There was a burst of shouting from across the street, and the doors of a dark-shingled flat-roofed building opened, letting loose several men, who were jamming caps on their heads and banging lunch buckets against their thighs.
Other spending heads will face the same squeeze as all those public sector workers if their cash allocation flat-lines - 4 to 5% this year, maybe down below 3% next year, but still requiring a deeper real terms cut than officially recognised by the 2.9% inflation rate currently assumed by the Office of Budget Responsibility.