When is a Pothole NOT a Pothole??
Posted: Tuesday, 16 January 2007 |
Comments
Your man's got a rake? The lucky, lucky barsteward, And you say he's got a vehicle? The lucky, lucky barsteward. And a spade? You don't know you're living. We've got to do it with our hands, and walk with a sack of tar on our backs. You lucky barstewards, we do all of this for a farthing a day, and a bowl of soup.
thewhitesettler from potholing in lewis
You have a view, on this at least, that unites the island. Has the loss of half our single track road before christmas in the north end of the island been repaired? I think not. Has any else noticed the 8 inch drop at the edge in parts of the road between Ardfin and Feolin? As an 'A' road it could be a tourist attraction in its own right It's a good job the passenger ferry fron Craighouse starts this year otherwise we could be cut off. The road is in such a mess they could take the opportunity to open the drover's road to Lagg and put in a direct vehicle link to the major hub of Oban. Any volunteers to form a committee and get it done?
Rocky from craighouse
What? Not even given bread for the soup! At least you'll be fit. You are the lucky one, at least you can eat soup. After driving up and down that road every day, I have a permenent shake, so the soup tips out of the spoon before I can get it to my mouth.
Stephen from Isle of Jura
Could you not stop in a Passing Place to eat your soup? If it's the potholed road that is causing the shake in the first place..... Tws is grossly overpaid at a farthing AND a bowl of soup.
Flying Cat from a single track road
The way to eat soup in any bumpy area is to freeze the soup into cubes, get rid of your chewing gum, and suck on the cubes. If you used a bicycle instead of a car, you could avoid the potholes more easily. In the meantime, do rest assured that the rest of the country wishes you millions in aid as well. I could use some of it myself.
mjc from NM,USA
Stephen, I had a shake once and went to the doctor. He said,"Do you drink much?" To which I responded,"No, I spill most of it."
Hyper-Borean from The rechabites retreat
Wouldn't it be great if A&BC carried out preventative work rather than wait until something happened which costs vast quantities of OUR Council Tax money to repair. Eample 1: the collapsed road at Lagg. Subsidence on this bit of the road was reported at least three times in the last couple of years. What happened? A&BC filled in the subsiding part (adding to the weight the road was carrying) until the inevitable happened and the road collapsed. Repairs to make the road fit for use by heavy vehicles, vital for the north end of the island, will now cost thousands. Had appropriate action been taken when the problem was reported this could have been avoided, but hey, lets not do anything until the really expensive damage has been done. Example 2: every year without fail the ditches get clogged with the white grass that blows into them off the hills, this form dams in the ditches which prevent the water flowing as it should, instead it runs in thousands of gallons down the road which in turn starts to resemble a river bed with the road surface and edges being washed away, then surprise, surpirse, we're told there is no money to repair the road. How about investing in a couple of days spent on ditch cleaning? Example 3: Every year we are told that there is no money for road gritting on rural roads and we are given the means to do - DO IT YOURSELF GRITTING - wow!. A&BC thoughtfully provides us with cute little sand piles every so many metres. In order to do this it takes many, many lorry loads of sand to be brought over from Islay. Costs - 2 lorry + 6 (workers) passenger fares on the ferry x 4 (daily trips) x 10 (it usually takes a couple of weeks) + fuel costs + material costs + workers wages = one heck of a lot!!!!!!! Now that would just about be acceptable if it wasn't a total waste of time. If the weather is bad enough for a driver to resort to using the sand piles they usually either can't find them because they are buried in snow or they are frozen solid and unless you've got a pick axe with you as well as a shovel you can't break into them. If you do all you get is useless frozen great lumps of stuff that you can't spread on the road. Surely one local man able to react to local conditions as and when necessary to carry out gritting would do a far better job for the island, would stop the vast amount of wasted material in these sand piles, and be better value for our Council Taxes. Mind you THEY do care about us, no, really they do, I am reliably informed that one of the reason A&BC don't keep the roads in better condition is that if they did we would all drive too fast and there would be more accidents. So the appalling state of the roads is for OUR BENEFIT and SAFETY - NOW THAT CARING!!!!!!!!!!!
