Sunday came along and I set about cleaning up the alley close to my house. Wearing long cotton pants, hiking boots, a long sleeve t-shirt and hat, I was reasonably protected against whatever was in the jungle. The alley actually bordered a section of jungle, undeveloped land, totally covered in bushes and trees. To the rear of it, that is closer to the beach, the land is grass and used for grazing cattle (you won’t hear about cattle in Seminyak in 10 years time).
Tools in my armory included a hand trowel, pruners, a machete, Balinese plastic scoop dustpan, Balinese broom. First part of the project was to trip some of the dangling stuff, that hangs over the pathway. Overhead strikes with the machete got that down to size, but it wasn’t until Ika showed up that I realized there was another way of trimming the tree. “Look you can just pull it,” she said, grabbing a handful and yanking it free. Still the machete came in handy for the thick clumps that were to strong to yank.
Directly behind the wall that separates the pathway from the jungle, is a ton of brown matter, leaves, tree branches etc. That would combine well in a compost heap. Underneath dense tree cover I started scrapping the rotting leaf layer from the surface of the ground only to attacked by swarm of mosquitoes. The compost heap will have to be in the open, and might happen next time around.
Clearing the pile of dead brown junk on one side of the alley and dumping it over the wall into the jungle, I could see that locals had dumped plastic and glass, among other things, so had to be careful. Ika’s plastic dustpan snapped after 5 minutes, so only the tray section was usable. One can understand why every Balinese in rural areas carries a curved sickle. There is so much plant matter like creepers, vines and other stringy stuff, that just sweeping up is an effort, as you get tangled. The boiling heat amplified by my efforts, meant I was drenched in my own sweat after a couple of hours. Managing to make life easier for alley users and clearing about 15 meters of alley I felt my little community service was a success. Maybe next week I’ll get further along and if things go well, plant a few bushes.
Keep Seminyak beautiful!
