Hi all,
As the next phase of replacing some of the water main in our area, Dartmouth Road was due to have a big 12" diam main replaced today. This was why large parts of the area had no water from the rising main (drinking water). I live on Dartmouth Road with a good view of it. There was a great deal of activity early on with men, vechicles, equipment and three HUGE coils of new blue plastic pipe which was to be pulled, one at a time, through the old pipe by a winch. Let me reiterate: BIG coils ! ! Several access points on the road had already been dug. All was going well until about 4pm when men in hi-vis jackets were all running around panicking and everyone was on their phones. The first pipe had been mostly pulled through by a steel cable on a tractor winch when it (the pipe) cracked/split. Not sure what was done about it but it put their schedule WAY back. They was only able to start the second section at around 6pm and the final one at gone 9pm. Traffic has had major problems due to part One Way road in place. Also a bus got diverted up Derby Hill and promptly got stuck on a tiny winding road at the top thus blocking more traffic. I looked out of my window at about 10pm and it was obvious they had draughted in reinforcements. JUST on the stretch of road that I can see from here were 7 x silver Thames Water vans, 3 x McNicolas vans, 2 x tractors, a scoop loader thing, a mini-digger, several trailers, a dump-truck and about 18 men. Most were still there working on it at 12.45. It's now 2.30am and the last van has just left. Water is now back on happily flowing through it's nice new blue pipe. I think the fish & chip did well at one point supplying the workers! BTW, don't think I watched this all day! Just the odd glance to see how it was going. Mind you, I could of put this on YouTube...

Mychael