Georgiou Group - SHUT DOWN!

This is the vac truck that slurps a trench at between 80 -115 decibels. Georgiou Group have  been using it day and night when a fella with a shovel would be quieter and far more efficient.

It's been quite a battle and the frustration has been agonising, in fact it has popped up all over Stevie in the form of painful Shingles, so now we are both medicated and neither of us in the way clearly described by the Georgiou workers to the local police. No not a nut case pill amongst us, although even if there were it should make no difference.

The appalling noise has been one thing. I mean imagine a jack hammer firing off right by your ear while you are strapped to a chair and the enemy interrogators are asking for your inside leg measurement, well I reckon it'd take but seconds before you spilled your guts and told 'em everything they wanted to know and then your mother's deepest darkest secrets just for good measure. All those spy films with pulling off of finger nails with rusty pliers or attaching electrodes to bollocks, well that's just all for effect, because the best form of torture is prolonged exposure to really loud thumping vibrating shit pitched NOISE.

I must have sent 2 dozen emails in complaint, and apart from JP Langbroek, our State pollie, I've got nothing back. Oh sure there is the automatic response which says to expect a reply in 15 working days, but no real response.

Phones have gone unanswered, people in person - though not very senior I must admit, have given gormless bullshit, to me and the police.

But yesterday we ramped up the offensive.

Stevie wrote emails signing off including his qualifications which read impressively if indeed these fools know anything about road engineering or qualifications or road building or noise.

I did a letter drop to neighbours giving them complaint contact possibilities, and I sent more than 100 emails to local people about the same, because both the Main Roads people who do actually answer the phone and of course the Georgiou liars who answer the phone have said that noone else has complained, and even though I thought that was extremely unlikely, I believed 'em cos I just do not expect people, in the course of their paid employment to be lying arse wipes turds. But you know what? Lots of those people have been ringing me and emailing me to tell of their complaint experience, none of which have been pleasant.

So late yesterday after 10 hours of far too loud vac machine sucking ( a little job which could have easily been knocked over by 2 blokes with shovels and brooms in less than half the time, in relative quiet - this is how Stevie would have sorted a little trench digging) a pleasant young bloke arrived with a metal shed and some sound equipment and he planted it right by our side fence. Alleylouya. (Yeh I am not religious and spell check didn't help me here, but I bet you get the idea.)

There should be church music playing and desperation has lead me to thinking about kneeling down and praying to this wonderful thing.

Minutes after he installed it, and they saw it, the fucking noise STOPPED!

A man with a broom and a shovel appeared.

Then they all took off.

I had received an email from Georgiou about 10.30 in the morning outlining the work for the week and they said there would be 24 hour a day noise all week. I guess this is what galvanised us into action, cos 24 hour a day noise of 80 decibels and more, is more than anyone should endure.

We spent a lovely evening with friends having a scrummy dinner and Stevie had a few beers in celebration and then we rolled home. I pulled up at the work zone which was meant to be trenching in water pipes right across our street all night.

There was a Front end loader on a low rumble presumably trying to boost the ambient noise levels being recorded, and a bloke with his Darth Vader stick.

I parked up in the car par park which was part of my EXCLUSION ZONE as dictated by the police but the time frame had expired so I was pretty sure I was not gonna be arrested, and walked around to Bundall Road where I took a decibel reading of 80-82 and a photo of the equipment on a rumble doing nothing. I shouted out the reading to Stevie and next thing you know, even the Digger was gone from the street. The work zone was left empty and dark. Yep it was an ordinary suburban street.

Bloody brilliant.

Best night sleep I have had in weeks.

I would doubt it was so good for the folk living anywhere near Salerno Street cos the noise there I guess was on going. I would encourage you folk to ramp up your efforts. Insist on sound equipment to measure the noise at your houses. This is mandated in the Code of Practice. Down load a decibel reader on your phone.

The sound engineer, tested my phone app yesterday and it was as accurate as his, and even though he said the readings may not stand up some places, as they are accurate it would be difficult to ignore 'em altogether. Take readings, email 'em to yourself and anyone else who might help.

Remember that the formula for acceptable noise is 10 decibels higher than the RBL (usual noise) and 5 decibels more at night. That does not sound like a lot, but the scale is exponential.

Take the readings and take the photos and make the calls and send the emails and call me if you are gonna protest and I will join you. I rather doubt the police will send too many paddy wagons.

Of course Georgiou are now not working. I suppose that when my blessed sound monitoring device is gone they will be back at it again, but at least I am learning the complaint procedure and the machine should be there for at least 5 days so we will be that much closer to a TMR response - 15 working days and all that, and I know that there is an army albeit small, of local people who are equally pissed off.

Let Georgiou Group make their damn road, but let 'em make it according to the Code of Practice, and let 'em use some basic civility.

I am feeling hopeful, but that might just be the effects of a full night sleep.