May 14th,2023.
There is so much going on in politics in the UK at the moment that it is difficult to select items to discuss.
Therefore, this letter will try to give a picture of life in non-metropolitan UK and share a flavour of everyday happenings.
Many of you may know Cornwall and regard it as an idyllic part of Britain, much loved for family holidays, but two weeks ago there was a fight outside a nightclub in Bodmin resulting in one dead and seven injured. All from knife wounds. One person has been arrested and charged with murder. The murdered man was a rugby player in his early 30s who apparently was trying to act as a peacemaker and break up the fight.
What people don’t realise is that Cornwall is one of the more depressed parts of the UK, with above-average levels of poverty. Away from the sanitised holiday centres the county displays signs of depression and the impact of the “cost of living” crisis is apparent. Cornwall is like a doughnut, with the sweet outer ring being the coastal towns of the delicious, enjoyable stuff and the hole being the towns found in the centre, along the spine of the peninsula.
These towns are seldom visited by tourists, but even here the property is expensive, pricing locals out of the market. This is the halo effect. As the coast gets more expensive, the locals move inland, putting pressure on house prices there.
The elite of the county seem to be ignoring these problems and tend to be distracted by erecting signs in Kernow (the ancient Celtic language of Cornwall).
However, in true Cornish fashion, the locals have ways of fighting back and expressing displeasure.
And then we have the case of the phantom pothole filler who has been causing much gnashing of teeth and frothing at the mouth. How on earth could someone flaunt authority in such a manner?
A phantom pothole filler, frustrated that work to repair a crater on a road in Cornwall has not been done by the council, has taken the law into their own hands and filled it with concrete.
The “volunteer” in Lostwithiel decided to “repair” the road which has been closed since the beginning of April.
The top of Tanhouse Road / Bodmin Hill was temporarily opened unofficially after the mystery resident repaired the large hole last weekend.
However, Cornwall Council’s roads repair company Cormac has now closed the road again and doesn’t intend properly repairing it until they’ve caught up with a backlog of pothole repairs across Cornwall.
Colin Martin, Cornwall councillor for Lostwithiel and Lanreath, visited the road – which is now due to remain closed until June 9 – and said this week: “The latest is that the road has been closed again and will remain closed until it is ‘properly’ repaired by Cormac, but they say this could be weeks away as all available teams have been diverted to filling smaller potholes on roads which are still open.
Cornish Times 11th May 2023.
Councillor Martin added that the Lostwithiel pothole was “a perfect metaphor for the way that the entire public sector is crumbling due to underinvestment”. He is a Lib-Dem councillor, the Cornwall council is Conservative controlled.
In order to teach the locals a lesson (probably) the Council have extended the road closure beyond its original date. They have appealed for help in finding the miscreant responsible to which the average response of the residents was “no chance”.
One resident, interviewed by the local media explained that they saw the activity being undertaken and immediately knew that it was an independent operator. “The council don’t work on the Sunday of a bank holiday weekend, even in an emergency”.
Displaying further signs of its independent nature the locals put up decorations for the Coronation weekend. The following knitted crowns began appearing throughout the village. And still no sign of the phantom pothole filler.
On to enjoyable matters. I went to a street party on the South Wales borders. Perfect conditions, sunshine, jolly, happy company and a thoroughly enjoyable day.
They closed the road outside the church and it was rewarded by 120+ attendees. Historical note – in the 1600’s the church had Jonathan Swift’s grandfather as its vicar. The church itself dates back to the 1200s.
The event was a roaring success enjoyed by all. It’s nice to see community spirit still being present in different forms in smaller UK communities.
