Hello there,
Today was another productive yet hot (47 degrees) and very windy and dusty day.
As you know we have placed and watered and compacted a few hundred m3 of Laterite and have been trying to get this tested by the lab prior to doing our final trim.
The lab guys have finally managed to leave their depot to come and do some density testing using sand replacement, (see photo 84) a method not used elsewhere since Jesus played full back for Jerusalem.
They also brought with them a vibrating table (see photo 83) to compact the concrete in the test cylinders as they don’t have enough energy to tamp them down with a steel rod like everyone else the world over.
And the last person to see a vibrating table had a stegosaurus for a pet.
The next and final section of concrete base slab is ready for pouring at 5am tomorrow morning. The last one looks pretty good given the conditions, though we have had some de-lamination due to the heat build up and possibly a little bit of overworking it though it’s very hard to judge given the speed the top layer on concrete goes off.
The Wrathalls guys are doing a great job in spite of the conditions, and have fitted in really well with the locals.
We also poured another couple of wall sections today in the abattoir and also stripped a long strip of concrete that we are going to cut into blocks(see photo 70) for use as dunnage under pallets and steelwork, once it arrives here from Cotunou where it is being held pending release of payment by the government of Niger.
The payment issue still rumbles on and while we are hoping like crazy that it’ll be sorted out tomorrow, we have to face the reality that it may not be and that we, along with our client of course, must then make plans to stop work.
This has been weighing heavily on all of us here and also obviously on you guys in NZ and will be a huge blow all round if it does not get resolved.
We have a lot of the tricky stuff done now and to be forced to walk away at this stage will be incredibly frustrating.
And very sad.
So let’s hope it will get sorted out and we are able to finish what we have started.
And on that somewhat less than cheerful note, I’m off to bed.
me
