25 January - Broken Britain. Forgotten, neglected and bodged
Three days after
highlighting the two obstructions on Harrow Manorway that had
been disrupting traffic for nearly two months without any obvious reason or sign
of any work being done, the cones were mysteriously removed. Maybe someone reads Bonkers.
With any luck someone will update or remove the car park poster too. The Felixstowe Road car park was
reopened more than two and a half years ago, however nothing says neglect
louder than the sign on Abbey Road which has been in place since 2007.
Moving even closer to the borough boundary, a report was received that Brampton Road,
resurfaced only two months ago by Greenwich Council,
was breaking up already. At great risk to life and limb I walked its short length twice but found nothing that could be described as a pothole.
However the section just south of the Knee Hill traffic lights, where vehicles brake before a red light, is definitely showing signs of wear. A roughed up
surface retaining water. Given some freezing temperatures it will likely be a pothole soon. Heavy buses, some (soon to be all) battery powered every three or four minutes will soon see to that.
For a real pothole one needs to wander a couple of hundred yards into Bexley’s territory where the road shows signs of poor quality repairs and developing holes.
Dropping tarmac into mud will never be effective whatever Bexley’s Highways Manager may think.
Yesterday morning I wandered down to Gayton Road to see the promised Boris Buses (a.k.a. New Routemasters) operating the new Superloop route SL11. It was
about 11:45 but there was no Boris Bus parked up. Instead there was a Not In Service heap of junk attended by a
break-down truck. I should have photographed it but without any SL11 markings there didn’t seem a lot of
point especially while hurrying to the Liz line. A mistake.
The breakdown is mentioned
on Murky Depths’ website. On my return, just after 6 p.m, there were still no Boris Buses in evidence. Murky Depths suggest they have all broken down.
Boris Buses were conspicuous by their absence again this morning.