Pot Holes Part 2

In mid December I blogged about the state of the country's roads, and how the recent bad weather had caused lots of pot holes to appear. Following the bad weather last year, we had the same problem, and it took the best part of a year for them to be repaired. Well, I have noticed recently that Buckinghamshire County Council (well I assume it is them, as I guess they are responsible for fixing things like roads), appear to have got their act together and already lots of these pots holes have been fixed. Not bad, it has only taken them about a month, impressed!!



But then, I looked more closely, and there appears to be something strange going on. I live in a small village on the edge of High Wycombe, up in the Chiltern Hills, and consequently the main road into the village is only a 'B' road, quite a busy one, but it does it's job well. But due to the weather, it succumbed and several pot holes appeared, some of them large (lose a wheel type large). You hit them once and once only, you remember where they are after that and avoid them. Anyway along come the council and it has fixed them...................or has it????



Yes, they have been filled in, so they are no longer the lose you car type variety, but they haven't been fixed completely. I first noticed this with a particularly vicious hole on the edge of the village, on a bend atop of a small rise. When it was filled in, they didn't quite fill it all in, but left a bit unfilled. Now this unfilled bit is not large, your tyre runs over it ok, only with a small jolt, so no problem. This got me checking, and sure enough, there are plenty of other pot holes that have been repaired in a similar fashion!!!!!



Is this another sign of the government cuts........three quarter filled pot holes???? I wouldn't mind so much, but it does mean that although you are no longer at risk of serious damage to your car, journeys by car a far from smooth. And don't tell me to take the bus, I do frequently and they seem to feel the effects of pot holes even worse than a car!!!!!!

Aunty Again

On Thursday 20th January I became an auntie again when my sister gave birth to Anthony John. He was a bit late...........due on the 9th , so nearly two weeks, but obviously the threat of being induced on the 24th gave him the umph he need. Labour was very quick, 2.5 hours, so sis is doing ok............ arrived at hospital about 5pm, went home at 11am the following morning!!! Unfortunately he will be about 7 months old by the time I get to meet him, as sis lives in South Africa, and we are not going to visit until August. We had planned to go in February, but hubby only gets a week off the bus driving malarkey and it is an awfully long way to go for a week. I was planning to go for two weeks, but we wanted to use the air miles (having finally saved enough for two return flights to SA) and there were no air miles flights in Feb. Hubby was lovely and said go on your own, but I made the choice we will both go in August (hubby gets two weeks hols then). Still a bit of a problem with the air miles, but it was doable, until I saw that we still had to pay over £800 for taxes etc, and it only got us to Jo'burg........sis lives in Durban. Have ended up paying normal fare, as it worked out most cost effective and we will use the air miles for shorter flights and upgrading. Anyway, on the bright side, at least a 7 months nephew will be more interactive...........able to sit up, play with etc, and sis will have had 7 months to get used to being a mother! So, best all round we think, though part of me really does wish I could get on a plane tomorrow to meet him.

I did say auntie again, because I already have a nephew, Thomas Michael, who is my brothers son, who will be a year old on March. This pic was taken when we all got together for our early Christmas, the weekend of the heavy snow! He really is such a jolly little chap, always laughing and giggling. We are all going away for the weekend at the end of March for a celebration of Thomas's 1st birthday, as well as my brothers' (Thomas's dads) 30th birthday. We are going to Centreparcs at Longleat and should be a good laugh.

Not much else of excitement has happened in our world otherwise. I have had a few shifts in hell, otherwise known as Cowley (we have to cover their leave, days off etc). None of us like it..... age old story, you prefer what you know...........added to which, Cowley is slightly too close to comfort to the depots of both major bus companies that serve Oxford, and consequently, every time an OAP falls over on a bus, in comes the driver to report it as an accident. Ok, technically, by the definition of the Road Traffic Act -owing to the presence of a motor vehicle (that will be the bus), it is a TA.......................but!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Cowley is TA (Traffic Accident), 165 (Sec 165 seizures - no insurance) and producer heaven.

Hubby has transferred onto the main rota (not such a newbie anymore) which means that he knows his duties for the whole year other than Christmas and New Year week. He has a copy of the rota, but just needs to wait until next week to find out his position on it..........then we can plan. The other thing he has discovered, is that on the main rota you can work your days off as overtime. In fact, if you agree, it is down that you will work, you just give 'em 5 days notice, then you get your day off back. Hubby has agreed.........the novelty of a 39 hour week has obviously still not worn off yet........ but like me, when you work decent hours, doing overtime does not kill you so you are much more agreeable.................we are both so NOT missing hospitality!

Other than the new arrival, not much has really happened in our world as we near then end of the first month of 2011.

