Saturday, January 15, 2011

The sidewalks came!

I can't even remember what happened, but I dropped the ball on my continuing report of the new road and sidewalk being put in on our street. Happily, I did take pictures and I will be putting up 3 sets over this weekend to complete the historical record. The last construction post was my excitement about signs that they were soon going to put in the new sidewalks. Well they did and here is the story in pictures:


First they came by and topped up the holes between sidewalk squares (which had been dug out to access our drains, I remind you) with fresh gravel.




And each house whose entrance was blocked by the hole got their own personal plywood drawbridge.




I don't know why, but I love seeing what's underneath the sidewalk. It's just so cool to think that the original concrete at the base of the stairs was poured directly onto some dirt and gravel that has since shifted, leaving little pockets that have not seen the light of day since their birth. Now, thanks to the construction, it is exposed to us. It's like history or something, man!




Then a truck came up the street, with workers dropping off the materials necessary to set up the forms. That is in fact the only work these guys did and I noticed that they were all Mexican or Central American. I guess maybe that's how you start your way up the ladder in the construction industry, though I would not be surprised at all if these guys were fully capable of setting up the forms and pouring the concrete themselves.




All ready for some form building!

1 comment:

mare said...

I believe it's some sort of cartel. There are Latin American crews (and Italian crews in my street). Sure anybody can apply, but since they speak Spanish or Italian during their work your time working wouldn't be very pleasant and even outright dangerous. ¡Cuidado!