31 January - A coincidence? Almost certainly
At the beginning of the month I reported how the council’s out of hours
service proved to be useless when I reported a potentially dangerous water valve cover in Abbey Road.
I’ve since learned that the service is now contracted out to a company with a
vested interest in doing nothing, but the next day Bexley’s Northern Area manager
fixed the problem. Nothing very remarkable about that, he’s always very much on
the ball. However what is out of the ordinary is that almost everything reported
here this month has been fixed. The illegal yellow lines in Abbey and Devonshire
Roads have been removed. The unnecessary parking restrictions in Wilton Road
were eventually taken away, though one lone sign remains to confuse the issue.
And a huge surprise is that the pedestrian refuge in Abbey Road which presented
a serious trip hazard for almost two years has been concreted over.
I am sure it must be coincidence; if Bexley council had decided to take away all
the low-level ammunition that can be fired at them they might have taken away the two year
old bus diversions signs left to fester on
lamp posts, maybe remove the warning signs put in place when Abbey Road flooded a month
ago and fixed the speed indicator that hasn’t worked for a year.
I doubt their ability to systematically attend to things at the trivial end of the spectrum, I
doubt their willingness to attend to the deep seated dishonesty and greed that
is their hallmark even more.