Last night around 9pm someone starting blowing a whistle outside the house and from where I was sat, sounds of something being organised and directed.
Whistles in Indonesia are used often as a way to marshall and direct and so being noisy I went and had a look. Normally I pay no attention to the stuff that goes on outside because there is always some commotion happening; beit from cars parking or bikes stopping suddenly, processions, weddings or ad hoc singers causing everything to slow down a lot.
Looking over the gate all I could see was a huge cement pumping truck trying to get down a road which is not wide enough for 2 cars and all those bikes, getting down the road. This big blue truck had people sat on top of it pushing cables up so it could go further into the street and there were a couple of men in front of it with flashing sticks and whistles waving and shouting at people to get out of the way.
25 minutes later, the truck rumbled by and then turned the corner and parked up. Its huge hydraulic arm was hoisted up clearly waiting for the next set of trucks to arrive. The cement mixers. These arrived 10 minutes later and they too rumbled down the now clear street. Then they both reversed up the street because they needed to be the other way round and so the top of the road turned to total chaos.
Then the trucks proceeded to reverse like champions down the street and round the bend and successfully too. An hour or so later, after the cement was pumped and everything was cleaned up, the street returned to its normal self. I was left to wonder, who knew this was going to happen? And how did these huge trucks get to my house with the 90 degree turns in all the roads that lead to it?
Never a dull moment in Pancoran....
Whistles in Indonesia are used often as a way to marshall and direct and so being noisy I went and had a look. Normally I pay no attention to the stuff that goes on outside because there is always some commotion happening; beit from cars parking or bikes stopping suddenly, processions, weddings or ad hoc singers causing everything to slow down a lot.
Looking over the gate all I could see was a huge cement pumping truck trying to get down a road which is not wide enough for 2 cars and all those bikes, getting down the road. This big blue truck had people sat on top of it pushing cables up so it could go further into the street and there were a couple of men in front of it with flashing sticks and whistles waving and shouting at people to get out of the way.
25 minutes later, the truck rumbled by and then turned the corner and parked up. Its huge hydraulic arm was hoisted up clearly waiting for the next set of trucks to arrive. The cement mixers. These arrived 10 minutes later and they too rumbled down the now clear street. Then they both reversed up the street because they needed to be the other way round and so the top of the road turned to total chaos.
Never a dull moment in Pancoran....
