So this is how to spend Ratepayers money...

I would give quite a bit at the moment to live on a private road where no one could come along and mess with it any time they felt like it.

Last week we got some flourescent markings on the drive. Very ominous. They are also, for some bizarre and unfathomable reason, filling in the ditch on the other side of the road. I don't get it obviously (despite an engineering paper or two at univesity that covered drainage and water flows) I can't see the point in filling in a ditch (apart from the one at the end of our drive obviously), it isn't causing any problems over there on the bush reserve side of the road, sometimes it even diverts water.

This morning I get a call from Reg from Inroads. The main thing he wants to impart is that they will be moving our mailbox. It transpires this is because they feel the need to realign our driveway. I don't know why they think they should realign our driveway - not even sure who it belongs to - I thought it was ours but since they seem to think they can play with it without even notifying us perhaps not (does this mean we should give them a call when it needs some gravel on it?). The letterbox is obviously ours and therefore can't be touched without advising us.

I can't see why this is anything except a waste of time and money and I say so. A strange thing happens. Reg from Inroads agrees with me. He agrees that they should just fit a culvert and get over it. He agrees that it is a huge stuff up. He agrees the whole thing has been a huge stuff up. Then he tells me he has to do what the council staff tell him to so while he would like to fix it properly he can't.

I am left a little speechless and pondering whether this is another boys club excuse or if he actually means it.

I tell him I hope he is feeling photogenic for when the media want to talk to him about it in that case.

I wonder where they intend to move the mailbox to. As it is ours I guess we are able to move it back if we aren't happy - unlike the ditch which isn't ours so we are warned of dire things happening if we should touch it.

We still have a drainage problem. Wonder if they plan to do anything about that.