Land use changes

The piece of land to the side of the Cape Town Studios has seen a few changes over the past few months.

When my mum visited in May, it was a decent piece of grass with a few trees round the edge. People living in our apartment block would walk their dogs over it, as it was regarded as a communal site.

Then, the building work started in earnest and it was used as a place to store sand and bricks, while the land was being purchased by CVC.

Then, all the trees which were to the right, nearest to the road, were moved so that pipes and cables could be laid.

The trees were spread randomly over the grass-cum-building site.

In fact the only grass left by this stage was right at the edge, near to the entrance to the apartments. During this time, permission for building on the land was being obtained.

Then this week, the builders started work on a perimeter wall, which will enclose this side of the site, improving security and privacy.

First, on Monday, two parallel lines were marked out across the land, a few metres from the edge, in an 'L' shape.

On Tuesday, a digger arrived and dug out a trench between the lines, again in an 'L' shape.

Yesterday (Thursday) concrete mixers arrived and filled the trench.

And today, the builders started the brick laying, building some of the columns.

Being Friday, they had all disappeared by 3.30pm, so I assume work will continue next week. However, Andy tells me that it is unlikely to be finished before the builders finish for their Christmas break, which starts on 15th December, so we will probably not see the completed wall before we leave on 20th December.

I'm pleased that a small piece of grass and a few trees have been left near the edge, for dogs, ducks, geese, guinea fowl, plover birds and other creatures to enjoy, once the grass has recovered.

Some of the trees which were moved are still looking rather sad - I do hope they recover to bloom once again.