Sun shine, curtains, and congestion

30 January

We currently have bright sunshine over our garden area, but would you believe it, we have had to draw our curtains because the light is too bright for us to see the telly or Jan’s lappy screen. It all feels a bit odd.

Dorktown has two major roads running right through the town centre, the A444 and the A47. Obviously they are not major roads on a national scale but locally they are very busy. The A444 begins in Burton on Trent and runs on through Dorktown and into Coventry; it’s the main road that we use to get into Coventry. The A47 starts at Great Yarmouth through to Dorktown where it becomes the B4144, before becoming the A47 to the centre of Birmingham. There is a short distance where both roads come together in a one way system over the railway lines.

£15millions has been allocated to upgrade a major junction in the town where there is always congestion. The reason for this is the two nearby schools; the A444; access to the Hussy hospital; and drivers who need to get to Stockingford by missing the even bigger congestion by heading up Queens Road and Croft Road. Then add in the times when the M6 gets closed with traffic diverted Dorktown. What the town really needs is a bypass that takes all the through traffic off the current ‘bypass’ called Roan Ringway, which is in the middle of the town. Yet the planners refuse to even look at it!

I wonder why that is? Personally I have a feeling that the main reason is the obvious route for a ringroad would cut through the more affluent areas of town, like Whitestone, St Nicolas Park and the Long Shoot. Now I wonder why the county and town councils are afraid of these areas, or is it because that is where some of them live? Whatever the reason, a bypass is what we need and the sooner the better!

Tom came over for dinner yesterday and it all went off well. I changed my mind about slow-cooked Tom and did some mince n tatties instead. He must have been hungry because his plate was emptied quicker than Jan’s and mine. A bowl of ice cream followed as we watched the new Ronocop on Netflix. At 8 0’clock he wanted to go back home so Jan took him. Now this evening we have Kile coming for the weekend and I was planning spaghetti Bolognaise for dinner; but guess what, we used the mince last night. I knew I’d got it out of the freezer for something.

Today’s photo … 

It was taken in the Whetherspoons pub at the Merry Hell.

And today’s funny …

 
As part of my job as a preschool teacher I have to help the children put on their coats and boots. One day when school was over and the children were getting ready to leave, one child came over to me in tears “my boots are missing” she wailed. “they are in the corner” I said pointing to her boots. “Those are not mine!” she said, stamping her foot, “MINE HAD SNOW ON THEM!”