Why oh why oh why don't take the camera with me on our daily jaunts through the compound? I really need to. I'm going to need to start wearing a back-pack instead of just a fanny-pack. Poop bags, bowl, water, chapstick, gum, phone and camera. Actually my cell phone does take pictures but I don't know how to get them to my computer. Far too technical for me... Can only use the "old" camera - the one I have experience with. Anything else just doesn't work. Anyway...
A month or so ago a notice was sent to all residents in our compound that Conocarpus trees were no longer allowed to be planted and that they were all going to be removed. "It has been noted that there are many overgrown Conocarpus trees planted near driveways, swimming pools and sidewalks... This particular type of tree is a fast growing species with an aggressive root system. When Conocarpus trees grow large they often cause damage to utilities, driveways and house foundations, which can be quite expensive to repair... Therefore, in order to prevent further damage to Company properties and to protect house foundations, walls, underground piping, etc., you will be contacted to schedule the removal of existing Conocarpus trees in your front and back yards. The planting of Conocarpus trees is not allowed without written permission. Repairs to any damage incurred to the property due to unauthorized planting of Conocarpus will be at the resident's expense."
We have a front yard full of Conocarpus trees. We planted them when we moved in. I purposely selected them because they are fast growing and I wanted them for privacy. We live on a main street and when people walk by they can see in our windows. Not that it is a big deal, since there is nothing all that exciting happening in our house. But still... We've not yet been contacted to have them removed. Supposedly something else will be planted in their place. I hope so. And it is going to have to be mature - and big - and full.
A week or so ago, DH and I noticed a house not far from us putting up a cement block wall. Full privacy. Each day that we passed it, I said "If they take our trees out, that's what I want. A full wall." It was a nice wall. It was almost finished. Two days ago, we walked by and they were taking the wall down. What? Why did you put it up in the first place? And now - before it could even be painted, you're tearing it down? Makes no sense. No sense at all. Job security, I guess, for a group of imported laborers. Build a wall. Now, unbuild it.
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You got walls going up and down...we get roads laid then torn up and laid again...never relaid nearly as well as the first time...and all this done within a few months. New roads get torn up all the time and for no apparently obvious reason. Some get torn up several times.
ReplyDeletei get the feeling that budget money has to be spend by way or another...tearing up a perfectly good road seems as good a way as any...ya think?
@coolred: Roads and walls are apples and oranges. Roads are constantly in use, they sink, they get brittle, their foundations slide, they get internally flaky, they threat to crack.
ReplyDeleteWalls stand. They are painted, repainted, heightened. When a wall comes down its either (a) the owner has changed (b) some new law/rule has come up.
@ sabra: I didn't get what made you miss your camera?
-TFK
I think someone here just didn't get the "right" permission, first, CR, and the wall had to be torn down. Doesn't explain Bahrain's road situation, though...
ReplyDeleteThe fact that I should have taken pictures of the wall when it was up, farkknight, and then again, when it was down. The Conocarpas trees are being removed - people want privacy - especially on a main street - the house with the new now removed wall is on a main street, as are we. If they take my trees out - I want a wall. Apparently that isn't gonna work, though... It WAS a lovely wall. Now? All but 18" of it is gone.
ReplyDeletefarknight...i understand the concept of road use...ive been known to read a book or two (i know..suprise..lol)...I Said...new roads...roads barely up (or down) a few months...some not even a month...get torn up on purpose...machines come...tears them up...lays down a new one a week later (or sometimes not at all...we are left with a bumpy irritating mess).
ReplyDeleteObviously its not "road use" that are the reasons behind tearing up roads willy nilly...many of these roads arent there long enough to be used enough to cause damage....if they are...someone needs to go to "How to Lay a Proper Road" school..Im just saying.
Have you thought about growing the hedge so you get some privacy in your front yard? I recall they would put pipes into concrete foundations, run wires between the pipes, then tie the hedge bushes to the wires. If you put up one of those hedges that has little white flowers it can be nicer than a concrete block wall.
ReplyDeleteI should probably have been more clear, Anonymous. A hedge is exactly what we are growing for privacy - my calling them trees was misleading. I want a tall, very thick and dense hedge. Some of the bushes actually do have little white flowers!
ReplyDeleteCR: Yup, the "Road Making for Dummies" should be just about right now. But still, I really do think things go wrong that were not kinda planned for or were considered a low %age of happening; a %age which some natural/artificial event increased.
ReplyDeleteS: Yup, a hedge. Then you grow it, then you have to trim it, then one day you get excited (or mebbe you were over-bored) and you let your creative skills make you edward trimmerhands, you trim and shape and trim and end up with a mass of something that is irritating, notgoodlooking, not private enough and get a thorough scolding that lays you off of hedges for the rest of your life!
:)
Ahh! Good ol' times!
-TFK