I was required for work in town the last couple of days and as such had to leave my portable microhouse unattended on-site. I was not entirely comfortable with the idea, yet it was necessary and I had to do it anyway.
Today I returned, excited to be coming home to it, and full of ideas and plan for the upcoming days. I was prepared to sand back and reseal the external pine timber work, affix flyscreens to the louvered windows, mow the lawns, and hopefully.... enjoy the location.
Well, after a couple of hours of driving I returned to find that the microhouse had been hijacked, and moved from its location to about 400metres up the track! The people responsible had also done considerable damage to the building while attempting to move it, which luckily seems to be contained to the deck. This included setting-off the brake-safe (which may mean my brakes will be locked on), snapping one of the recycled-plastic decking beams, bending the jockey-wheels handle (and also potentially damaging the jockey-wheel unit itself) and actually disconnecting the deck itself.
Now, the building is sited on an angle, bad for many reasons, and until I have the deck reconnected and in-place (a challenging task for one given its weight and size) it is dangerous and I have no way to re-siting the building.
After documenting the damage I began work attempting to restore the deck to its original position, at which stage the giant spring, which ordinarily assists in supporting the heavy deck, jumped its tracks, catching my left hand again the underside if the deck where it was stuck for sometime. The force it had and pain it caused were comparable, and after a 45 minute; one-handed drive to the hospital, I was relieved to know that there was no broken bones or nerve damage, and all I required was some steri-strips to hold the hole it had torn closed.
I must now fix the damage caused, and re-site the building (with one hand) before I can begin any of the other tasks I was looking forward to doing. This is utterly disappointing and very, very frustrating.
I aim to visit the council tomorrow to determine if I was on crown-land as suspected, and probably also the police to discuss the situation with them. This is not how I wanted to spend the day, and again is just so upsetting and disappointing.
On a lighter note I have managed to fix the water pump and now enjoy the luxury of running water, however I cannot fully appreciate its wonder as I must keep the dressings on my hand completely dry.
Alright.. So today I went to St Helens and meet with the council who confirmed my belief that I was on crown land as initially suspected. I also visited the Police Station and a Constable will be visiting before lunch tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteWhat I suspect has happened is that during my time away from the building someone has come across it and noticing it was unattended and obviously designed to be towed has considered it a good idea to take it.
They have then attached it to their vehicle with the intention of stealing it, and managed to get only a short distance before realising that their vehicle is incapable of towing such an object, and thus dumped it there.
The damage caused is I suspect from them either incorrectly preparing it for travel or as a product of their haste to dump the building and flee, or a combination of the two.
The annoying thing now is that until I repair the deck I am unable to consider moving the building (which I will again need a suitable vehicle for), which thanks to where they have dumped it is now on private property.
Thus tomorrow morning I will be; A - waiting for the police to arrive and B - identifying the property owners, then contacting them to discuss my situation.
Alright, here we are again. The police have come and gone. They were excellent, very professional and genuinely interested in the project and building. Further more they got their hands dirty and assisted me in reconnecting the deck.
ReplyDeleteSo since they have left I have been busy repairing the deck, the brake-safe, the jockey wheel and generally checking the rest of the building.
Im now planning to contact some people in St Helens and to organise transport of the building to a new, safe location.
Thanks again to the Tasmanian Police Service (St Marys) for everything.