Reply from Lord Mayor’s Office

Following up from Tuesday’s post.  So far no reply from DCC but Andrew Montague’s office sent me the following yesterday:

I refer to your recent e-mail to the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Andrew Montague, regarding unnotified road works at Maryfield Crescent, Artane. The Lord Mayor has made enquiries with the North Central Area Office on your behalf and has received the following reply & apology from Shane Satell, Executive Engineer, on behalf of the Road Maintenance Division:

Road Maintenance carried out works at Maryfield Crescent in the last number of days. All works except a couple of minor snag issues were completed yesterday. It is our policy to advise residents when works will take place which will effect access and egress from their property. This did not happen in the case of Ms Donegan. Road Maintenance services would like to apologise for all inconvenience and distress caused during works at this location.

The Lord Mayor and the Road Maintenance Division will do their utmost to ensure that this situation does not reoccur. I do hope that your driveway is accessible again - please do not hesitate to contact this office should you have any further enquiries.

 

Unfortunately it seems that the respondent failed to mention a few things….

The driveway was still blocked on Wednesday morning.

Concrete spatters in my gateway, along the outside of the garden wall, across the middle of the drive.

Having taken some time on Wednesday morning to talk to the workmen, I was told that my nephew had given permission to block the gateway and that my car would not be moving. Not true, he told them his car (currently being re-built) would not be moving, but I needed mine!

The next-door neighbours had also complained by phone (they somehow got hold of a mobile number that somebody would answer).  They  had to ask for the pathway outside their house to be re-done as the kerb ran half-way across their entry and they could not get into their drive without swerving across the street.  And …. their recently repainted black cobblelock now looks remarkably like a dalmation in reverse

When next-door’s dad spoke to workmen he was told his son had been informed and had agreed to being blocked in – also not true.

How to I get out of this one?

Was confronted by this when I arrived home last night. What you can’t see in this picture is that the pathway has been dug up and there’s no way to get my car out. 

On investigation I found that the Dublin City Council workmen had knocked on my door to warn me of the pending excavation between 08:45 and 10:00 am (on a Monday morning – I know there is a recession, but it’s a bit negative to assume nobody except them has a job to go to!).

THE Mulled Wine Recipe

• 1 pack Muscovado or Barbados sugar
• 2 litres boiling water
• 1 litre red wine – Bordeaux, for example
• 2/3 measures of decent brandy
• Juice of 3/4 medium oranges
• Juice of 2/3 lemons
• Cinnamon sticks
• Cloves
• Sliced Ginger root
• 2 quartered oranges
• 2 quartered lemons
• Juice from a can of fruit cocktail
• You will need quite a large pot with a tight lid

Start this at least 1 hour before serving:

Dissolve the sugar in the boiling water.  Add the juice from the oranges, lemons and fruit cocktail. Put on a low heat, don’t let it boil again. Add the sliced ginger. Break up the cinnamon sticks and throw them in.  Add the wine and brandy.  Put the lid on the pot. Come back and stir occasionally.

About half an hour before serving:

Stick the cloves into the skin of the oranges and lemons, and drop them into the mix. Lid back on pot and more occasional stirring.

After the party:

If you’ve got some left over, fish out the fruit quarters and the cinnamon sticks (strainer, colander) because they will oxidise and make the mulled wine bitter if left.  Leave to cool and store in a covered container.  Reheat in the pot.

They said it wouldn’t happen again

I’m feeling pretty grumpy with Dublin County Council.  Back in July when I was clearing out the little patch in the front garden (that I was so proud of), one of the items I dumped was a leaflet proclaiming that the drainage issue that had caused the floods in 2008 and 2009 were finally resolved.  Take a look at my Twitpic.

I learned an important lesson today.  When there are floods, you should make sure your front gate is closed – “What on God’s green (and currently very soggy) earth makes her think that will help?”, I hear you say…well. it would prevent the neighbours bins floating in and depositing their contents all over my little patch.  I was too disheartened to take a picture, suffice to say the whole project will have to be repeated. 

At Home for the Holidays

I managed to choose the best 2 weeks of summer this year to take a holiday. I decided to spend it at home looking after the beasties and sorting out my garden. The little patch in the front was pretty knackered looking, full of rubble from building work, gunge from the 2008 and 2009 floods, various discarded car components from the nephew’s ongoing restoration project, and choked with weeks and ivy. Underneath it all I knew there were tons of naturalised spring bulbs.

Soooo…. I set to work.  I shovelled out all the soil, separated the weeks, sifted out the bulbs, hauled all the detritus to either the bin or the compost heap.  Then I toddled off to the garden centre and invested in a load of new top-soil and bark. I rescued sell-off large scale plants and replanted the spring bulbs.  Here’s the result – I’m really proud of it.

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A new addition to the menagerie

I didn’t buy it, find it, breed it or rescue it, but there it is.   A tiny little mouse. Over the last few days there has been a lot of huffing and puffing and sniffing round the kitchen from the three hairiest residents.  Tonight a bout of hysterical barking broke out and when I went to investigate I found the so-called wee cowering timorous beastie sitting in state on my granite chopping board.  Far from being afraid of the proportionally titanic beasts yowling and bowling below him, he looked more like a mini emperor gazing down on his subjects. That is until I tried to take his picture.  With a flick of his tail and a sideways glance worthy of the most high-end A-list celebrity, he squeaked “see my agent” and dived between the fridge and the drawer unit.

Unfortunately for Izzy, who has not figured out that an Old English Sheepdog head is somewhat wider than the almost two inch space, she tried to snatch him on the way down.  She’s looking a bit stunned at the moment.