Pothole Parade

[Stanley]

Thanks David......

[Stanley]

The lamp on East Hill Street got attended to this morning and two sunken kerbs have been rectified at the end of Cooperative Street.

[Stanley]

The three defunct mercury lamps over the central walkway in the pioneer car park have been replaced by sodium ones and are working. The sodium lamp between the toilets and the Co-op entrance is also lit again.

[David Whipp]

Thanks for both reports Stanley.

And thank goodness the car park lights are finally sorted. I'm not a fan of sodium lights, but whatever it takes I suppose...

Sorry to report that it took LCC a full 4 weeks to get a lamp back on next to the zebra crossing on Gisburn Road. A comedy of errors beginning with someone in 'customer services' misinterpreting my very precise report of which lamp was out... it was finally lit on Monday.

[Wendyf]

Not a pothole, more a query about lighting. David, is there any way of dealing with excessive outside lighting on a rural property? Not only is it very distracting for anyone driving past on the road, but the whole area is illuminated right through the night. It's like moonlight shining in my windows and I'm at least half a mile away!

[PanBiker]

I know the one you mean Wendy, it's particularly bad when driving past at night, quite dazzling. Noticed last night while driving up onto the tops very late and wondered why it was still lit up like Christmas tree after midnight? It used to have a single distraction on the gate but the lights seem to have multiplied.

[Wendyf]

I thought you would have noticed it on your way up onto the moor Ian. There are at least 7 powerful lights around the property, and both gable end lights seem to be directed straight into your eyes as you drive by!

[David Whipp]

Will have to come and have a look. (I won't be wicked and say I love a good light show...).

Not sure if there's any control; will need to check.

[Stanley]

This is one of my pet hates. Security lights should give light obviously but not be directed in such a way as to blind passers by. I reckon its selfish and bad manners. The same applies to lights which have not had the motion sensor adjusted properly and trigger every time a moth flies past! I have a 150watt in my back yard which only comes on as you enter the yard and faces downwards at right angles to the back street.

[Stanley]

The clock on top of the Ronald Searle bus shelter opposite the Council Offices is about as useful as a chocolate teapot. It has always been unreliable but for months now has been stuck at ten past eight. We used to have the old clock on the offices which usually bailed us out but now that is gone there is no public clock next to the principal bus stops.

[David Whipp]

Lack of electric to shelter is problem... have been nattering for months (but getting nowhere); don't understand what the problem is.

[Tizer]

We have potholes in Somerset too, you know! Here's the one that was filled today, right outside my front gate which leads directly onto the lane - no fancy things like pavements here. And no street lights either, so it was a bit dodgy having a pothole in that position. When it filled with water, after rain, we had to watch out for being soaked - every time a vehicle passed it would spray water straight through our gate. (Isn't OGFB brilliant? Not many forums have a topic specifically devoted to potholes!)

[David Whipp]

Nine out of ten for neatness of repair...

[Stanley]

I'm trying to work out the construction of the wall and the cap stones!
About the clock, understood David.

[David Whipp]

Suspect snow is so rare in Somerset that it has to be preserved.

The coping stones provide a thermal buffer, but are also are the cold end of a heat pump.

[Tizer]

Saharan dust is a more common problem than snow, David, honestly. That's why we bought a red car.
The old walls are a mixture of blue lias stone and brick and are about 20 inches thick. The one on the left of the photo is stone finished with brick where it meets the gate. On the right the wall is stone when you view it from the lane side but brick on the garden side. The sides of the walls were all rendered and painted white to match the house walls but we took off the render to expose the more interesting masonry underneath. The render was lifting because the walls have no damp course. The coping is a single slab of concrete on each side which must have been laid in shuttering on top of the wall, and then painted with bitumen. The path is two steps up from the lane, and the walls are the right height to lean on and gossip with neighbours! Our garage is at the back of the house and to reach it we have to go out of the gate, turn left past the house gable end and round the back. These days the single-track lane is busier with cars, some of them going too fast, and we have to take care when stepping out from the gate.

[Stanley]

It was the coat of bitumen that attracted my attention. Very sensible and makes sure that the cap is doing its job of protecting the masonry. One of the first jobs we did at Ellenroad was to lift all the capstones on the walls and put an efficient damp course under them.

[David Whipp]

Thanks for the detailed description of the construction of the wall, but you omitted to say what the white stuff is!

(Or, is my head mashed and I missed it? The remnants of render?)

Please put me out of my misery!

[Stanley]

David, I keep forgetting to mention the fact that the flag at the entrance to Valley Gardens is drooping half way down the pole. I think you need to shin up there and do a bit of steeple-jacking!

[Tizer]

Thanks for the detailed description of the construction of the wall, but you omitted to say what the white stuff is! (Or, is my head mashed and I missed it? The remnants of render?) Please put me out of my misery!

Sorry David - I'm the one with the mashed head, I didn't `get' your joke about the snow. The wall was fully rendered and white painted but we then took off the render. We took up a suggestion that it looked more interesting if we left some of the render near the top of the wall. When I look at the photo I can now see why you asked about snow.

Interesting, Stanley's comment about the bitumen. Builders tell us that bitumen destroys concrete but I guess it's OK on stone.

[David Whipp]

Thanks for explanation!

The green flag at Valley Gardens is at half mast because the halyard snapped in the recent high winds.

They'll have to lower the pole to be able to thread a new halyard up inside it and get the flag flying properly again.

[Stanley]

[Stanley]

I keep forgetting to mention, but am sure you are aware, of the shattered acrylic covering of the Stream and Steam sign in Valley Gardens. What completely baffles me is the mind set of the morons who broke it, this was no accident, it takes a determined assault to break that stuff. They are not wired up the same as thee and me.....

[Tizer]

From the BBC web site today...
The widow of a cyclist who died after he hit a pothole on his bike has received a six-figure payout from a council. Martyn Uzzell, from North Somerset, was thrown into a the path of a car after hitting the pothole. An inquest heard North Yorkshire County Council had missed opportunities to repair the A65 in Giggleswick. His wife Kate has now reached a settlement with the authority after she launched a civil action against it. In a statement, the council said while it "accepts no liability for the tragic death of Mr Uzzell", it appreciated the case was "a sensitive matter". It confirmed it had settled with Mrs Uzzell to avoid "prolonged involvement in further litigation". Mr Uzzell, 51, from Clevedon, was on a charity ride from Land's End to John O'Groats with two friends in 2011 when the accident happened.
http://m.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-32215664

[Stanley]

One thing that strikes me is that insignificant 'trip hazards' on pavements are bodged before proper potholes are attended to. There's a beauty gradually growing on Station Rod just in front to the council offices. Looks like a previously bodged patch that is opening up again.....