Because we want to

Last night, when it was getting close to bedtime, a noisy car drove slowly up our road. It’s unusual to get traffic past the house at night anyway because it’s not a busy area, but as the road’s officially closed for resurfacing (Access to frontages only) it’s even more unusual. Anyway, the car, which sounded as though it was being limped home with a nigh-terminal condition, went slowly along the road and round the corner. About five minutes later it came slowly back and stopped outside our house, so I went out to see what was happening (the first person to say ‘Nosy bint’ gets a thump – this is a ‘Neighbourhood Watch’ area, and I was watching the neighbourhood), to see the young male driver leap from his seat and head towards the contractors’ portaloo on the opposite verge. “Bless, him, he’s been caught short” I thought, until the tinker reached out and pushed the portaloo onto its side, leaped back into his car and roared off over the bridge. In daylight it became clear that the reason he’d been going so slowly up the road was that he’d been stopping at every coned-off raised manhole cover to knock over the cones.

If anyone can explain the logic and purpose behind this I’d be very grateful. I bet the little oik won’t be coming back to clean up the mess in the loo ...