17 November - Around Bexley’s favoured Town Center re
Bexley council. Not crooked enough
An occasional correspondent from Sidcup told me I should get over there because
the road markings surrounding the new pedestrian crossings on the high street
were of varying lengths. I looked up what the zig zag regulations were and found
that they were not very stringent. Almost anything goes so long as each ‘zig’
zags at least four times. I hoped he wouldn’t mind that I didn’t go to Sidcup
for what might be a false alarm and went to Bexleyheath instead. I’ve not found
the time to get there for a month or more and I know that Ian Payne, the shopping
boss, has been putting on a lot of entertainment.
There
will be a Christmas event next Saturday and I won’t be able to go to that either.
Sorry Ian, something that has been booked up for months.
According to Twitter the Christmas tree was delivered to Christchurch a couple of hours after I passed by.
Mayor Howard Marriner will give one of his two sentence speeches forty five minutes later in Market Square.
However the
main point of this short blog is to comment on the short zig zags at Asda’s corner
that I was somewhat taken aback to find.
I am not sure whether that is one zig zag or two but it certainly isn’t
four. But I suppose it is better than the confusion that reigns at the other end of the
Broadway (Trinity Place) which doesn’t make any effort at all to conform to any regulation.
Listening to you, working for you. Fining you whenever we can
Townley
Road (which runs right up to Bexleyheath Broadway) is to be resurfaced again and
some of the residents are not happy.
There was a time when jobs like that were arranged to
avoid inconvenience for residents but not now. I don’t think Bexley is alone.
This time they plan to cut off access to all the residents drives except at
night. So if you have a part time job you may be able to leave if you get out
early enough but you won’t be able to get home again.
When asked if they would give dispensation to park in a nearby road, Bexley
council said “no, we’ll fine you like everyone else”.
The council’s notice may be read here.
Re: Er…
Some
Limey has Yanked out the badly spelled sign in Albion Road.
Tesco
A
couple of months ago a neighbour asked me if I thought we would ever see
a Tesco
superstore on the site of the old Civic Centre (their financial position
being even worse than Bexley council’s) and my name not being Jack Cohen I took
a leaf out of their book and dodged it.
A BiB reader posed the same question shortly afterwards but fortunately it was
anonymous so I didn’t have to think of an answer.
Today there was absolutely no sign of any work being done
on the Tesco site. Perhaps the contractor doesn’t work on Mondays.
I walked to the upper floor of the cinema car park hoping for a better view but
was disappointed. Last time I took a camera in there I was spotted on CCTV and
some council idiot blogged about it. Obscenely. Used councillor Craske’s
phone line to do it. Please don’t do it again moron. Peter might get into real trouble this time.
Barker barking?
Across
the road from Tesco the Honda dealership has run out of fuel and been towed away. If you
can read the public notice (click it) you’ll find that a Mr. William Barker wants to open a
food store there. Does he know something about Tesco that we don’t?
I’m told that Mr. Barker acts on behalf of Lidl. That may be enough to scare Tesco away!
Market Square
Having
read so much about all the exciting events held in the shadow of the clock tower that
I’d missed I was disappointed to find it a bit of an untidy mess when I passed
by around 2 p.m. today.
Maybe the two sheds are due to become Santa’s Grotto and Rudolph’s stable by the
weekend. It’s amazing what a few fairy lights and glitter can do. Perhaps if Ian
Payne borrows Alex Sawyer’s magic wand… Oh, just remembered, he hasn’t got one.
Market Square. Electrifying entertainment
I
get lots of reports about the unsatisfactory electrical supply in the square. Sure enough it had not improved
since I first photographed it last April. Bexley council:
protecting your children from
nasty water borne bugs but happy to fry the little darlings.
Ad infinitum?
I heard from someone in receipt of Council Tax discount who had been asked if his
circumstances had changed. “Tick Yes or No box and return in the enclosed
postage paid envelope”. He ticked Yes and looked for the postage paid envelope.
There wasn’t one but he sent off the form anyway.
Not long afterwards, he received another form. “We cannot process your form because you
have ticked Yes. Please tick Yes or No box and return in the enclosed postage
paid envelope.” Again there wasn’t one. This could go on for a very long time.
Southeastern. Wrong sort of driver
Regular train users in the north of the borough know that
when Crossrail closes
the line you get a Railway Replacement Bus to Plumstead and get a train from
there. Yesterday a handful did just that, and everyone got off at Plumstead only
to find there were no trains from there either. There was no service on the line all the way up
to Deptford. You’d think the bus driver would have made an announcement but
again he was probably trying to emulate the railway company. Announcements are just too much trouble.
The Word of God
I got a dinner invitation while at the police’s community meeting last Tuesday.
While being lavishly wined and dined I was told, as if I didn’t know, that “all these public officials
choose their words very carefully. The reality is very different”.
That message is reinforced by today’s News Shopper. Trust Thamesmead who were so
keen to say they offered youth facilities at very low charges or even free of charge are
kicking the 25
year old gym club out of their premises.
