Municipal Lightbulb Joke

How many municipal workers does it take to change a street light bulb?
In our street the answer is six: two to work at the top of the crane, and four to sit around doing nothing. Life is tough when you work for the municipality.

Aleit Park grass recovers from felled tree

Every time the City Parks guys visit our park, they get something else right. Last time they managed to remove most of the dead branches left over from the cut down tree. Only a few stumps are left. This time they cut the grass that had been obstructed by the tree for nearly 18 months. It's looking good. Click on the photo for more detail
The other main improvements to the park have been a repaired wooden fence that keeps the joyriders off the grass, and new litter bins that make it easier for people to be tidy. The photo below was taken a few weeks ago, showing the kitchen staff from Carvers enjoying some time out playing cards in the park.

Kettle TV is fun to watch

The first time I saw a transparent kettle I was fascinated, and have kept a lookout for one ever since. In December our local Pick 'n Pay added an amazing one to their store, and I couln't resist getting one, especially since our previous kettle stopped working.
This one has an automatic cut-off, and a "keep it warm" switch, so you can boil the kettle and keep the water hot until you're ready to use it. It's also got a removable base, making it easy to fill without having to unplug it from the wall.
The best part is watching it boil. The photo above doesn't do it justice, even if you click on it for a larger image. You can see the bubbles developing and then growing, and it's often more entertaining than the TV. That's why my kettle is now called "Kettle TV" because it fascinates our visitors too.
I also devised a simple way of getting rid of the "scale" buildup that happens inside the glass: vinegar. Just add some vinegar to the leftover hot water in the kettle, and in a minute or two the acid in the vinegar has dissolved all the alkaline scale from the inside. I use red vinegar so you don't inadvertently pour the vinegar mixture into a cup of tea.

Aleit Park looking good

You need to click on the image to see it in more detail. Its a composite made by Autostitch, and shows a view of the part from our fence.
The grass was last cut 6 weeks ago, and it needed a cut after all the rain. It's a pity the chopped down tree is still blocking a large patch of lawn on the left of the photo.
This picture shows the tree debris when it was cut down on 23rd November, about 2 months ago. The wood remains untouched and the foreground is totally overgrown.

Myna Mess in the Roof

If you ever wanted proof that Indian Myna nests are messy, this is it. The first picture shows how much mess was left after I filled the first rubbish bag with sticks, feathers, plastic and other rubbish.
Even after the second rubbish bag, there is enough for an entire nest, as show in the two pictures below.
One wonders how many flights over how many years it took to accumulate all this junk in the roof.
One thing I am sure of: they aren't going to nest there much longer. I have already blocked up one hole, and when the weather is a bit cooler I'm going back up there to clear out the rest and plug the holes.
There birds are a pest: they make a dreadful noise, and they aggressively chase the other birds away. They have been getting a bit of their own medicine just recently; we bought a catapult (slingshot) for Christmas, and have been firing marbles and white stones at them. Why white? So we can find them and pick them up off the grass, of course.
While this doesn't kill them, it keeps them away from the flat and out of the way of the swifts, swallows, weaver birds, bulbuls, mossies and other birds that come to feed in the park and downstairs. We are going to have to find someone who is a good shot to get rid of them.
One thing that upsets them quite well is to fire stones at the entrance to their nests. This "rattles their cage" and makes them more insecure, judging by the alarmed squawks they emit.

Minimising Mynas article | MynaMagnet trap | Myna research

Aleit Park Fence Fixed

It's difficult to tell whether the visit was in response to Reference number 5393/23-Oct-2006 or not, but yesterday the City Parks guys showed up around 10am and fixed part of the wooden fence for Aleit Park.
At around 11 they lit a braai fire (labelled "1" in the bottom of the picture) and enjoyed their braai until around 12, and then left. Today, they arrived again at around 10am and finished the rest of the fence. This picture was taken shortly after they arrived today, and shows the work done yesterday, labelled "2".

Aleit Park gets its grass cut

Hilarious Cockroaches

The Straight Dope web site has some classic advice for dealing with roaches. It's also hilarious, assuming you know a little bit of Vietnam war history.

