Just how beige can I make a blog post title? This has surely got to be the winner? It’s just that it’s that time of year again; when the local authorities are feverishly trying to spend their ‘use it or lose it’ budgets before the end of the financial year. It is as predictable as the flowering of the daffodils, you can see the signs.
There is always an out break of new footpath signs at this time of year, but this year the really noticeable spends are the installation of drop kerbs at junctions, I haven’t got a photo to show you, but they are ramped kerb stones, the idea being that they are much easier to negotiate for the disabled or anyone pushing a buggy or pushchair. It is a fine and noble (not to mention practical) thing to spend public money on I’m just a bit perplexed as to why our local authority are installing them on stretches of roads so isolated that they might see one pedestrian a fortnight, when out side the local doctors surgery, next to the disabled parking bays, there is not a drop kerb insight. Day in, day out the frail, elderly, disabled and parents with sick and fractious children struggle with high kerbs and pot holed surfaces, whilst out on the hill roads, where field tracks come down to the road, there are some very nice new kerbstones for the curlews to look at.
All I ask is a little prioritisation please. But I suppose I shouldn’t have written this rant as a blog post, just a letter to the council, maybe it’s me, I’m the one that should prioritise. Oh dear, never mind here are some pretty leaves.
March 31, 2009 at 12:59 pm
Very pretty leaves.
And an excellent rant.
March 31, 2009 at 3:35 pm
The leaves and twigs are lovely – and the post is very true. In our case long rows of street lights have appeared on both sides of the road leading out towards the Peak District National Park.This is preparatory to a supposed replacement bus terminus which it now looks unlikely will be needed. On either side are fields, the few houses are much nearer to the previous bus stop – I shouldn’t think a dozen people a year would get off or on at that terminus after dark – so why all the strret lights? Yes, a very pertinent post and I’ll bet many other readers could tell similar stories.
March 31, 2009 at 4:42 pm
Very pretty leaves, indeed – gorgeous light. The same thing goes on around here and it leaves one scratching one’s head at the reasoning behind their decisions.
March 31, 2009 at 6:06 pm
Same down here Uphill. The grass is being cut and some jobs are being done. Although my latest journalistic attempt at a complaint about the state of our roads and pavements seems to have hit a nerve.
The Ilkeston Advertiser is starting a campaign to get our roads fixed faster and not just a patch up but repaired properly.
They have printed my letter of complaint and taken my picture on the bike for a forthcoming edition.
Good bit of blogging
April 1, 2009 at 1:25 am
Very pretty leaves. We blog that we may not sob.
You’ll love this. Our Township Supervisor commented that the local EMS (ambulance) service is “fragile” – by which he meant in a financially precarious state. At the self-same meeting one of the Trustees speculated that it might be possible to take money from the ambulance fund to repair a road as the potholed asphalt is a barrier to the ambulance arriving in a timely fashion. What could possibly be wrong with this picture?
I believe I’ll go capture some pretty leaves.
April 1, 2009 at 4:50 am
Your last line made me smile. I will never understand the method of dumping cash so they can be sure to get the same amount next year. There is something soooo flawed in that way of doing budget. Oh well….
April 1, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Looking at your photos from the back of a van on a lap top. The technology works! wonderful reminders of Ruralshire.
April 1, 2009 at 7:55 pm
It’s rather depressing to hear from you it’s the same the world over, but that is probably one of the reasons why Gadget is sat in the back of a van @ the G20 in London
Gerry, I’m just trying to imagine our county council trying to extract money from the emergency services to fix the holes in the road. Classic.
More power to your pen Laid Back Runner
April 1, 2009 at 8:06 pm
I just love your photos. After a bad day, it’s nice to be able to look at nice things.
April 3, 2009 at 6:13 pm
All part of the service Tony!