build on again.
Now, finally, we can start to put our city back together again. It feels like a new beginning, a beginning we have been waiting a long time for. It's a good feeling.
On a personal note, if you remember I left my home to the tender mercy of a building firm on 14 May, due to return to it on 8 June. I am still not back in my house. The most recent date given to me is 29 July. They keep finding more and more stuff they need to fix.
The latest one had me a little bit cross. They said, oh we found it is very wet under the house, and we have to dry it out, clear out the mould, and suck out the liquefaction and refit insulation down there. My response was, yes, and why is this coming as a surprise to you? I had a well open up under the house, of course it is wet under there! I had the inspectors who came to do the original scope of works look under there, and they said "oh, it's very wet". The people you are working for paid to have a plumber come and cap the well. How can it possibly be a surprise to you?!
So, still staying with my parents, which has both good and bad points. Good point - when I get home from work a meal is waiting for me. Good point - I get my washing all down for me, and a house I don't have to clean myself. Bad point - there is only so much Antiques Roadshow I can watch without going stark raving mad, and I am fast reaching that point.
The city is finally ours again. The whole city, with nowhere off-limits. The barricades are coming down, and soon the 'Red Zone' will be just a distant memory, something to tell the kids about, the time when the army patrolled the streets of our CBD.
And this all means that the demolition is mostly over. Every dangerous building that had to come down, is down. Town is just an empty wasteland that we now get to build on again.
Now, finally, we can start to put our city back together again. It feels like a new beginning, a beginning we have been waiting a long time for. It's a good feeling.
On a personal note, if you remember I left my home to the tender mercy of a building firm on 14 May, due to return to it on 8 June. I am still not back in my house. The most recent date given to me is 29 July. They keep finding more and more stuff they need to fix.
The latest one had me a little bit cross. They said, oh we found it is very wet under the house, and we have to dry it out, clear out the mould, and suck out the liquefaction and refit insulation down there. My response was, yes, and why is this coming as a surprise to you? I had a well open up under the house, of course it is wet under there! I had the inspectors who came to do the original scope of works look under there, and they said "oh, it's very wet". The people you are working for paid to have a plumber come and cap the well. How can it possibly be a surprise to you?!
So, still staying with my parents, which has both good and bad points. Good point - when I get home from work a meal is waiting for me. Good point - I get my washing all down for me, and a house I don't have to clean myself. Bad point - there is only so much Antiques Roadshow I can watch without going stark raving mad, and I am fast reaching that point.