On the wagon, off the wagon, on the wagon

Our home was one of the first to be completed in a new housing estate. As the development surged ahead around us, large earth-moving machines shifted endless piles of dirt to prepare land for new streets and house blocks. The dust, particularly on hot, windy summer days, was out of control.

It caked everything, the window sills, the furniture, the cars, the entire outside of the house. Some days it was so thick you could barely see 100 metres, as the genius on the excavator continued pushing dirt around with a 60km per hour wind spreading it far and wide.

Fed up with the mess, one afternoon I called the council to ask whether there were any policies around keeping dust down. The fellow overseeing the development told me there were. The site should have had a water truck wetting the soil to stop it blowing around.

Water trucks, or “water wagons” as they’re often called, have been used for over a hundred years to keep dust down on unsealed roads. When the dust is kept damp, the air is cleaner and clearer and surrounding homes stay livable. Without the water wagon, life gets dusty and homeowners spend more time cleaning in an endless battle against the dirt.

Cleaning, while important, isn’t how most people want to spend their time. A clean home is nice, but it’s maintenance rather than creative work.

When the water wagon is running, we can get on with our lives. We can do the creative work, rather than just cleaning all the time.

If you’ve been feeling a bit dusty lately after the Christmas and New Year social season, hopping back on the water wagon may be just what’s needed to set your creative journey back on track.