The on-going farce of Potholes in Essex (UPDATED May 2013)

(If you have read the blog & want to see the updates, please scroll to the end of the blog)

Just over a year ago I started cycling again & one thing I have noticed is the piss poor conditions of some of the roads that are meant to be part of the National Cycle Network. But there is one road I use a lot & have done by bus & now cycling, for the past 18 or so months which I have reported for the dangerous condition of Potholes & for over a year all I've got was 'we are looking into it' automated emails.


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This road is Langton Ave, Chelmsford & is a prime example of the farce & wasted money by the Councils & Government. Read on & you will see what I mean.

I decided to start taking pictures of this road to make a diary to prove the incompetence of our road maintenance.

These are Pictures I took in July 2012:

Now, these Pot Holes were mainly in the middle of the road & when cars are parked on both sides, it is a bloody nightmare to navigate them. Especially in the wet, snow or dark conditions & made worse when cars try get pass.

At around this time Essex Council announced their new £11 million budget to fix potholes, yeah right we all heard that before….

Wasn't disappointed as by November they were still there but worse:

Yet at the same time I took those they had done the adjoining road West Avenue:

Despite they could've easily continued, tho from what I've seem Langton Ave has been forgotten before when West Ave was resurfaced some years back & probably is why its in such a bad condition.


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After a week from taking previous pictures, they finally decide to do Langton Ave, but decided to cut corners & made an absolute mess of it... They just filled it with gravel, no packing it down, no sealing it. No! Just filled it with gravel & nothing like the work done the week before in adjoining road!! How bloody stupid is that?

And as you can see the gravel is coming out from the passing of traffic, so it wont be no surprise that in less than a month it looks like this:

    

And today it now looks no different than 6 months ago:

Oh & now we have this mess to contend with on our bicycles & prime example of why we don't cycle right next to the kerb...

So now you can see the farce on this one road, there are many others like it in Essex & the rest of the country no doubt about that. But I can't check every one of them, so if you have a road near you then do the same as I've just done. Reporting isn't enough, post a blog of it online & make it publicly available for all to see & show a bigger picture of what is really going on!!

Now I've explained my complaint of the sheer waste of money on man hours & material for NOT doing the job properly, would the Government depts & Essex Council like to explain why & if the contractor are coming back to do it again FOC? Maybe even Sustrans like to have words as it's part of the National Cycle Network.

January 2013

Following my posting of this blog & posting it on Social Media sites, I didn't get any response from the parties concerned (no surprise). But what I did see it yet another attempt to patch the road's potholes (whether it was a result of my blog or just coincidence, I dunno) & again it's been done badly. Here are some photo's of the work & a video with my commentary words as I cycle in the video. I let you decide if you agree with me on the poor state of affairs on this road.

   

      

February 2013

Since January, I've been watching for any further repairs & of course there hasn't been any. But in February on Twitter Essex Chronicle was asking for pics on a piece they were going to do on Pot Holes so I pointed them to this blog as had plenty of pics & video. Next thing I know they wanted to do a piece on me & a photoshoot on the very road I am blogging about. And here is the news piece...

There were some editorial errors in the piece but it with other news piece the paper did that week & following week might have got Essex Council to do something as they've announce an increase in their Pothole maintenance budget (again) but if its like the repairs that have been done & redone in this road, its just more money down the drain...

UPDATE!!

This will be my final update on this blog, its been nearly 2 yrs since I first reported the potholes & still they are a mess and yet I have seen other roads that have developed potholes this year due to the Winter spell & they've been repaired within weeks of reporting. Essex Council obviously feel this road is not worth fixing as it has failed to do it in the time I've been in Chelmsford. But I am moving on now, so I won't be able to keep an eye on the road & hope those who have the same issues will find my blog & videos of help to back their case.

So as a parting gift on this blog, here's a video done this May to show the poor conditions of the road, cycle network & bus route that this road is used for...

Just when you think you are over your ex!

I was having a good day today, cold finally gone, aches receding a bit now the cold has gone. etc, etc, etc..........

Then someone I know emails me a section of a Blog. Supposedly from my ex-wife Blog page. So I read it, didn't like what I read so went to her website & yup there it is! No I'm fuming! So here is the bit I'm fuming about!
"It is hard to explain, even to myself I guess, why it is different this time - why I can say this love feels stronger then others that have gone before. I do not deny I loved the others - but if I am honest, I think I was in love with the idea of being in love with them, more then I was in love with the person involved - maybe THAT is the difference this time, I have given myself time to get to know him a little first. There is still much for us both to learn, but there is plenty of time for that, all I know is there is a connection there, something that was lacking before has been satated, the hunger in my heart. There is more to this story, but for now, that is all you get - be patient, as I have to, the rest will come in time."
Now if you don't know why, well simply put it's this bit "but if I am honest, I think I was in love with the idea of being in love with them, more then I was in love with the person involved", I can't believe she said that!! We got married, I gave her everything & I'm still paying off the f'ing debts from it all! Now if that's how she felt, why the f**k did she marry me in the first frigging place? Now it mean all my heartache & loss of her leaving me for another was all for nothing!!! We never rushed things; we were together for near on 3 yrs before the Wedding! She had plenty of time to stop things moving on if she felt that way!
Well now I know how she feels, the gloves are off now. God help her if she tries to contact me because I feel nothing for her anymore! And she will get all the anger I had held back over the yrs. So if anyone who reads this knows the both of us, just tell to stay out of my life!!! She has broken too many promises & told too many lies for me to care anymore, for now I will not honour the promises I made to her all those yrs ago for the way she has been to me!
I am so tempted to phone her & call her every name under the sun, but I wont sink to her level! I could do alot of damage to her but wont, I just want shot of her & enjoy my life with what I have now!
So now I am watching DVD's & drinking Mulled Wine, half of which is now gone! Trying to calm down! She is no more a part of my life! I am happily looking to a better future & now my past is my past! No more ghosts to haunt me!

It is the New Year for me & so much has changed already before it, now I'm spring cleaning my life so it's ready for what's ahead! She has hurt me for the last time! Now it's time for me to work out where my life is now! For the way things are, it sure isn't here in Farnham!

So here's to the new future! New Life! New near on everything I guess! I'll wake up in the morning regretting my actions tonight with the Mulled wine, but not anything else!

So here's to 2007, a new beginning!

P.S. Sorry if this seems a long winded, just needed it out of my system!!!