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What You See Is What You Get. This is a journal blog, an explore-blog, a bit of this and that blog. Sharing where the mood takes me. Perhaps it will take you too.

Menolyrical - Final Friday (Not So) Fiction


OKAY - AS MISS CECELIA POINTS OUT IN COMMENTS - I'M A WEEK AHEAD... SO SUE ME... YOU ALL GO AHEAD WITH FFF NEXT FRIDAY!!!

This is the last Friday of the month and time to play with picture/s and words... though today's offering is something non-fiction and which one couldn't make up...

This week, there were happenings in the street.

Parking has always been at a premium in our wee street. Even in the six years of my residence in the Hutch, the traffic flow has increased by as much as double (in my own unmeasured estimation). What is more, it seems to be the chosen route for major traffic such as delivery trucks, builders' vans and emergency vehicles.

It has to be admitted that British streets in general, but Dunoon streets definitely, are not really built for purpose. They are all a couple of centuries old, at least.

When one side becomes a parking lot, single file traffic is all that is left, and for larger vehicles, that will include mounting the pavement (sidewalk).

Double yellows... forget it. (For the unfamiliar, double yellow lines along a kerb means 'no parking at all'. ) They're just decoration, right? Anyway, on the corners around here, they have become faded to the point of being almost non-existent. Therefore the highway code warning of parking not closer than one car's length to any corner is also ignored.

Anyhoo. This week. Lots of clattering and banging and voices. Here are four blokes, no less, set to repaint the faded lines. Not just repaint them, it turns out, but extend them up the street!!! Some residents came out to have a 'discussion'. I think the general trend of response was 'eat yer bunnet'.

What interested me was that it required so many and that this was carried out in such a manual way.

I think the orange 'suit' was head-of-gang. It took about twenty minutes to 'cook' the paint.
The bloke far left appears to be in charge of the rolls of  - vinyl??? -
measuring it out and for this first lot, placing in the pot.
Then there was the 'fireman' with the nozzle of flame.
Then the 'potman' who was watching the hubble and bubble very closely.
Potman was in charge of pouring the liquified concoction into the line-pot,
 which was under the control of 'vinyl man'.
I would like to point out at this stage, this was happening on one of the days
when the temperature was not the balmy double figures we have been getting.
In fact, it was closer to freezing. Thus the liquid soon became unliquid again.
This resulted in the 'spontaneous application'.
Vinyl Man got down on all fours. Pot Man trailed the vinyl.
Head-of gang, headed. What I didn't manage to photograph was him also
getting down on all fours, with a ruler - yes, a ruler -
and ensuring the vinyl was an exact distance from the kerb.
Then along came Fire Man with his sword of fire and just blasted it directly to the tarmac!
On more than one occasion, that nozzle and various hands or legs came perilously close.
In the back of their truck. Lots of rolls of 'vinyl', a plentiful supply of gas for cooking it...
and a can one couldn't help thinking would have better served had it been filled
and by their sides, as that nozzle singed all it contacted!

Not only did they cover the pre-existing markings, but they proceeded to extend the zone by yet another car's length. This happened on three of the four corners of the junction. There are indications on the side underneath the Hutch's window that there may be a little bit more to do. All in all, these four blokes were at the task over the course of two days.

The kicker came a few days later when another large truck appeared, twice the size of this one and considerably more hi-tech looking. It had one operator who attended to the fourth corner. First erasing what was left of the old lines, then "zip!", laying the new lines. Been and done in less than half an hour!!!

Anyhoo... now all the cars are back, parking where they always parked. Yellow lines be darned.

I may never find out if fines and infringement notices are ever delivered!!!



16 comments:

  1. Your post reminds me of the time when Aberdeen City Council turned my area into a 'parking permit zone'. Another 'you couldn't make it up' story. The new scheme of course necessitated the painting white lines on the road to delineate the zones. So the men came along and painted the lines one week, and a week later a crew from a different council department came along, dug up and resurfaced the road...
    One difference though between Aberdeen and Dunoon - here the parking restrictions are vigorously enforced, and the chances of getting caught for any infringement of the rules are extremely high.
    Cheers! Gail.

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    Replies
    1. Hari OM
      Hehe... yup, that's par the course in council works!!! Yxx

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  2. OH word!! So now we know just how many men it takes to paint a yellow line. Seems no matter the task at hand around there there is always way too many standing around. Too funny about the ruler. The locals were brave to go out to 'question' their actions with one holding a torch. BOL BOL 'eat yer bunnet'.
    One time we came home for walking to find a man standing in a 4' hole he had dug. Bryan asked what/why he was digging a hole in our yard. He didn't speak English but about 10 minutes later he boss rang our bell. They were installing
    Goggle fiber optics and high speed internet cables.

    Hugs HiC

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  3. FYI: I will have my FFF posted next Friday January 31...the last Friday on my YAM calendar.
    Hugs....HiC

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hari OM.....hey ho... there we go, the effects of being 'scattered!!! That's fine. I was counting 30 not 31... sigh...Yxx

      Delete
  4. Oh my! How many men does it take to lay a yellow line??

    I just read HiC's post about next Friday being the Final Friday...Ooops, Arty's FFF is set for tomorrow but I can have Rosy do one next week LOL.

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    Replies
    1. Hari OM
      Don't fret pet... I totes took a whole day off the month. Am sticking with this but others are free to use the ACTUAL day!!! Yxx

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  5. Very interesting . . . such a procedure, precision and team work (accompanied by much noise, of course) for what I imagined would be the work of a short time and half as many workers.

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  6. This is sort of like those "How many {{fill in the blank of type of person}} does it take to screw in a light bulb" jokes. At least now that you don't have a vehicle you don't have to worry about incurring any fines for parking in the wrong place.

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  7. MOL, it duz seem like any road construction requires a LOT of people.

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  8. it reminds me of our parking lot changings... they are made for bikes now... and we all praise the inventor of collapsible mirrors. I was surprised that this is the last friday of january, but I'm fine with that. it was an awful month alls bills came in...uuuh!

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  9. What an adventure!
    We're pretty much at sixes and nines here. We are trying to keep calm and carry on, but it is tough!
    Take it easy, Yam. xx

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  10. all the way through every moment of these men puttind down the lines, I had a comment ready but then I got to the part about the big truck zipping its way taking up old and putting down new and you ruined my comment. which was here they do this wie a big truck... I did come away with a treasure though... I can wait to say really loud to Bob next time he gets on my nerves telling me what to do and how to do it 'eat yer bunnet'. I love it

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  11. Most of Nati City work crews just sit around and scratch what ever itches. Usually the itches are down under. Our line painters are two in number the paint comes out of a truck and the truck has a long pole seat on the back with a man sitting on it putting down cones, which mean don't drive over the line. Usually the cones stay down for weeks. We are kind of know as cone city.
    Sweet William The Scot

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  12. Neat 'street scene' and even in the USA it takes so many men to do street work ~

    Happy Moments to You,
    A ShutterBug Explores,
    aka (A Creative Harbor)

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  13. Automation vs employment. Age old issue. namaste, janice xx

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