The mud on the dirt road wouldn’t get dried even after two weeks of the end of the flood. It was too slippery for walking in sandals and too dangerous for motorcycles. My gardener told me I wouldn’t be able to travel along the muddy road. So, I told her to ask the guy with tractor to clear thick layer of mud as soon as possible. That made it possible for the tuk-tuk to travel along the dirt road.
But the guy who was responsible for clearing the mud didn’t do a good job. He didn’t sweep a pile of mud from the fromt gate. So, the vehicle couldn’t climb the slope in front of the gate. I had to get off and walk the rest of the way. The driver said he had to clean up the muddy wheels after he got home. I wondered why that guy did such a sloppy job, I had questions for my gardener.
It was good to be back to the countryside and be surrounded by big trees. The orange cats were excited to see me as they knew I would give them wet food to compensate for my absence. The following day, my gardener told me she knew we would have problem with the pile of mud. It seemed she chose the wrong guy for the job. He left several piles of muddy earth on both sides of the road. Our neighbours have started to repair the stretch of the road in front of their houses. They belonged to the wealthy class of privileged people in this town. Their ancestors have been living here for several generations.
My orange cats seemed to like the muddy road with piles of dry mud. I went outside the gate to survey the handy work of the tractor-guy. My orange cats came after me to explore the dirt road. They looked very excited and jummy as they had to watch out for stray dogs. But these cats knew they would be safe if they kept close to me. They had seen how I could frighten stray dogs with my loud voice.
It was quite interesting watching orange cats sniffing around and walking gingerly on muddy road. They even played hide and seek, they chased each other around the piles of mud. It seemed cats needed to be curious and to inspect new surroundings. They needed new distractions to perk up their daily life too. I thought cats would never got bored with just eating and then sleeping for ten hours everyday. But when they encountered new changes in their routine, they became very alert and engaging. They were like children playing with new toys.
After surveying the state of disorderly dirt road, I knew I had to get truckloads of red earth and a bulldozer to level the dirt road. This would certainly make a dent in my savings which began to look precarious. I had resigned to the fact that the project had to be done sooner than later. The costs of all building materials had been going up every three months. So, i had yo get my priority right to ensure a safe and secured future lifestyle.
So, I asked my gardener to call her friend to arrange a deal to repair the dirt road. This time we requested for the right guy to level the dirt road. Within an hour three small truckloads of red stony earth were dumped in front of gate. The bulldozer guy came to work on the dirt road. I hac to request another small truckload of red earth so that the road in front of the house would be a bit higher than the rest. The bulkdozer guy was very patient and skillful. We were quite happy with the the result.
In the night, I would use a water hose to spray the red earth so that the road would be more compacted with less dust. The orange cats took this opportunity to come out and explore the dirt road at night. For these cats, they probably didn’t think much about my consolidation project, except for the excitement of some new experience. For me, this represented a new milestone for my life.
Things have become more serious and I had to think more seriously about the short term future. I knew I had to start laying more solid foundation for a more secured living conditions sooner than later while the weather was still sunny. Time has started to run short as I realised that I had wasted precious time procrastinating in the past. I hoped that the sense of urgency would help to carry me along the flows of mirage of activities.
Wishing you peace, good health and prosperity.
Stay strong and cheerful.