I
live in inner city Melbourne where a lot of weird, wonderful and sometimes wacky stuff goes down. For example, the city is famous for its art and culture, which more often than not originates with renegades and eccentrics who are pushing the boundaries. My recent experience in Melbourne was a testament to this process.
I stepped outside in the late evening to get some clothes off the line when I discovered a sewer floating in the air. I couldn’t find the source immediately but when I went out onto the street I saw that a burst sewer pipe was gushing gunk out onto the street. I gagged with revulsion and went inside to call the council. Within the hour, the drain repair company in Melbourne came out to attend to the mess. I was impressed at how speedy they were and they also told me they could get the job done within 24hrs which was a huge relief.
A couple of hours later I went back outside to inspect their progress and what I discovered was a total shock. The workers had dug a huge hole in the street because not only was the sewer pipe damaged but they’d also unearthed a crack in the stormwater drain beneath the street. However, just beneath the spot where they were digging, some punk kids were having a party inside the storm water drain. The drain was mostly dry as it hadn’t rained for a few days and they’d set up tealight candles and a sound system in the drain! The kids were just packing by the time the drain contractors reached the pipe.
I have to hand it to those kids for their inventiveness in finding a quirky free venue – not that I condone their illegal activity. It’s this creativity that I love about Melbourne, but it’s also the efficiency of the services. Thank goodness the services for sewer replacement around Melbourne are so good because the job was done by morning and the stink mostly gone.