The sewers are on their way, hurray!

After 11 years, six months and 17 days, there is tangible evidence that ul. Trombity (well, our end of it anyway) will be finally be connected to the town drains. I feel civilised at last - civilised in the original meaning of the word. An urban man, who will be able to enjoy the benefits of living in the capital city of the sixth-largest member state of the wealthiest economic and political bloc in the world.

Currently we are paying 235zł to empty our septic tank, on average twice a month. The cost of a sewer-pipe running right up to our house (including the engineering and actual digging) will be around 7,000zł, so this is an investment that will pay for itself very quickly.

How long will the work last? To build a sewer-pipe running along Trombity all the way to no. 22, with lateral pipes running off the main one... This will mean the road outside our house will be dug up for months. The houses further along Trombity will not be connected, because there's not the natural slope for the waste-water to flow down; a small pumping station is needed. Because no one volunteered to give up a few square metres of their land to house this essential piece of infrastructure, residents further along Trombity will go on forking out hundreds of złotys a month every month for the foreseeable future.

Above: The road will be closed for months. There are five no-through-road signs from ul. Baletowa all the way to the actual site of the sewer-digging. I was amazed by the driver of a white Opel Astra estate, who drove past all five signs, driving all the way up to construction site, before realising that the only option was the turn around and go back. The mentality of jakoś się uda ('somehow, one will make it') very much on display, Smoleńsk-style.

Above and below: A visual memo to all drivers using ul. Trombity as a short-cut. The junction with Karczunkowska is closed, totally and absolutely. To cyclists and pedestrians too.

There is a short-cut, down ul. Nawłocka, though I fear that as soon as the rains come, the unasphalted stretch will turn into a quagmire which will claim all but the stoutest of off-road vehicles.

A small shiver of schadenfreude runs through me as I think of the hundreds of rat-runners whose morning forays through the back-roads of Jeziorki will be thwarted by this engineering scheme.

This time last year:
An evening walk along ul. Żmijewska

This time two years ago:
A stroll through Pole Mokotowskie

This time three years ago:
A Serious Man reviewed (still my favourite film of all time ever)

This time four years ago:
Funny old cars, 1989

This time five years ago:
The Beskid Wyspowy

This time six years ago:
Another summer storm