The Tamarind Tree Chain-saw Massacre!

The builders moved in today. Like builders everywhere there were sharp intakes of breath, off-key whistling and the need for digging some random holes! Oh yes, and of course, phone wires cut and water going off without warning.
The picture below shows the Thai approach to tree-felling. First, swarm up your tree in bare feet and shorts with a 24" chain-saw and start lopping off chunks of tree.

There were these tree fellers.......

The purpose of the radical tree surgery was to allow the builders to strengthen the perimeter wall of the Juniper Tree Site. Last year the floods that made the international headlines when they reached Bangkok, seriously damaged the flood defence walls around our Site. The neighbours didn't help by smashing holes through.
The thickened walls should help to minimise any future flooding. It's impractical to completely keep the water out but enough can be done to prevent danger to lives and most property.
The beautiful tamarind tree; known as ma-kaam in Thailand was too near the wall and one of the houses now it's so big. A lot of the staff were after slabs of the trunk to use as cutting boards, as it's the favoured variety of wood for this purpose here. The fruit is used in a sour curry, called kaeng som.
With the rains have come a wide variety of extra wildlife to contend with. Swarms of flying ants leave a blanket of dead wings behind them. Huge toads come out at night to feast on the flying ants.

I spent this afternoon visiting Elliot's school. His class were presenting their research projects on different South American Countries. His was about Uruguay. He had made a 3D map out of salt-dough, done some power-point slides, leaflets and models. Many other students had produced work on other destinations. A lot of effort and good quality of presentation in evidence! I tried not to start grading the work on display!
My next task was to install a computerised system for the Day and Night-Watchmen to use on their rounds of the site. The watchmen have to use a device to log their visits to each place on their rounds. They can record events, from the serious, like spotting  an intruder to the more mundane, like a broken light or a fallen branch! This may not go down so well with the watchmen as it means they have to be awake and walking to each sensor at a preset time. The next morning a print out of the previous 24 hours is produced in the office. Security here in Thailand isn't a major issue just yet but we do pay the local police to visit the site twice a day and add their weight to the security. Tim