Running hot on road repairs

Each day I ask myself, when will summer arrive?

We seem to have had such a mixed bag of weather and although, as I sit here writing, it is finally a nice, fine morning with warm sun, nevertheless there is still a rather chilly breeze.

What’s more, the last few days have been just awful and last week, amongst the showers, we were even hit by big hailstones for about five minutes. An hour later the sun came out and there were no obvious signs of the storm.

This month I am deviating from my usual rural chat to air some grievances about our badly maintained roads.

When one lives away from the main roads it is particularly noticeable as to how long it takes for repairs to be made to minor potholes and to other more major roadworks which present a danger to motorists.

One of the worst examples is on route from Glenbrook Rd to Patumahoe. Several months ago the edge of the road gave way and the slip protruded well into the sealed area.

Wisely, those responsible for road maintenance placed cones around the slip and warning signs for oncoming motorists.

That was fine but the road stayed that way for several weeks and the slip became bigger and bigger. The road was then closed and a detour put in place so repairs could be made.

Finally, these were completed but, within a week, the other side of the road also collapsed. This is just now being repaired and I have to ask why has it taken so long to carry out those repairs on a very busy stretch of road where I consider the situation to have been very dangerous for motorists?

While on the subject of roads and their maintenance, I should mention our experience of last week. When travelling to a family wedding in Tauranga we were held up for some time by roadworks between Matamata and the Kaimai Ranges.

When we were given the all clear to move on there was a large sign which urged us to wash the car that day as cement had been spread on the road.

That was fine except our timetable gave us no chance of washing the car that day. We stayed overnight in Tauranga after the wedding then headed back to Auckland the following morning. At home I immediately started hosing off the cement but it was near impossible to move it.

I spent several hours scrubbing thick, dried cement off the car and became more annoyed by the minute. I really do consider those responsible for the road works should not have allowed cars to drive on that thick, slushy cement which could have potentially ruined the paintwork on vehicles!

Now, to something much nicer – naming our foal. As I am still receiving name suggestions I am keeping the competition open until next month when the winner will be announced. I’ve had more than 30 entries so far with some great names in the mix so keep those entries coming – and good luck!

And, that’s all for this month – I can’t wait for Santa!

Brian Neben publishes Rural Living and is also an avid lifestyle farmer