7 June (Part 2) - Gridlock in Bexley again. It really is time to retaliate through the ballot box
The fence repair has to be on hold for a few weeks because of a whole diary full of
forthcoming appointments though I do have an idea how I can tackle it with some accumulated scrap wood. The
affected section is not visible from the house or the public road and footpath
so appearance is not the priority. (Electrification may be!)
I might have made a start on it this afternoon but I had been volunteered to
install a second Ring Doorbell for a friend in Footscray. How do I keep letting myself
in for these jobs? Bearing in mind how Bexley has been gridlocked by
uncoordinated road digging for weeks on end and yesterday Facebook complainers
were speaking of two hour crawls across the town centre; my twelve to fifteen
minute bus journey took nearer 40; I considered myself lucky to get to Bexley
Village in just under half an hour.
But there my luck run out. Bexley Village was closed.
No warning of course; that would be asking too much of our useless Council. Who was the idiot who
cancelled the bypass thirty years ago? (See image.)
There are no other bridges over the Cray so it was a case of backtracking all
the way to Sidcup. The delay was not excessive but on the return journey the
slow moving Southbound queue extended from Knoll Road in Sidcup to half way
along Penhill Road in Blackfen. The SL3 was most definitely not an Express bus service.
Roads have always been Bexley’s downfall; it was daft as a brush planning which was
responsible for creating Bonkers in 2009. I will resist telling the Transport
Research Laboratory Report story again. Suffice to say Bexley Council lied and then promoted the plonker
responsible to be Head of Highways. We should not really expect any better road and utility repair coordination than we get.
Beneath the seething hatred for politicians I am increasingly feeling that the only way forward is to get rid of every
existing Councillor next May. Not just a few as with UKIP in 2014 because just a
few hold no power. The majority strangles the small parties and Independents at every opportunity, and the
senior officers, mindful of their gravy train, will hinder and maybe ridicule
them as some of my UKIP friends will remember. A Deputy Director made and
distributed a video
with the express purpose of taking the pee out of UKIP.
On current polling form there is a chance that Bexley can have something like a clean
sweep of fresh ideas next year. The existing lot really do have to go. Every last one of them. Half a dozen exceptions maybe.