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Road Building

With the slow approach of spring the municipality seems to have been seized by a fit of road construction. Rruga Deshmorit e 4 Shkurtit, which until recently looked like a country lane, now sports a fine new layer of tarmac, while the pavements have been nicely reconstructed. Over on Rruga Abdyl Frasheri more pavement construction is going on.

Rruga Elbasanit, possibly the worst road in the city, also boasts some fresh tarmac but remains far from finished. If only they paint some lines and introduce the concept of driving in lanes it might even be possible to get more than 500 yards on this road in less than an hour.

Our own fine street is showing signs of progress. After two months of neglect, during which the road reverted to an even worse condition than before, the crew have returned and have been tidying up the accumulated garbage and rollering the surface. Friday's highlight was a burst tyre on the roller which popped with a sound like a small explosion and drew a crowd who observed the slowly listing vehicle. Yesterday, new piles of gravel arrived ready to be spread. We are not holding our breath, but we are hoping that this time we might even see some tarmac ourselves.

I realise that roadworks may not be the most riveting subject for a post, but when you live in a city with roads like Tirana, good roads are a real cause for celebration.

Comments

ITS said…
Great. Any news from "Zogu i Zi" o
verpass?

cheers,
3:14 pm
Enver555 said…
Hi:

I'd like so very much your photos of Tirana.and i want to talk with you by IM.

Msn:libertario85@hotmail.com
Jabber:enver555@bulmalug.net
8:26 pm
olli said…
No progress on Zogu i Zi. It's another story entirely. I think it is still trapped somewhere in a series of legal challenges.
10:26 am
Anonymous said…
thanks a lot for the description and the pictures. I love your pictures and I hope a lot more pictures are coming from you. Good Job...Keep up the good work about Tirana :)
9:31 pm
Anonymous said…
Thank you very much about the pictures!
Can you talk about your impressions on Albania as being a foreigner.
7:23 am
Miss Kim said…
HI Alwyn!
I believe you are living in one of the houses we looked at last spring when we were choosing a place to live in Tirana. I think we probably made the wrong decision with a 9th floor apartment--argg. That's why I am still in Canada while Peter is working in Tirana. I hope to be back April 1- maybe we can all have coffee?
1:22 am
olli said…
Scruffy - yes, Greek food, especially lamb. I'm looking for somewhere decent but not too expensive, but no-tableclothes is fine as long as the food - and the wine - is good.

Would yoiu be free for a while to meet up. It's actually this weekend we are going. We have to meet up with relatives but I might be able to sneak off for a little while.
10:27 am
olli said…
Enver555 - as soon as I could work out how instant messaging works I'll be in touch.
10:28 am
olli said…
Anonymous - thanks. I have been a little unispired recently so haven't taken too many new pictures, but I hope to get back into the habit.

Ardi - thanks also. I have spread some comments about my experiences here throughout the blog. Is there anything in particular you had in mind?
10:30 am
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