When contractors working on private property at the south end of Bellevue Street removed part of a retaining wall, their actions had the unforeseen but entirely predictable consequence of allowing the pavement to slip east and downhill.
Entirely predictable, that is, to the legions of Broughton men who – as their 40th birthdays recede into the mist of forgetfulness – have acquired a compensatory expertise on all things relating to holes in the ground: foundations, tree roots, drainage, utility pipes, soil structure ... the list is endless.
Whence comes this gift, nobody knows – it just appears, like subsiding tums and upthrusting ear tussocks. It is part of an array of new knowledge-sets which allow greybacks to remain useful, authoritative alpha males even when youth's first flush has fled.
Staff from the Council's North Neighbourhood Partnership Team were present at the scene this afternoon, assessing what must be done and in what order. They made a good fist of looking capable and self-confident, but those local sages who stood and stared and muttered gravely from the sidelines knew beyond the shadow of a doubt: the younger men appreciated all the free advice.