Monday 8 August 2016

Demolish!


The process of removing an aged building, this one contained asbestos and was condemned, is a fraught one.  The building, used by the Red Cross Ambulance folks lay abandoned for a long period when suddenly it was up for sale.  Next thing I find a man wandering about peering into windows, a developer hoping to meet one of the tenants.  This tenant was working as an estate agent and had informed him of a quick buck, and she would get a piece.  Indeed the sale went ahead, by auction, after she had moved into her boyfriends (at the time) place.   So it was sold and nothing happened.  Then plans appeared for a three storey block of flats that was clearly taken from elsewhere and dumped on the plot.  We were not having that and a later plan was accepted for a two storey block.  
Then it transpired the greedy owner had sold the land to another and made some £50,000 in the process.  Ten percent for her I expect.  Nothing of course then happened, a bit like my life.  Yet one day suddenly people were working on the drains, blocking the road and doing something, but not much.  
Nothing then happened.
Today, much later, a large yellow machine was brought in and demolition began, slowly.  Two big yellow machines stood around with several men in orange overalls while two non overalled men talked about the work.  Either the new developer/owner or the contractor boss.  Either way little more was done but some banging and heaving and then they took the big yellow machine away, probably to stop it being stolen during the night.
Does this mean something is happening?  Does this mean they will finish knocking down the hut?  Could this be one of those points in law that you must do a certain amount of work or reapply for planning permission I wonder?  
The excitement continues....



So in my sleepy state I gathered myself together this morning and headed for Sainsburys just up the road and a handful of requirements.  On the way I remembered I need to draw money out of the hole in the wall that usually laughs at me when I try.  I sneaked up on it and from the side entered my card and demanded £100.  Unfortunately I pressed the £10 and that was all I got.  I was too ashamed to try again deciding instead not to pay cash anywhere.  
I drooped along through the now awakened main street, shop doors were opened, people looking in the windows, the first mums dragging children around with them, a sense of a new day hung in the air.  I later found myself in the supermarket but was unable to grasp where things were.  Usually I follow the same old routine and it took me some time to realise the problem lay in my 'Sainsburys' thoughts being overridden by my actually having walked into 'Tesco' out of habit!  By this time I had lost all care and just wandered about picking up likely things forgetting I had a list in my hand.
I'm dreading tomorrow at the museum...

  

4 comments:

Lee said...

And we watch with interest to see what develops upon that site once it has been cleared.

The previous owner made a healthy profit on his/her investment! Good on tghem!

Mo said...

Keep an eye on those developers, they have a way of sneaking through plans that no one wants. The rest of your day made me laugh.

Adullamite said...

Lee, Crooked developers destroying towns while lining pockets.

Mo, Indeed! never trust them.

the fly in the web said...

Asbestos is a real pain to dispose of...especially as the 'experts' can't differentiate between the flock stuff and the board...
I had the problem in France...and old abattoir which was rife with the stuff. The bill for removal was horrendous, so I consulted the maire - that's what they tell you to do in the books about living in France...
As he lived nearby he was keen to see the place turned into something respectable and came up with the solution.
I'll have a word with the gyppos.
Indeed he did. They came and removed it all - and it is now lying deep under the pathways on an estate bought by a rich Belgian.