upgrading upgrading.



i get awakened at 8.45am in the mornings by the pounding staccato of a jackhammer. it's quite unpleasant and i can't drown out the noise with pillows. but recently it's stopped cos they've finished retiling the floor downstairs. but i hope they only resume after i've left. waking up to loud noises cranks me up.



anyway, see the picture? that's what i see when i look out and downwards from my kitchen window. see the dug up trench behind the digger? well they've dug up till the grey cement area where the drain covers are, to lay some pipes or something. so see this is what happened, the other day my mother was cooking in the kitchen and i walked in to see what she was cooking. she left the stove and went to the kitchen window and glanced down and then she said, "boy, come see! fire!"



i don't really know what happened, but my mother said one of the workers had come running out of the tunneled out area of the trench where the drain covers are and flames followed. so well, there was the chinese guy who ran out of the tunnel, two foreign workers, and i guess the foreman or site supervisor. they all stood around gawking at the flames merrily (don't you like happy fires?) burning on the dug up soil area. and if you considered it, it had to be some gas or flammable liquid like petrol or shit like that. soil doesn't burn. at least it doesn't seem like it can. so the chinese guy scampers off into the digger and proceeds to scoop up dug up soil around the place to cover up the flames with, which of course filled up the tunnel. what a waste of hard work. anyway the foreman guy tells one of the foreign gawkers to go get some water in a bucket to put the fire out. and so the guy does it. repeatedly pouring water over the magical flames which never go out.



the chinese guy dumps more soil. flames become smaller.



the foreign guy dumps water. fire spreads and becomes bigger again.



repeat repeat repeat.



i felt the increasing need to go downstairs and punch them all in their faces. in my mind i envisioned that some gas pipe had sprung a leak and now the flames had eaten into the pipes and were shooting up all the gas pipes in the block and there would be some spectacular explosion as every unit gets blown to pieces. and the next day the newspapers will report that "police have ruled out terrorist action".



so the foreman guy just stands there nonchalantly looking on at the asinine efforts, scratching his head and neck. and the other foreign guy just saunters off somewhere. i was thinking maybe for an extinguisher, but his gait suggested something more like a coffee break or a nice nap against a pillar somewhere.



more soil gets dumped.



foreign guy no. 1 goes back to the water pipe and proceeds to wash his hands and take a drink from it.



flames dance.



foreign guy no. 1 takes a breather.



more soil is dumped.



flames look close to dying.



foreign guy no. 1 fills up the bucket and dumps more water.



it's comedy in real life.



well finally, somehow or the other, by the grace of god and jesus and elvis and whatever other deities, the fire dies out. but foreign guy no. 1 isn't satisfied. he fills up the bucket a few more times and splashes more water around the area for good measure. good show old chappy, you're up for a raise soon, maybe a nice shiny new helmet, seeing how your superiors are boneheads too.



oh well, upgrading continues.



i fear for the safety of the neighbourhood.