Yosser Hughes? Are you sure it wasn't 'Yasser'?

Last night neither of us seemed to be able to sleep, so we got up again! That was about 2:15, but the decision was actually made after we had been assaulted by a very loud crashing sound. Wondering what it could possibly have been, I wandered out onto the roof terrace to see if I could hear anything else, or perhaps see something. Nothing, nothing at all! But there was a strong smell. When I told Freda what it was, I was immediately dispatched with camera and tripod to get you all the low-down. (I did drag some clothes on first.)

When I got out of the street door, I wasn't surprised to see little Mustafa (Adam's youngest) in the street, along with almost everyone else! It was very hot, even though there was a nice cool breeze, unusually hot, in fact. I realised why when I rounded the corner, and was confronted with this:  

And this:

Yes, a lovely Mercedes six wheeler tipping red hot asphalt into a Barbour-Green! That's the gaffer on the right, with the stripey shirt.

My first thought was "What will happen to Adam's 'sleeping policeman'?" I did tell you about it, didn't I? Where Adam and one or two of the other neighbours took hammers and chisels and made a small trench across the road, in the middle of the night, to try to slow the traffic down? I'm sure I did, but that's what happened, anyway. When I turned to see, there it was, already filled in before the Barbour-Green even got near! You can see it quite clearly in the first photo. It had been quite successful, actually.

A carnival atmosphere ensued, with different children running back and forth, and getting the black sticky stuff all over their shoes. (I'll bet their mam's were overjoyed to have it tread all over the house when they finally went home.) Everyone was fascinated at the silly khawager (tourist) taking pictures of the workmen in the middle of the night. A seat was soon provided for me (they're very kind, even though they do think I'm a bit touched!) along with offers of tea and 'cigarroes', it was quite the party!

Adam was insistent that his little ones go inside when they got to where we were. The heat was very intense, I braved it though, for you, Dear Reader. Here's the hottest moment, when we were right next to the business end of the tipper truck as it was disgorging some of it's steaming load intothe waiting Barbour-Green:

I took that picture while sitting just outside of the barber shop on one of Adam's seats from the coffeeeshop.

This next one was the last of the load being tipped, where the rake and shovel men would level it out by hand.

I snapped this one just so that you could see where they were up to when I left them to for the night. This morning, I was pleased to see that Adam and the rerst of the boys had persuaded the gaffer of the road gang to make them a proper 'speed hump', before they left.

Now, if you're ever looking for us, you'll just have to look for the hump in Mustafa Kamel Street, and when you find it, all you need to do is ask anybody lying about for Mr Edward!

Goodnight.