Guess Who? from Craighouse
15 or so years ago an article written by someone who'd spent a winter on Jura was featured in the weekend colour supplement of a leading broadsheet newspaper. It was a really naff article memorable only for the description of the Jura road. "The Jura road is a miserable ribbon of tar which finally disappears back into the bog from whence it came". Harsh words. The bad news is that nothing has been done to improve the miserable ribbon since then. In fact if the author returned to the island today he would realise that what he considered miserable all those years ago could actually be described as excellent compared to what it is like now. The good news is, well sorry there isn't any
Weary traveller from Somewhere on the miserable road
Curious: how long is the road? I assume it is a two lane, tarred or more modern construction? The potholes are due to faulty construction or merely the inevitable result of the rough weather (freezing/thawing etc) or merely poor maintenance? Can't you persuade your MP to get a better road by taking up and down, up and down the road (x times)after some filling haggis and clapshot + firewater meal? Be creative. Stick a cam in front of the car (or on the front of a car following you), and then post the product on youtube. In extremis, Arnish might suggest that you use (unprocessed) seaweed as temporary filler, well compacted. There's got to be a solution, an end to your misery (and those of your fellow islanders). Use the seaweed, then post what you did (again, youtube etc) to show the folks in Edinburgh how desperate the situation is. Who has suggestions?
mjc from NM,USA
The solution may lie on St Kilda......Oh! Wait a minute, there's no-one living there permanently any more.....
Flying Cat from the Pier Road
FC, that's because there isn't any road on St. Kilda's. Migrating Jura inhabitants could set up committees and take care of that problem/lacuna (not to forget the garage, signage, community service and sports center, and, for the overflow, outdoor parking). Rev-o-Lotion could conceivably lead them to that promised land (already felicitously named anyway).
mjc from NM,USA
Sorry mjc and fc but we are heading to a tropical paradise, the change will do my people good. Anyway we don't care much for gugas we are more strawberries and champagne people Hakuna Matata
Rev. A. Lation from The Passport Office
Kiwifruit mix well with the strawberries and champagne.....how can you bear to leave such a homogenic, photogenic happyasasandboy sort of place?......
Flying Cat from a mere trifle
And I was under the delusion the islanders were a hardy folk, never more at ease than with frosty eyebrows (and beards, as gender appropriate)!! Of course, I now realize you should call your Ark, the Kon Tiki (or is it tikki? No, not tikka - that's for marsala) II.
mjc from NM,USA
When the dove returns we will return( bird flu permitting). Kon Tiki I like but I seem to recall it came to abrupt end and we wouldn't like to tempt fate. We are now stocking the Arks larder with chorizos and even sopaipilla courtesy of Jura Stores, although we were very lucky to have these supplies as the delivery van hit a pot hole and veered off the road down a bank through a wall narrowly missing the Ark. Luckily for the driver his soup was in a thermos.
Rev. A. Lation from Lonesome Dove
WIth that kind of larder, I suspect you are making for tropical Cuba, eh?
mjc from NM,USA
Glad to hear the driver's soup was in his thermos. Is the driver now all bundled up in the Ark? ... and learning Spanish?
mjc from NM,USA
The driver being a good amigo was always on the passenger list and as a big fan of The Blendells can't wait to head south with his maracas. Arriba, arriba !
Rev. A. Lation from The Archipelago
The driver is a contemporary of the Blendells? Good grief, what is doing migrating at his ripe old age? Que pasa, compadre?
mjc from NM,USA
Age is only a number ! La La La La La. Hasta manana.
Rev. A. Lation from Backstage
As a cyclist on Jura and being the only means of transport I have I probably notice the conditions of the roads more than other vehicle drivers To date I have being injured twice had to replaced two front wheels and several tyres due directly to the condition of the roads. After disappearing down the opencast coal mining鈥檚 on the road, small puddle on the Jura road is invariably a deep abandoned opencast working, Is our council taxes going into a new venture capital scheme that the council have not told us about opencast coal mining on Jura Perhaps someone should tell them there is no coal on Jura
Jura Photos from Jura
Why spend a fortune on the Jura road when there's nothing there but deer and goats........;
ISLAY ROVER from GREEN GRASSY ISLAY
Rover, do not confuse other Island's with your own. Oh sorry, you also have cow's don't you, as well as sheep. if your wellies are wearing out, I hear Jimmy does a good line in wellies reinforced at the front, just for Ileachs
Stephen from Jura Stores
Lol good one jura stores last time I was on Islay they had worn out their wellies and were using steel reinforced waders
Rotten roJer from Kintra
Living on the Isle of Jura
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