Dear Cecil:
I'm tired of Roach Motels, Baygon, boric acid and other pansy-ass roach killers. I want a recipe for some stuff they will eat gladly and die of quickly. I have no kids or pets to worry about. I don't care if the active ingredient is a little dangerous to handle, or hard (even illegal) to get. I want the little suckers dead. What will do it? --Hayden J., Chicago

Dear Hayden:
Calm yourself and pay attention to your Uncle Cecil. There are two proven approaches to dealing with la cucaracha: (1) borax, and (2) arson. Assuming your landlord objects to the latter line of attack, hie yourself down to the basement and mix up the following recipe: 4 parts borax, 2 parts flour, and 1 part cocoa powder.
Now, you may regard borax as "pansy-ass," my boy, but that is because you are young and ignorant and have not yet grasped the subtleties of Total Insect Warfare, which requires fanatical dedication. You must mix up oodles of this stuff and apply it with the enthusiasm of Robert S. McNamara dumping Agent Orange on the Mekong Delta. Pour it in a continuous line along the walls. Put an extra dose under sinks and around kitchen cabinets. Hell, fill your damned house to a depth of one foot with the stuff. The little bastards will die piteously, I promise.
Incidentally, should you also be happen to be troubled by rats, I have here an ingenious formula for inducing rat death: Mix equal parts cement and flour. Place a pan of this powder out next to a pan of water. The rats eat the cement, then they drink the water, and by the next morning their bowels have turned to concrete. Sadistic, eh? I knew you'd love it.

The Straight Dope: What's the best way to kill cockroaches?

Aleit Park gets its grass cut

Aleit Park, next to our flat, got its grass trimmed today. I can't recall when it was last cut, but I think it was in October sometime.
A man stands hear the northern boundary of the park, with grass up to his knees as he cus it with a weed-eater.
The same boundary fence, with the men hard at work using weed-eaters.
In the rest of the park, mowers without grass buckets are used to trim the thinner grass.
A proud worker insisted I take his photograph.
The men cut the grass on the pavement near the "rustic" wooden fence.
Grass in the foreground waiting for attention.
A lone Hadeda picks its way through the piles of cut grass left lying all over the park.
On Sunday a group of 4 homeless men arived to wash their clothes in the stream. They stayed the whole day, shouting at one another in their drunken state. They were so drunk they could hardly walk straight. We could still hear them with all the windows closed in our flat.
Today the same part of the park is looking a bit neater, even though all the tree rubble in the background is still there. The gardener for our block of flats cuts the grass regularly, as shown in the photo of the drunks. The parks people always ignore this side of the stream, except to trim the edges.

Fallen Tree Makes a Home

Sometime between January and October 2005 one of the trees in Aleit Park (next to our flat) suffered storm damage and about half the branches fell down. In spite of repeated requests by various parties, the branches have still not been removed.
Why kick up a fuss about a damaged tree, even if it is in a park? The reason is simple it has now become a temporary shelter for several homeless people, who arrive at around 10pm and leave at 5am, to avoid arrest.
This is all they leave during the day: a packet and some cardboard at the base of the tree. They hide the rest of their stuff in the stormwater drain nearby, as shown here. Their stuff is jammed between the water pipe and the roof of the bridge, and there is a blanket handing over the pipe, presumably to dry out.
On the one hand I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a place to stay. It must be pretty grim living out in the open when it's pouring with rain or freezing cold. But on the other hand the area is a park, and if they move in permanently it wil be almost impossible to evict them. If this happens the value of our property will fall, with the obvious financial implications for our bond.
What really gets me is the complete lack of response from the City Parks Department. The building owner contacted them earlier in the year, and has now given up phoning them. Last month Penny sent faxes and made phone calls, and still no response. I've logged a call with the City Council, reference number 0122/20/11/2006.
I understand it is an offence to cut the tree down. I wonder what it will take to get the Parks Department to trim the branches? A law suit? A formal complaint to the Mayor? If we take the law into our own hands and have it cut down, can we sue the council for the costs? The mind boggles.

Update: Tree Inspection Time | City Parks Hard at Work | Joburg City Parks web site