Communication Breakdown

A few years ago, we had a fault on our landline. The BT engineer who came out said he wasn’t surprised - when our estate was built (nearly fifty years ago now) they would have just dropped the phone cables into the ground with no sort of protection. It was inevitable that eventually the cables would be damaged by exposure to the damp.
And it seems now is the time for replacement. A veritable army of engineers and machinery turned up this morning. The lorries all but blocked our cul-de-sac and by the time I got back from the gym (having undertaken a 27 point manoeuvre just to get out), there was a small trench across the top of our drive, thanks to the yellow machine in the picture, which had made its way down the pavement during the morning, cutting a shallow trench as it went. A man followed behind laying down plastic pipes in the trench and then another chap behind him backfilling the trench and tamping it down with a wacker plate. Quite a slick operation, to be fair, but it did make going in and out of the house a bit of an adventure. Just because the chap said I could drive over the trench didn’t mean I was entirely happy about attempting it in a low slung car with expensive alloys! Thankfully, they put down some stout plates over the holes before they left for the day so going out this evening should be ok.
Not sure how much longer they are going to be. I appreciate they are instructed to only work during school hours, to minimise inconvenience, but most of the people in our road are retired so need to be in and out at all times. So far, no one has been prevented from getting in or out, but it’s touch and go at times trying to thread a way round the works.
I think I’ll try and get out before the big wagons arrive tomorrow morning. A few places to go, so can’t risk getting trapped on the drive.