Tuesday, March 06, 2007

I spy with my big blue eye...

The other day when I walked through the communal door into my flat building, I was concurrently choked and blinded.

It seems some old bugger had taken it upon himself to start welding renovations outside the unused ground floor flat. Which is rather inconveniently located at the foot of the stairs, and directly opposite the lift.

Like a train crash, it was hard not to look. And let's just say the work-safe practices aren't exactly high priority in Ukraine.

So, Mr DIY had simply plugged a welder into the powerpoint and started to buzz away, with little regard for the eye and lung-health of people walked past. Or, for that matter, his own.

After dodging the flames and sparks, I made my way up to the apartment with black spots in my eyes and double vision. Opening the door, I went from choking smoke to chokingly bad smell, as the stink from the welding had seeped through the two doors into the flat.

The other alarming side-effect was that, being the enterprising fellows that they are, the renovators didn't organise to get any special three-phase power hooked up, choosing instead to plug the welder straight into a normal powerpoint.

So we've had power outages on and off for the past week. And when the power's been on, it's been strobe light effect. Party on man.


Asking a local about why these guys had taken upon themselves to renovate the foyer (keeping in mind, there's no such thing as strata or body corporate over here), he said, "Many people get very frustrated with the fact there is no definition around the services the municipal council provides. So they just do it themselves."

All I wonder is why they don't take it upon themselves to turn down the darn heating?

13 comments:

Leann said...

I just stopped by to say Hi.I have heard its hard to get heat there.my sister in law lived in the Ukraine.and her mom and family still live there.they dont even have heat at night after dark some times.and the apartments are so small.she was telling me about some of the diffrences for here in the USA and there.God bless,have a great week.

Anonymous said...

I was hoping that your "Bad Sentence" wasn't speaking the truth. Dang.... I hope you can see today.

I really find it interesting how other countries "work"....here in the States those guys would have been fined up the yin yang. Police would have been called, housing inspectors notified, etc....

Sabrina said...

Yikes! Sounds like some of the work they do over here. . .Dear Husband had to attend a worksite/construction "safety" course recently and learned all about the on-the-job injuries here. And that when he's around a construction site, he should limit his drinking to 2-3 drinks a day. Jeez. . no wonder there are so many construction accidents. Do they sell those nifty welder hat/masks or gloves for the next time you have to leave/enter your flat? That would be fun to shop for. . .

Anonymous said...

Ah...your Fun Monday sentence makes so much sense now.

Anonymous said...

Ps. That was me. Forgot to enter my URL. Duh.

pumpernickel said...

Ittruly is amazing, because previously if you had sought permission to do it there would have been half a dozen permits and at least half of the bureaucratchiks would have asked for bribes...

Pamela said...

what exactly was he welding?

Anonymous said...

Sounds like living on the frontier. I will think of you as a pioneer.

Beccy said...

I hope your eye/lungs are feeling better miss moi.

Can you work out a way to sabotage the heating?

No said...

I feel for ya, girl. I can just feel your pain.

Claudia said...

wow. I guess it's better than letting everything fall apart???

Samantha Louise said...

Please don't die :(

Brooke - Little Miss Moi said...

Dear leann. It is certainly a whole different world here. Much different to Oz too.


Dear Karmyn. Same as in Australia. Our worksafe practices are very strict. And yes, I can see fine today.


Dear sabrina. Actually, I'm not sure even construction workers here use those hats! So I have no chance of getting one. You know, there was a story in Oz about construction workers who were snapped on their break smoking the reefer! And these guys build buildings...


Dear jenny. Yes, well, it was inspired by my dotty black eyes. And exaggerated only a little :)


Dear pumpernickel. Yes, I know. That's why I'm not sure whether the guy I asked actually got his English right. But then again, the Council still hires oldies to do tasks like hand out bills etc, so they probably turn a blind eye when their employees have a bit of fun with a spark.


Dear pamela. You know, I have NO idea. There is a wrought iron gate at the bottom of the stairs that block access to something, I'm thinking a bomb shelter or something. They're just tinkering about down there.


Dear uncle mark. That's sure what I am hahaha. I'm conquering the natives...


Dear beccy. I seriously cannot do anything to the heating. There are only pipes leading into the radiator. No switches, knobs, nothing. There are no central mains downstairs either - all the control is at the big furnace... somewhere...


Dear no. Thanks, thanks.


Dear claudia. Hmm... let's just say it could make things fall apart..?


Dear samantha louise. Don't worry. I'm a wily aussie lass. I'll survive.