Dear Me ...

A few days ago I posted a photo I took in the Te Kuiti Landfill.

Today I spotted what he was after.

Bambi ...

I also asked about the lack of obligatory plastic bags hanging off the fence.

They were shamefaced.

The excuses they gave were; wind vortices blowing them all the way to Australia, and the fact that punishment squads were sent out on patrol to round up any stray escaping bag.

Sounds shonky to me ....

Presents...

Well normality has returned to Fart Towers.

The wife's birthday party was a great success.

The riff raff have finally left, and most of the cutlery is still here.

The jumper cables got a bit of a work out.

A bit of a shame about the dog eating the handcrafted organic necklace.

Still it's the thought that counts ....

Just to clear up the confusion...

It appears that this road has been kidnapped.

It seems it is not in Bolivia, but China.

So it is unlikely you will be run down by the Cocaine cartel.

More likely a semi load of opium...

Lateness...

I was a tad late this morning.

Doing the rubbish run around the rest areas with a thumping hangover is no fun.

Still it's better than being dead....

Celebrations

Day Off today.

Mrs Fart's birthday.

A "few friends" are coming round.

Might have to close the road ...

Meanwhile I'm off to be attentive ....

Nosy Buggar

The guys at the Te Kuiti Landfill have been having a bit of fun again.

This creation has been getting a lot of waves and toots.

It had me fooled too.

White Line Fever

Several people have sent me photo's of "The Road Of Death" (Stremnaya road Bolivia)

I'm a bit puzzled.

It looks great to me.

With the rain we have had, it would be nice and dry in there.

Also, not a pothole to be seen.

It must be interesting running into one of the truck & trailers carting cocaine for some drug cartel.

Actually that is probably why there are no white lines...

All snorted.

Daylight Saving

Time to fire up the barbecue ...

Aftermath ...

Well I hope the holiday makers had fun.
They sure left a mess.
The aftermath of a holiday weekend means smashed signs, sightrails, and fences.
The photo above is just one example.
Lucky too.


Instead of ending up from where the photo is taken they could have gone over a really steep bank.

There is also deliberate damage, graffitti and rest area wheelies, and heaps of rubbish.

Because it has been so wet we are also getting a few slips to keep us on our toes.

Still things are getting back to normal.
In a brilliant bit of timing, our latest "Dig Up The Road To Congest Traffic Scheme" swung into action about two hours before the Targa NZ went through.

AWOL

The next day the reason for the silence at Pothole Control became obvious ....

Anything To Declare ?

Guns ?
Drugs ?
Nuclear Products ?
Vegemite ?

Here We Go Again ...

Its a holiday weekend in NZ.

Despite a lousy weather forecast the traffic is pouring out of the cities.

We have been getting our stretch of road ready for the rush.

By early afternoon we were forced off the road by steadily increasing traffic.

About lunchtime I noticed a trio of bikes heading north.

They weren't wasting any time.

I don't think they made it...

"Three motorcyclists collided with a truck in an accident this afternoon which left one of them dead. The other two motorcyclists suffered minor injuries in the crash on State Highway 3, near Eight Mile Junction, just south of Te Kuiti, at around 1pm. "The motorbike has appeared to have driven into the rear of the truck, both of which were heading north at the time," Senior Sergeant Rob Van Kalken said. The motorbike rider who died was a 40-year-old man. He died at the scene and his name and details were being verified by police. Traffic was being diverted from State Highway 3 around Te Kuiti via Troopers Road until about 6pm. Specialist Police Crash Investigators were examining the crash scene to establish the cause." NZH

The Eight Mile Junction marks the northern boundary for our crew.
The accident happening on Meads Hill.
The truck driver apparently didn't even know it had happened till one following called him on the CB.

Our Te Kuiti mates handled this one, diverting traffic & closing the road.

May the phone not ring ...

When you are the lone male in a household there are some items that are indispensible...

With my heart all in a flutter, I'll just lay down in the gutter ...

"Employers should consider letting tired staff sleep on the job in order to raise their performance, researchers say."

Must remember to take a pillow to work tomorrow...

"Whoopsie"

This Fuel tanker had a bit of a "whoopsie" this morning.

As I headed into work, the CB started to liven up as other truckies warned each other about an overturned trailer.

The truck and trailer was heading north and got into trouble on a nasty little corner about 4 kilometres north of the Awakino Tunnel.

