How it works

A few weeks ago, a truck arrived at our compound carrying a large shipping container that had been fitted out with a pitched roof, windows, a door and a frame where an A/C unit could be mounted. Containers like this are all over the place, as shops, construction offices and the like. Storage for bags of cement seems an especially popular use. It was placed onto the concrete pad near the dock where the float plane lands.

The nearest neighbor asked around as to the purpose of this and was told it was to be an office/dorm for up to 10 police officers that were being stationed here to beef up security. This information came from who knows where, but it seems to have come with some credibility. These neighbors were not happy with this arrangement.

The first problem was that the roof had been damaged during the unloading and was now banging in the wind and pieces were in danger of blowing off. Since there were children living downwind they might be cut in half by a flying piece of sheet metal. Assurances were made that this would be fixed and it was.

A couple days later there was a barbecue party with the facilities manager's boss in attendance. I wasn't there, but what I heard was that he got an earful from the residents expressing displeasure at so many people to be living in the container especially since there wasn't any toilet. This guy whipped out his cell phone and got the facilities guy to promise that it would be removed post haste. Residents were suitably impressed.

Well, it didn't get removed. There were more promises and increasingly strident email was exchanged. Righteous indignation ensued. A plan was then forthcoming that involved a concrete pad that was being poured in another location that needed to cure and then the container would be removed for sure.

It still wasn't removed, more deadlines were set and missed. The whole issue was a fertile topic for poolside discussions amongst the residents. The descriptions of the increased security measures became more and more elaborate, and in hindsight, less plausible. Then last saturday a truck and a forklift arrived and I figured something would happen for sure.

The truck and forklift left and the container remained.

This wahala eventually drew the attention of the managing director. He set us all straight (or at least changed the story). According to him, the container was to be used as a storeroom for the aviation department. They felt it would be useful to have some things stored near where the plane tied up and needed a place that could be locked up. There was never any intention to station policemen there or anyone else. The original story may have been launched by someone who didn't know what was going on and needed a plausible explanation so it didn't look so obvious that they didn't know what was going on. Successive retelling added more and more layers to the story. Did you hear they are getting an armored car to patrol at night?

At least that's today's version. The new story is now embellished to include that the container will be painted some pleasing colour to mollify us residents. How about pink?