2022/05/30-2022/06/02

65: Back after a decade  What happened at the end of September in 2012? The council sent its minions to Carlton Avenue to strip off the road surface: And then apply a new surface layer: [thanks to BlackFlag News for these pix] A decade later, the job is being done again, only the size of the stripper machine has increased from modest to mighty! Here's the collection lorry: The transfer process: And finally, the mighty machine with the bloke who tells the lorry when to move forward and stop to wait for another dose of strippings from the advancing mighty machine: Equipment parked up for the next day's resurfacing job, including Matty the resurfacer. Tuesday, hoovering up the loose bits before a sealing layer is sprayed on. The west side of the road has already received the first resurfacing layer. Feeding surfacing material to the spreader for the east side of the roadway: The spreader being fed: Resurfacing gets very steamy when it's raining! "Matty" applying the topcoat on Wednesday with the sun shining and tarmac resupply lorries parked up the road as far as the eye can see. Nice to see our money being spent on something useful after the 'speed cushion' shambles. A day later, they put the flags out to celebrate a successful refurb job!

2022/07/04-09

66: Some change  BP has been evicted from Romiley by a process of repainting. Esso has taken over the site of the petrol station and convenience store—but the fuel remained the same rip-off 189.9p and 199.9p per litre after the rebranding, which rather confirms that what comes out of pumps everywhere is the same stuff, even if different labels are applied to the storage canisters. Only the colour of the price display has changed—from BP green to Esso red.

2022/07/28

67a: New amenity in Romiley  Stockport council, in its infinite wisdom, decided to turn part of Compstall Road, the main artery through the village, into a lake near the entrance to Romiley Rec. Presumably, for the convenience of any passing ducks. Unfortunately, it developed a leak . . .  67b: Reality check? Well, sort of . . .  A leak in Romiley's water supply occurred some time in the early hours of Wednesday, July 27th with very low water pressure as the dead giveaway. Anyone who ventured along the north side of Compstall Road had to dodge water sprays from moronic motorists on a stretch of pavement starting at the traffic island by the Stock Dove and extending along the entire frontage of the petrol station.    The following day, the water pressure was much the same. An investigation during the afternoon revealed that Untied Utilities was either telling porkies about working on the leak or using an invisible crew. [see picture below]    Using an invisible crew makes sense as it spares them the distraction of annoying questions from passers by. But the sense evaporates if the progress made turns out to be as invisible as the workpersons.    That Network Plus completion date of 3/8/22 looked decidedly ominous, given the volume of treated and clean water that was gushing into drains, but things were back to normal, water pressure-wise, by 7 p.m. on Thursday.

2024/08/24

68a: Change? Not in Romiley  Stockport Council is very good at plastering the village with speed limit and end of speed limit signs but hopeless at essential repairs. The bollard on the east side of the crossing at the entrance to Romiley Rec was clobbered ages and ages ago; probably by someone like the boy racer who zoomed past in the direction of Compstall doing 40-50 mph just before this picture was taken.    No danger of the council doing anything useful, like straightening it up, of course.  68b: A week later . . . Every so often, some comedian gives the bent bollard a 180 degree twist.

2024/11/16

69: Technology storms in!  Esso is moving with the times and hoping everyone in Romiley will switch to an electric vehicle. The EV stands are located in an area where there used to be buried fuel tanks. Although, the charging points remain inaccessible for the moment, presumably awaiting the construction of a shelter over them to avoid terrible electrocution accidents in heavy rain.    Pedestrians report that the traffic through the village remains audible and there are no signs of huge numbers of electrics around on the roads. But that might change if the petrol & diesel pumps disappear.    Not much noise reduction is expected, however, as the tyres of much heavier EVs are expected to create as much noise on a tarmac road as you can shake a stick at.

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