Saturday 24 November 2007

Tarmageddon in Ibiza

The boys from the blackstuff visited us without warning on Thursday. We knew something would be happening within the decade as one of the flaggers had told me that the tarmac gang would appear 'soon.'


On Tuesday night they all disappeared and didn't come back on Wednesday. The plan worked. Everyone in the street, lulled into a false sense of security, was taken completely by surprise when the big yellow roadmaking machine turned up to block the road.


You might know that our lane ends in a goat farm so if our end is blocked then anyone living at the top has nowhere to go. Just ask my neighbour Harry, who had to be at the airport and so had to trundle his cases hundreds of metres down the street to a point where it wasn't blocked. It's a shame they couldn't have removed the lampposts from the middle of the pavement so he could have trundled a little more easily.


You might also know that our lane is the oldest in the village and has a four hundred year old watchtower at one end and the former school and mayor's house, also 400 years old, at the other. You might also know that Ibiza is a World Heritage site, however if you came to our street you'd have no inkling of our heritage at all.


Our new tarmac has given the lane the 'Milton Keynes' look. Lacking charm, character and rusticity we've lost our heritage along with a good proportion of a crop threshing circle, a large palm tree and an almond tree that were torn down to make way for our new pavement.


When will the powers that be learn that people don't come to Ibiza to look at miles and miles of tarmac, they come for the breathtaking scenery and beaches we have. A couple of minutes extra journey time is worth the trouble.


Footnote. Our new tarmac already has a hole caused by our local water company. We've been telling them that there was a leak in the street since June - so when do they come to repair it??

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