Boom! and the ruts….

The pool company had informed us that for and extra $500 we could have ’protective panels’ laid on the lawn and pavers which would minimise damage from the bobcat during the pool excavation.  I decide the $500 was better in our pocket and declined the “extra”.

The Bobcat did create some deep ruts in the lawn and the pavers near the back door.  Obviously this would need to be repaired.  However I was in no hurry as I wanted to be satisfied no further heavy vehicles would be required as part of the pool installation.

Yesterday I removed the pavers from the damaged area and roughly levelled out the sand.

This morning I screeded the area with a length of 4x2 and re-laid most of the pavers.

 

Any cracked pavers removed yesterday are not going to be re-laid.  I’ll need to think of an alternative… Perhaps a concrete bond beam between the pavers and lawn.

Whilst repairing the lawn I came upon the buried concrete foundations of two former clothes lines.  The steel pipe had been cut off at ground level and then covered over.  I’ve now removed a total of three old clothes line foundations.

 

I’ve been slowly disposing of them by placing one each week in the ‘wheelie bin’  I’ve been placing turf and grass clippings below and on top of the foundation in an effort to dull the sound when the bin is emptied.  This is only moderately effective  as there is still a loud “BOOM” as the bin is emptied.

Last night I experimented with the pool timer and light settings.  The colour of the light was changed to Magenta and scheduled for 7.00 – 8.00pm.  Jan told me the effect looked quite good which means I’ll have to attempt a photo.

Meanwhile Western Australia has go back into COVID lockdown after an outbreak in neighbouring South Australia.  The border was only open 24 hours before the outbreak was identified.  The source was a cleaner who worked in one of the Adelaide quarantine hotels where overseas arrivals spend their 14 days of mandatory quarantine.  Someone in that hotel has failed to maintain the required level of protection.  The one infected person has resulted in a further 20 being identified within two days.  Thousands in Adelaide are now queuing to to tested whilst the contact tracers race to identify everyone who has come into contact with anyone who has been affected. 

The Prime Minister has spoken about the 26,000 overseas Australian citizens and residents who have been clambering to return.  The original plan was to have all of them returned by Christmas with the number of quarantine facilities increased accordingly.  However the 26,000 has now increased to 36,000, as more attempt to bolt for “safe Australia”.  One returnee, already in Adelaide quarantine, was interviewed by the local media and; during the interview; mentioned she had been living in Italy for 25 years before deciding to return.  One assumes she has dual nationality and a home in Italy.  I also doubt she is an Australian tax payer!