Burning Beautifully

Crisscrossed logs neatly built up like a double-story log house made a great start to a Friday evening braai. Tom built the fire in minutes - without plans.

Here is the Plan

I was relieved to learn that the engineers do in fact know what they are doing, and they are doing well under the circumstances.

Thanks to a site tour prompted by Councilor Annette Lovemore, interested members of the public were given the opportunity to learn what is really happening at the Kragga Kamma Road bridge.

It is good news and bad news. The bad news is that we are not getting right-turn under and over passes and the traffic lights will stay. The good news is that Kragga Kamma Road, all the way from Kabega Road to Cape Road, is being upgraded to dual carriageway. The bridge and intersection with Circular Drive is the start of this upgrade which will take place over the next several years.

The above plan shows what the intersection will look like. It shows Kragga Kamma Road leading off to the North at the top and South-West below. (click on images to load full-size versions)

Raymund Parker of Engineering Advice and Services explained to us the problems and challenges that caused the project to fall months behind original schedule. Not least of these problems was the discovery of badly uneven and crumbling rock that was only discovered while demolishing the old road. This required much further excavation. Also not part of the original plan was the installation of a large tunnel, deep under the northern side of the bridge, for the future installation of a new sewerage system. This tunnel has since been sealed off and buried for future use and cannot now be seen. (It is probably submerged under water as well - one of the challenges of working below the water table.)

These photos show the decomposed nature of the rock that is unsuitable for planting the bridge abutments.


The wall being built along the side of the Kragga Kamma road is a new design Maccaferri retaining wall consisting of pre-cast panels that fit together like a puzzle.


Odessa kept business support lines open while I took photos. And Tom stands next to the newly cast road support beams to show the massive size. The contractors are taking advantage of the fact that the site had a tennis court that gave them a nice level surface to work on.

Below are a few more photos taken on site.

Plans? What plans?

It is about a year since work started to rebuild the bridge and intersection between Kragga Kamma Road and Circular Drive. I have a bad feeling about this development - it cannot be correct. I wrote about it in this blog nearly 5 months ago, saying that the construction work was so strange that it could be the much-promised pebble bed reactor. But since then progress has been somewhat retrogressive. The structures that were fabricated have disappeared. New concrete structures have been cast, but they appear to be for no practical purpose. I now suspect that the site is a manufacturing facility for large prefabricated concrete parts that are being carted off to some other building project. Here are photos of the West and East sides of the temporary bridge.


Compare these photos against the ones I took in May, There is change but, apart from a retaining wall(?) running South-West along Kragga Kamma Road, nothing useful appears to have been done. In fact the East side (the lower picture) shows more destruction than construction. I wonder if it will be fixed before the 2010 Soccer World Cup.

I also wonder if we ratepayers are being taken for a ride.

Soot Art

With a fire heating the chimney after the rain storm, flakes of sculpted and shiny congealed soot came falling into the fireplace.

Rain fountain

Water finds a way when the downpipe is blocked.

Princess Diamond

Named after the diamond-shaped white patch on her neck, I often wondered where she spends her days.

Willy Wonka

A stray cat makes our garden his home.

He obviously prefers my catering. I don't know what made me give him the name Willy Wonka. I like him, and surprisingly, Sapphire likes him too.

Spring time

But still cold enough for a fire in the fireplace. Thanks Tom, these logs will last for a while.

Tong masters

It has been a while since I hosted a braai. Odessa and Stephen turn the meat.