Stourport photos
Saturday was a run-around leaving little time for photos, I did manage to get out Sunday morning. Flush with my fully-charged recyclable batteries I got about two shots before they conked out.
One purchase of some el-cheapo's later I popped into the Sweet Jar for some purchases and a chat. Seems the owner's not too happy with our friends at the Shuttle, he does a lot of stuff for charity and he's got a bike run going on next week-end. Sent the details over to the Shuttle, told them he was trying to get people involved in this local event and got bugger all back from them. He's had the same sort of response for all the other good works he's been doing. No doubt if he was based in Kiddy he'd have got a column or even if he was in Bewdley
[Update 6 August: Woo-hoo they got the story, too late to get into print though Page 3 I did only get the paper on the 3rd though]
We chatted about the bridge closure, reminisced over the state of the roads ("It never used to be this bad"), and the floods etc. then I took my leave and did a quick circuit of the main town. I wanted some shots of parts of York Street before it became a fully fledged pot-hole extravaganza, then a shot of the new work in Mitton Street and at least one shot of the difference between the old refilling and the new patching.
Then a wander to the basin to say hello to the ducks and the swans before grabbing some shots of the skate-park (before the new batteries died) and heading back.
Meant to get out to Hartlebury Common, but time she passes to quickly.
2 comments:
The traffic this morning was particularly bad crossing the bridge. I don't know whether it was caused by parked vehicles in the High Street. Traffic ground to a complete halt at about 11.30am with nobody able to move in either direction. Traffic coming into town from Areley Kings couldn't clear the lights and backed up all across the bridge so that traffic from Bridge Street could not get into the single lane section. After four complete cycles of the the traffic lights with no one moving the contractors noticed they couldn't move themselves so they decided to manually control the traffic. It would appear that the large refuse vehicle blocking one lane at The Bridge pub decided to move on across the road to Ye Olde Crown and the bus double parked in the High Street pulled away enabling the traffic to clear the bridge and the contractors prohibited any more traffic coming into town before some crossed the bridge the other way.
It would not surprise me if the traffic was backing up all the way to Hartlebury Common and you couldn't get home for lunch!
I recall a lorry parked outside the Bridge Inn in the morning causing difficulties for the larger vehicles. Then cars parked in High Street on the right-hand side; despite 90% of the left-hand bays being empty. Then was the concrete lorry outside Parkes Passage narrowing the turn out of High Street; then there was definitely a square van parked in the first lane of Vale Road. All that before I even got to Gilgal.
Last night I got onto the Chain island by 17:37 and into Lion Hill by 17:47. I'd turned the Mitton Road corner and came to a halt just past Severn Road; then sat there. I was tempted to loop and try to get down to Lichfield Street or head down to Moorhall Lane, but it's a 50/50 whether you'll get stuck on those.
This morning wasn't too bad, the old joy of the queue stretching past the junction and the gap reaching it at the same time as the traffic from the town does. Then by the time that stops a few other cars have come down and the queue is back past the junction again.
This is the fun of traffic software, how sophisticated would it have to be to realise that the vehicles in Mitton Street can't get into Lion Hill, despite the moving traffic, because it moves at the same time as High Street clears and that's the only time the cars in Lombard Street can get out to join the moving queue in Lion Hill and they have priority. Oh and that goes for New Street too (Silly me Lion Hill is a merger system like Gilgal, Mitton Street, High Street, and York Street we should flow together <snorts>)
What annoys me (other then cars overtaking the traffic sensors) is how everyone seems to slow down on the bridge, they blat of in a burst of acceleration then putter over at 10mph 'Oh my god I'm driving on the wrong side of the road aah aah!"
Buses, well let's see we get the one blocking the entire road next to the leisure centre; the double parking in High Street, which seeing as none of the buses can actually fit into the recessed bus stop when there's just one of them makes for a problem, but combined with delivery vans parked opposite isn't a good thing; then the bus in York Street where you're never quite sure if it's stopped or in a queue, doesn't matter as half the time you can't get past due to the cars parked opposite that bus-stop too.
As for Ye Olde Crowne Inne I've noticed the deliveries are back in the evening parked between the two Keep Clears (most of the time) with their side jutting out into the road, add the cars parked along the side of the Factory Shop and Lloyd's, then throw in the pedestrian crossing and it's a wonder anything gets across the bridge.
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