This corner is narrow, and traffic seems to shy away a bit from the concrete wall on the other side.

With two trucks going the other way the driver must have moved a little too far over in his brand new truck.

The trailer ran off the road and went over. Luckily it didn't pull the truck off too.

Modern tankers are strong and don't usually leak much in this sort of accident.


While news reports had thousands of litres of diesel pouring into the Awakino River, we were in fact collecting it in scrounged buckets, and containers and putting it into 200 litre drums.

The load has to be pumped into another tanker. A pump driven by an air compressor is used, and everything is earthed in case of static electricity causing a spark.

We had a truckload of sand and bags in case we had to buld a dam, but the load was slowly but successfully transferred, with a loss of about 340 litres, from the 16,500 litres he had on board.

The trailer had lifting eyes fitted to it, so it was an "easy pick" as the crane drivers say.

It was a bit sad to see the damage to a trailer which had only done 148 kilometres.

Still it was a long day. Miles from the pie shop, a knocked over coffee flask, and no smoking, saw to that...

News Report NZH

Planet Waves

click pic for biggery
This is the dark side of Saturn

Check it out.

You can see Earth. That's me waving...

Sometimes white on black is cool

(via always interesting Plep)

May The Light Puns Commence ....

The Tokyo Times has found these.

"The part of the umbrella of the lamp the �made skirt�, the stand part �it seems lovely and it has become the foot which takes the pause of sprouting�, when power source is turned to ON, it has become the mechanism which is illuminated from midst of the skirt."

I Reeely want one. But the light of my life would give me dark looks.

But aren't they a trip, The light..... Fantastic!

So Much For Friday 13th...

It made it...

Antipodean Couch Potatoes Rejoice !

"The first of Optus fourth generation satellites, D1, has been successfully launched and placed into a geostationary transfer orbit by an Arianespace rocket launched from French Guiana."

Link
video

Sugar, Spice, & Brake Fluid.

One of the crew had a motor accessory mailout the other day. We were perusing winches and other manly things.
I thought I'd check it out when I got home.
No mailout. Very puzzling.

I ran into the postie down the road a couple of days ago & during the course of a chat discovered that they had in fact been delivered.
Very Odd...

After fixing the lawnmower yesterday, which entailed lots of bashing and CRC, I smugly made a cup of coffee and was bailed up by my daughter who wanted to discuss car "mirror tinting". She sniffed the air and said "Gee Dad, You smell nice".

So guess who had the mailouts.

And a stash of "Performance Car" & other car-porn.

So much for sugar & spice & all things nice...

I have spawned a Petrolhead....

(The cunning product placement is in hope of large bribes)

Killer Potholes...

I wouldn't stand too close lady.

It might still be hungry ...

Sampling

"Cory Neddermeyer, 42, was turned down for unemployment benefits in Iowa, after a judge ruled that his former employer had legitimate cause to fire him. Neddermeyer, a recovering alcoholic, worked for the Amaizing Energy ethanol plant, which makes alcohol from corn for use as a fuel additive. But an accident at the plant created a spill ... and Neddermeyer found it too tempting to resist. The Des Moines Register said staff found him passed out near a pool of fuel alcohol."

NZH

"Four die in armed brawl over a pothole"

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Four Mexicans were killed when a dispute between two Tzotzil Indian families over a pothole in the street escalated into a full-blown shootout.

One of the families closed off the cracked concrete and mud road in the town of Banelos in the poor southern state of Chiapas to fill in a hole left by heavy rain.

That angered a family with a transport business who needed to get their truck through, the Mexican daily Reforma said on Tuesday.

Insults led to blows and finally the two families shot at each other using various caliber guns and a hefty AR-15 rifle, Reforma said. Shootings are not uncommon in Mexico's little-policed indigenous regions, where many take the law into their own hands.

A photo showed somber-looking locals standing in two groups on either side of the pothole -- now filled in with rubble and fit to be driven over again.

Just A Drain

A beautiful clean drain (to a roadworker) with water flowing nicely.

But to get there, we had to have a gas pipe man with a metal probe making sure we didn't cause a cataclysmic explosion.

Pissed off a pukeko who lost her nesting place and strode about accusingly.

And got my truck dirty

Very dirty.

Delete ? Yes/No

I have squillions of images stolen from all over the globe on my hard drive.

I have a bit of a clean up now and then and delete those I've used.

There are a few I can't delete.

