March 8th – On the former railway embankment that is now a cycle track, I stopped to survey the council depot at Pelsall Road. Slumbering in the evening, there was nobody around. This time last year, the gritting hoppers would have been on lorries and working hard. This year, they’ve barely been used at all.
Let’s hope there’s no further call upon them until next winter…
November 23rd – I was passed by a grit lorry on the Chester Road, and winced as the rocksalt tinkled off my bike. It is winter now in all but name, and I’ll get used to it. The cold was bitter, and frost was on the way, so it was good to see Walsall Council teams out on a Saturday treating the roads. As I passed the back of the depot at Apex Road, the yard was busy loading lorries as they came in, and I noted that the salt barn was pretty much full, all set for the winter ahead. A sobering thought.
February 4th – As usual when it starts snowing, I’m off on the bike like a shot. Since it had been a whole year since I last rode in snow, I took in a lazy loop of Brownhills to get my skills back. On the old cement works bridge, overlooking the council depot that used to be the Edward Rose factory, the gritting crews were in overdrive. I’d been passed by several grit wagons in the High Street, and there seemed to be a constant chain of lorries coming to be refilled. Later in the day, Walsall’s roads were far better than those of Staffordshire, yet still I saw folk complaining. I think there needs to be more public awareness over what road salt can and can’t actually do.
June 22nd – The new council depot on Pelsall Road in Brownhills seems to be fully operational now. Now the days have just started getting shorter, the sight of gritting lorries parked in neat rows and a slowly increasing stock of road salt seems to be an unwelcome reminder of winter.
I just hope that if we get a northerly wind, that tent assemblage is fixed down well…
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