It is said, by the ubiquitous 'they', that we will experience heavy rains in July and must ensure that drains, gutters and other waterways are cleared before the floods arrive. We don't have any drains on our side of the road here in Kommetjie and so the river that flows down the road leading down from the mountainside has free access to the sea via our property. It rushes across the road and through what we laughingly call 'The Hedge' but which is in fact a copse of myrtle (trimming it became such a mammoth task many years ago that we just gave up!), down the driveway, under the gate where it gathers in a courtyard, goes underneath the garage doors, seeps under the side fence and over the bricks, then forms a river through the flowerbeds, taking what we, once again laughingly, call 'soil' into the neighbour's plot.
Over the years, the roots of all the plants on that side of the garden have become exposed and I regularly have to replenish it with soil bought from outside or from other places in the garden where I may have done a little, again laughingly, 'landscaping'.
About 15 years ago, the council brought an excavator and dug a trench to divert the water from our driveway and that worked well for years, and it is definitely time to see if they still offer such a service. The neighbours have a similar problem except that the water flows underneath their front door, and they have dumped two lines of soil across the front of their property to see if that will work.
Perhaps I should suggest stormwater drains. The whole road has a problem, if the homemade dykes we see are anything to go by. I'll give it a try.
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