I've tried three times with this one.

I'll just keep it a bit longer....

"Say Arrr"

Well we have been inspected.

A van load of inspecting types passed us with a cheery wave.

The front suspension was still on the van and none were hanging out the window being car-sick, so I suppose that means we passed.

I was a little disappointed.

I thought they at least would be using brass telescopes and have a purple flashing light, but they looked like real people.

Mind you they didn't spot our cunningly disguised potholes....

Da Man ...

Now OJ sent me this photo of one of Barnstables finest.

I thought I'd investigate further.

I was rather intrigued by the fact that they have a division to make sure your truck is heavy. Also their sign writer has a lisp and his "Slow Hospital" sign is a bit odd.

Crime is obviously rampant.

Murdered bicycles even.

But fear not. They have a singing detective
(available for functions)

He has tips for finding fugitives;

"Fugitives often change their hair style and color to disguise their appearance."

This is my favourite custodian of the law however.
(from I think, Santa Cruz)

Ain't he the coolest...

Armageddon

"Nuclear test sparks international condemnation"

"The international backlash against the test was universally furious. Tony Blair said today that North Korea's reported nuclear test was irresponsible, and the Foreign Office warned of international repercussions."

As a precautionary measure, Piopio are mobilising their Patriot anti-missile batteries.

Commanders are being issued with TWO boxes of matches after earlier exercises revealed ignition start sequence failures...

Roll Over Rover ...

This was an early morning hunting trip, that went slightly wrong.

It happened this morning, I must have passed them going the other way.

There were two in the Ute, both walking wounded.

There were also 3 dogs on the back. We lifted it rather gingerly expecting a rather flat dog.

Happily the farmer found one, lump on head and a bit scratched. The other two were seen further down the road heading home at high speed.

The Towie took it with him. It was quite happy to go with the Ute, and the rather bent dog box.

I did eye the dog box up.

It's much more luxurious than mine ....

Spring Cleaning

This week the grand Poobahs do a tour of inspection along our stretch of Highway.

Marker posts must be glistening, kerbs freshly scrubbed.

Hard hats must be polished, fingernails neatly trimmed.

I'll probably get sent to the far flung reaches of the Doddery empire.

I wonder why ....

Talent Spotting

"Surfing a good career move"

"A major trend is for job hunters to have personal websites - effectively online CVs - that contain videos of themselves or projects they have worked on. They also contain blogs in which the job hunter seeks to establish their 'brand'.

Matt Pontin, recruitment manager for roading firm Fulton Hogan, said the online presence turns hunter into hunted.

"People are using the internet to create their own brand and their own proposition online with either a blog or their own space or webpage. They are showcasing their own skills online and giving employers the opportunity to hunt for them. It's developing into an online community that is tapped into as and when employers need skills," says Pontin."

I've just tried "roadworker blog" on Google.

It's only a matter of time.

I wonder if they do a pie allowance and de luxe shovel handles...

Grubbyness

That churned up grass at the side of the road was not caused by wayward traffic.

It is wild pig rooting.

There is a mob of small pigs living in this area, they have been living a charmed life.

They seem to have cottoned on to the idea that the locals won't use dogs which could end up under a passing truck.

I wouldn't mind if they ended up in mine.

They are delicious.

Please excuse the snail porn being enacted on the marker peg in the foreground.

It is Spring after all ...

Ashes To Ashes

We often have to organise signs and traffic control for various events, in this case a funeral.

"One of the roadworkers many tasks is Funeral Directing."
(Roadworkers Bible)

The Urupa, or family burial ground here adjoins a busy main road, where there is a passing lane.

We have to organise speed restriction signs on the main road, and all the side roads, and we cone off one lane for parking. In this case a kilometre long stretch.

While the police are supposed to actually direct traffic, they instead cruise around looking important in their cars.

This is especially so if it rains.

Which it did.

Then as it started to get dark we had to pick everything up again, and drive 120 K's home.

Funeral Directing is hard work...

Ya Boo Sucks

Some days you stagger home from work and you can't be arsed talking to anybody.

Like today.

Remuera Tractors

In an action replay of an accident three weeks ago, we have another 4x4 upside down on the road, about 5 metres from the last incident.

In both cases I doubt if a car would have rolled, but spun.

There were walking wounded in this one.

I'm going off 4x4's, they usually end up upside down.

("Remuera tractors" for the befuddled)