Tuesday 30 October 2012

Bulldozer at Breakfast


The rumble of a bulldozer is quite unmistakable and it's never a welcome sound and especially not so at 7:30 am. This one appeared to be heading towards our garden wall. I watched it with mounting dread as I drank my morning tea on the terrace. Earlier in the year a whole swath of forest had been cleared next to us and a new road put in.  As I've said before in this blog, we built our house 20 years ago and still have no near neighbours, so consider ourselves very lucky to have escaped Bodrum's building boom but realise that this blissful state can't last for ever.  That said, I was already constructing a very high imaginary garden wall to keep out what ever this dozer driver's employers had in store for us.  Despite the mechanical beast's noise and the dog's hysterical barking, my husband had slept through the row and as 3 men appeared at our wall with GPS machines and maps, I decided it was time to get him involved.  I watched from a distance as hands were shaken. A cigarette break ensued. The machine stopped and the driver jumped down. The dog was introduced to the bulldozer which stopped the barking.  Peace reigned. A lot of pointing went on and maps were waved about, much pacing up and down and gesticulating followed. The digger then started up and backed off the way it had come. Hubby and dog came back both looking very pleased with themselves.
It turns out that the new road put in 9 months ago had, unintentionally, been driven through private rather than forestry land so had to be moved. The three chaps with maps had decided to direct it towards us but listened to hubby when he suggested that they could send it up to the existing forest road and keep it well away from our garden wall, and surprisingly agreed to move it again. And that was that - no hassle - they redrew the map and the bulldozer started again on a different tangent.  If that wasn't good enough news, we found out that the area is to be replanted with "fire-resistant trees" what ever they are, so our nightmares of industrial estates and factories can be put to bed for a few more years.



23 comments:

  1. Hello:
    This is one of one's worst fears when living in open countryside since the pace of development seems to quicken as each year progresses. But, what good news that you are reprieved from any imminent building works and peace can reign for a little longer.

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    1. This being Turkey, everything could change tomorrow.

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  2. . . better than our experience with the bloody monsters! Good for you guys!

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    1. Having fought so hard 15 years ago for this land - I can't believe it really will be so easy.

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  3. Brilliant! Can you imagine that sort of negotiation happening anywhere other than Turkey?!

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    1. The gruys were trying to redress the problem of accidentally digging up private land as quickly as possible. The owner of which hadn't yet noticed.

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  4. So glad for you.

    The community here are fighting a development further down the valley so the noise of a bulldozer anywhere in the vicinity has everyone up and about!

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    1. Bulldozer noise is something we dread as will become apparent in future blogs

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  5. Congratulations. I feared for the peace of our next visit!

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    1. You lived on Turgutreis Cad. You can put up with anything.

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  6. wonderful news about the road...and the forest...sounds like a genetically engineered tree to me...fire resistant?...hmmmmmmm!

    you know I've never dressed Baron in a costume...not even a scarf around his neck...when he was young he ate everything so I never tried putting anything on him that he could possibly eat. at 4 years old I'm not sure how he would react. he doesn't eat things now so it might work...maybe next year :)

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    1. Baron doesn' need a costume - he's cute as he is.

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  7. Just had to laugh at this post...Yes, only another burasi turkiye moment! Glad you are free from the building crawl!

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  8. Excellent result.....well done. Jx

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  9. Now that's what I call a great result! Long may your peace be undisturbed.

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    1. Peace is a rare commodity in this country - we enjoy any we can find

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  10. Sounds too good to be true! Hope it lasts!

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    1. I'm under no illusions that we'll get a long stay of execution.

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  11. Got a chuckle with your post...."Only in Turkey" could you negotiate like that. Here they would send out a City Official along with an Engineer and then say a big "NO". If you didn't like it get an Attorney and go to court and still not win.
    Happy you got good results. Take care.....at least your doggy got a good barking in the morning.

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    1. Jake also met a bulldozer and seems quite happy with that until it turned on its engine.

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  12. Wow! Congratulations for the good news! It just means your place will be preserved and it’ll even have more trees. However, it’s not that bad to have some developments in your area, as long as it’s sustainable. There are also advantages to this, such as being able to easily access the places you want or need to go to, such as shopping malls, hospitals, etc.

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