The Terror Threat Level

Something happened at the weekend, which got me thinking during my drive home along a sodden M40 today, am I a bit blase about terrorism? Now I don't mean that I don't care about it........I care as much as the next person and have no desire to be blown up just because someone else out there wishes to make a point..........haven't they heard of debate???? Now we all know the old adage 'one mans terrorist is another mans freedom fighter' and this is so true. I also don't mean that I don't pay attention to the threat, I just don't let it rule or ruin my life. I grew up in the era of Irish terrorism with the IRA amongst others, I remember litter bins being removed from the streets because they posed too good a place to hide a bomb, I remember seeing tanks parked at Heathrow, again because of the Irish threat...........and we just got on with it.


Some time last year the press let on that the UK terror threat level was raised to severe - which means that the terrorist attack is highly likely. I have the feeling it may actually have been raised before the press let the cat out of the bag, I just can't remember when as I basically see it everyday - as soon as I log onto the intranet at work, there it is!!


We also have these ads in the press, telling people that they should not just ignore things if they are suspicious, that they should act and tell someone.............like the police!! They say something along the lines of 'it is probably nothing'. We Brits are very good at not making a fuss, and the national psyche is that someone else will sort it out.........hence us being extolled in the national media not to leave it for someone else.


Now for the majority amongst us we get on with our daily lives without too much trouble and concern, and don't generally worry too much that say, the odd bloke next door, or the strange little clique at work are actually the next terrorist cell in the making who are plotting our demise. But there are some amongst us who do worry about these things and therefore do as the adverts say, they tell the police. So, when you are presented with one of these people............what do you do???


I have previously mentioned that we have to deal with the mentally ill on a almost dally basis, and some of them claim that certain sections of society are behaving strangely. Do we take intelligence reports on all the information they give us.............no, we make a judgement call, give them some platitudes and send them on their way. However, we also get those who are not mentally ill, and believe they have really come across suspicious behaviour. You don't want to be the person who ignored them when it comes out in several years time that the suspects really were a terror cell in the making.


I was presented with one such person at the weekend. Very normal, plausible chap, who had his suspicions about some of his work colleagues. He had already reported this, but had been told if he came across anything else, to come in and tell us. I did wonder if this was all a bit fanciful, but as you never know, I arranged for him to return the following day, and for details to be taken. I spoke to the sergeant about it all later, and basically this poor chap is paranoid, and the terror threat is starting to rule his life.


This then got me thinking..............I am aware of the threat level, I am on the look out for threats......left luggage etc, but it certainly doe not rule my life...............so am I too blase about it?

New Year

Well Happy New Year to you all, I hope that despite the global economic crisis, 2011 will be joyous and prosperous for you all.


Hubby and I were in the very strange situation, that for the first time in our married lives (11 years if you are interested) we actually had Christmas off together without having to take annual leave. We also both had my birthday off; it inconveniently falls between Christmas and New Year - yes I have complained to the parents, but they claim that they can't do anything after nearly 40 years!!!


I was then working New Years eve while hubby got to stay at home and drink beer!!!! I was on nights and was expecting it to be carnage, having been fed horror stories of previous years, but what a let down ............ for me I saw about half a dozen people, less than I usually see on a Friday night. Even the city was relatively calm, ok various fights, but then there usually are and had it not been for a big fight at a club on the Cowley Road, which due to the numbers inside (approx 800), we had to send more than just one unit too, it would have been no worse then any other Friday night. Then as for Saturday and Sunday.................bored or what!!!


We are now well into the New Year and are both back at work properly. Hubby is now on the main rota at work, which means he now knows what he is doing something like 49 weeks in advance. As I now what my duties are 2 years in advance, we can actually start to have a life!!! Well we would do if they weren't building a new bus station in Slough, and so hubby has been told that the main rota is going to be redone as routes and things will be changing - supposedly in about six weeks time!!


We have still had no news at work if we are going to be affected by the cuts. The police authority have given us notice that our terms and conditions of employment are going to be changing, thought this is not necessarily bad! We are currently paid a basic salary and then get a shift allowance on top depending on what shift pattern you do (we get the top amount because our shifts cover 24/7), and then we get extra again for working weekends. This does mean that some months your pay can fluctuate by several hundred pounds. They are planning to role it all into your basic salary, meaning we will get the same amount each month and unfortunately for many people, this is meaning a pay cut. Quite a lot of staff have had their letters, telling them that their pay is going to be less, but so far no-one in my team has had a letter with any figures in. You of course try to remain positive, and I read an article today where our boss (the chief constable) has said that no front line staff will be cut, and we are classified as front line, so we are keeping all things crossed!!!!


Anyway, it is no use worrying about things you cannot effect, we will just have to wait and see.