The Smell of Tar

“Oh I do like the smell of tar!”was the exclamation from my friend as we walked back from our Art College coffee past containers of shiny tarmac.

The road outside the Dower House is being re tarmaced  today in preparation for the council taking the road over. It was all hands on deck to get it done quickly as it is the only stretch of road serving the car park. Although the preparation for this part of the roadway within the estate has taken about 10 days, when we started out on our walk at ten o’clock the surfaced was bottomed, and when we returned an hour and a half and 2 flat whites later, one half of the roadway was pristine with its new tarmac surface.

It’s been a noisy, busy exercise for the people living in the flats facing onto the road. I am only aware of what’s going on when I leave the Dower House to go somewhere and then I’m fascinated by the manoeuvring of the traffic around all the hardware parked on the roadway.

The Art College Café is always a haven of space and calmness especially when the students are busy with their end of term graduate show and are otherwise occupied. Lita the manageress is very loquacious and had my friend and me in stitches as she recounted her tales of bathroom renovation.
It’s been a hugely entertaining morning.