No wonder the country is broke!!!

Hubby and I own our house.............well Santander own most of it, but once we have finished paying them vast sums of money in about 22 years time, the house will be ours. Prior to us buying the house, we rented it for about eight years from a private landlord. It is an average size end terrace house, two 1/2 bedrooms, large kitchen diner, lounge.......the normal type things you expect in a house.



Our house is located in a small village on the edge of High Wycombe, we have High Wycombe in the address, but the town itself is the other side of the M40, so we are separate. Our house is on an estate, that was once a council estate, but thanks to Maggie in the 80's, a large proportion of the houses, like ours, are now privately owned. There are also some which belong to private housing associations and there are still a few that belong to the council. But hey, from the outside they all look the same, so you only know the difference if something gives it away.



Now the one opposite and one up from us still belongs to the council. The reason I know this, is that things that need doing are done in a timely manner, unlike some of the other houses (ours included) that often have things that need doing for some while. Anyway, about a month ago, in fact that day we went to Longleat, the council maintenance contractors turned up and knocked down their yard wall.



I should explain at this point, that our houses are built back to front. The front door looks out through the garden onto a grassy green ( as opposed to a concrete grey or tarmac black I suppose!!!!) and everyone uses the door at the back through the yard and onto the road - coz as we all park our cars on the road, we aren't going to walk all the way round to use the 'front' door. Well, it would be ok for us, being the end terrace, but imagine if you lived in the middle........... anyway, I digress.




So, the council contractors knocked down their yard wall............it took two of them about four or five hours............then they put up plastic hazard tape and left. And nothing happened.............so our neighbours had a gaping view hole until yesterday, when the council contractors returned. Two of them and a van, and they started rebuilding the wall. They were there all day (well a council day about 9am to 3.30pm) and rebuilt about 2/3 of the wall. They returned this morning, only this time there were three of them and two vans and finished off the wall and were gone by midday.




Now I helped my dad build a wall a very long time ago.............I was about ten, so you can gauge the level of my helping. But for someone who knows what they are doing, like builders, I cannot imagine that it a very difficult job. Now in the case of our neighbours, the foundations did not need redoing, they only took the wall down to street level, so when they built it back up, they already had a level to start from. I watched them occasionally...............my kitchen window afforded me an excellent vantage point, and I would have to say the workman were not really stretching themselves.




So, the moral of this post is, our neighbours had their yard wall knocked down and rebuilt, and it took the council contractors 2 1/2 days. Two days with two men and 1/2 day with three men. And as they haven't rehung the gate, which they took down, no doubt they will be coming back. I supposed I should add that these walls are not that long - the space between the garages (which the walls fill) is about 16 or so feet (so take out 3 ish for the gate) and then they are about 5 1/2 foot high..........................not huge then.




I wonder how much the council is being charged for the cost of this wall, that so far has taken 2 1/2 days, and by the time the gate goes back up, it will be nigh on three days, for a job that maybe should have taken two men two days at the absolute most. No wonder the country is broke!!!