Well- almost swept away.
It is the rainy season here from November to May(ish) and it has rained almost every day- mostly light showers usually in the afternoon, with the occasional downpour. However, the last few days have been epic.
The Ministry of Public Works thought it would be a good idea to, in the rainy season, rip up the main stretch of beach road which is one of two (2!) main roads in the entire city, two weeks before the first Presidential primary, which is on Saturday (we are paying homage to our Irish roots here, thank you very much and Happy St. Patrick's Day). Why was this not done in the dry season when the could work on the road every day when there is no rain in order to complete it faster and not inconvenience the public so?
This isn't being done with night crews or a "patch at a time" like other parts of the world might strategize. They literally went through and jackhammered and bulldozed the roads over a period of 2 days for about a 15 km stretch of road. Absurd! There isn't even any section of the road partitioned off to protect traffic from the heavy machinery. It's a free-for-all, in a muddy, bumpy, terrible stretch of road that is driving everyone is Dili absolutely mad.
Braving the monsoon-like conditions, on my way home today the rain was pounding the mud soaked roads and waves were crashing over the footer onto the road as we creaked along at 10 km/hour to my apartment. The wiper blades of my taxi were held together by zip ties with untrimmed tails that could have been braided they were so long, following in the direction as each blade separately jolted across the windshield with a loud groan. I convinced myself it was a lovely rhythm that, after 10 minutes didn't compete with the crackling static radio coming in and out with Paula Abdul's Straight Up remake by an up and coming Korean pop star. Yes it was a special cab ride.
As you can see by this photo, thankfully the driver had this handy dishtowelesque-thingy and screwdriver that not only were used to keep the window up and in place, but also to mop the condensation from the inside of the cab and could have been used to screw in that pesky door handle, if you know, we had to really pull over because of flooding. Hey- it's good to be prepared and to have options. I was with a quasi-boy scout taxi driver, I told myself. So there.
It is the rainy season here from November to May(ish) and it has rained almost every day- mostly light showers usually in the afternoon, with the occasional downpour. However, the last few days have been epic.
The Ministry of Public Works thought it would be a good idea to, in the rainy season, rip up the main stretch of beach road which is one of two (2!) main roads in the entire city, two weeks before the first Presidential primary, which is on Saturday (we are paying homage to our Irish roots here, thank you very much and Happy St. Patrick's Day). Why was this not done in the dry season when the could work on the road every day when there is no rain in order to complete it faster and not inconvenience the public so?
This isn't being done with night crews or a "patch at a time" like other parts of the world might strategize. They literally went through and jackhammered and bulldozed the roads over a period of 2 days for about a 15 km stretch of road. Absurd! There isn't even any section of the road partitioned off to protect traffic from the heavy machinery. It's a free-for-all, in a muddy, bumpy, terrible stretch of road that is driving everyone is Dili absolutely mad.
Braving the monsoon-like conditions, on my way home today the rain was pounding the mud soaked roads and waves were crashing over the footer onto the road as we creaked along at 10 km/hour to my apartment. The wiper blades of my taxi were held together by zip ties with untrimmed tails that could have been braided they were so long, following in the direction as each blade separately jolted across the windshield with a loud groan. I convinced myself it was a lovely rhythm that, after 10 minutes didn't compete with the crackling static radio coming in and out with Paula Abdul's Straight Up remake by an up and coming Korean pop star. Yes it was a special cab ride.
As you can see by this photo, thankfully the driver had this handy dishtowelesque-thingy and screwdriver that not only were used to keep the window up and in place, but also to mop the condensation from the inside of the cab and could have been used to screw in that pesky door handle, if you know, we had to really pull over because of flooding. Hey- it's good to be prepared and to have options. I was with a quasi-boy scout taxi driver, I told myself. So there.
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