That swimming pool project tired me more than I realized, so yesterday I slept a long siesta and then at 800 PM drunk 200 ml cheap vodka and forgot about all. At 400 AM woke up: It is cold outside and the first winter storm is almost on us. The light is flickering: the storm is affecting the electricity supply.
A famous Mizrahi (Levantine music) entertainer had built a luxurious house with a swimming pool plus a large jacuzzi, and a cascade in the front garden, which was like a tropical jungle with banana trees and exotic plants. If you had seen Ayesha Ghaddafi's home you get the idea of the Levantine architectural taste. In every corner there were remnants of grass smoking parafernalia. As happens, the municipality had refused the building permit and its lawyers were pressing the judge to demolish it. The project had passed through the hands of several architects and engineers till it landed in my unsuspecting computer. As always, I gave a naive (moderate) estimate.
Without doing much on-site investigation, I prepared the "garmushka" (the slang for engineering plans) on the basis of existing material and submitted it. It was rejected. I have good relations with the city engineer and he suggested that my plan was wrong, the swimming pool, etc. had been built on municipal infrastructure. I "chewed" the problem for a week, but there was no trace of them anywhere - not in the municipal drawings nor on the site. I demanded that the contractor who built the house (without plans) meet me at the site, and I made a complete investigation. I discovered several municipal manholes artistically built over and municipal sewage pipes under the swimming pool. There was a beautiful cascade - over electricity lines and near communication cables, etc. One would not suspect it, as I did not suspect that treacherous dog biting me. Obviously, someone had erased the pipes in municipal drawings, I was given "doctored" measurements, and was misled into submitting and signing a false presentation.
Since the date of the sentence was approaching, I was put under much pressure to get the municipality to freeze the process. My solution is to protect the infrastructure with concrete. The contractor will have to dig near and partly under the pool. I consulted with the city and they said: You are the engineer, it is your responsability. We only want to avoid damage to our infrastructure. I consulted the Client, and he said "Excellent job! They will grant the permit and we will say the project was done. City bureaucrats never leave their air conditioned offices."
My friend the city engineer suggested that the crooner's problems may not be over. The neighbors had been complaining about the noise, specially that cascade.
2 comments:
The Levant only includes the Mediterranean coastal strip between the Sinai and Anatolia. Mizrahi is much broader Middle Eastern than that. Was this musician's family from Lebanon or Syria?
I googled "Levantine" and found it defined it as you said. Other source says "vibrant cosmopolitan commercial culture in Turkey,etc.".
I didnt find the traditional meaning of Levantine, probably because in our days it is considered un-PC or racist. In my times and places, Levantine was a despective word for those Arab colonials faking French or European manners, like always saying "merci", etc. It was said of natives who imitated what they thought was European culture, while conserving their extravagant taste, love of bizarre colors, strong perfumes, offensive falsetto songs, bargaining, false friendliness, etc.
Mizrahi music is also a multiethnic vibrant collage of slightly Europeized native Middle East music.
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