Tag: silly

May 29th – The south end of Green Lane in Shelfield has been resurfaced by contractors working for Walsall Council. The technique – known as ‘Micro Asphalt’ invokes spreading a layer of aggregate and polymer over the pre-existing road surface after slurry sealing. Generally an adequate solution, it’s better than a tar and chip. One of the disadvantages of the process is that it results in the necessity to rework the interfaces with ironworks – manholes, drains and so forth. Sadly, here in Shelfield, they’re halfway through this process. Some genius has excavated a bunch of ironworks to a depth of 25-40mm, and just left them for days on end. No warning signs, no temporary fill, just a man-made trap ready to take the wheels from under a cyclist or motorcyclist.

I don’t know which intellectual giant is responsible for this, but it’s bloody atrocious. We’ve gone from rectifying potholes to creating them. Idiots. 

April 15th – I wasn’t going to mention this, I really wasn’t, but I’m finding it increasingly irritating. On some jobs, a spirit level is essential. Amongst these should be the jobs that nature holds a natural ruler to. The new concrete plinth atop the outlet culvert at Anglesey Basin, at Chasewater, is such a situation. The water below it will always be level. Consequently, the fact that the plinth was cast on top on the skew will always be visually obvious. I wince every time I see it. Unfortunate.

(For those not sure what I mean, the gap between the water and the underside of the plinth increases considerably to the left. It’s not an optical illusion, it actually does.)

August 14th – This bizarrely happy-looking former church, at Bodymoor Heath, near Kingsbury has now been converted into a house. It has a very striking, slightly mad appearance. I must have passed this building more than forty times, but I’ve never noticed it’s unsettling, almost human expression before. Well weird, not sure I could live in a place that odd.

July 27th – I see a certain pizza delivery firm is employing it’s peculiar advertising technique again – paying poor saps to stand at junctions wearing giant pizza box advertising signs. I can’t imagine anyone at all being influenced by such a ridiculous campaign, but there were quite a few of these guys in Walsall today. All it made me wonder was how desperate for a few bob must these people be to do such a job? I’m sure it doesn’t pay well and some of the abuse from passing drivers was remarkably unpleasant.

June 6th – Cycling home, enjoying the sun I took to the canal through Pleck, south Walsall. Passing under the bridge, I slowed to a crawl as I couldn’t see the towpath ahead. True to form, a prat hurtles round the blind corner, nearly ends up in the canal, and as he steers around me I notice he has a toddler in a child seat at the rear of his bike. The kid is strapped in. If he’d gone in the water, there’s a real chance the child would drown.

Moron.

May 30th – Rabbits don’t do clever, but this one at Farewell, Staffordshire was quite unique. Taking a suicide run out of the hedge on the left, he doubled back when he realised the danger and ran straight ahead, in the same direction as me, for about a quarter of a mile. The camera loses him for a bit, before I catch him up again and he jumps into the hedge. Never seen that before.

The video quality is quite poor. I’ve had to zoom in quite a bit, and you may need to turn the quality setting up on youtube.