In praise of British workmen

Katy I agree so much about the canal system in B"Ham. It is very good !

Flickety - I agree with you. I love canals. We are in the suburbs of Birmingham (by no means posh). We sort of back on to the bank of it if that makes sense. We can't see it from downstairs (just the little bridge) but from the back bedroom you can see the water and the occasional boat chugging by. When we are in the garden we can hear ducks - I used to take my DGD to feed them when she was small. Although we are in the city, there is something lovely about having water in close proximity and I must say the Canals and Rivers people keep it well maintained and clean.

Bring back the canals! The railway bridge in our village needs to be rebuilt as part of the electrification process. It means closing it down completely for 6 months. It is on a main road that is on a major commuting route and is also used as the reroute route for the local very busy dual carriage way.

Network Rail (or whatever they call themselves now) seemed quite surprised when everyone from council down rose in arms to say that that this was unacceptable and they would have to provide an alternative route out of the village. They do not need planning consent and cannot see why they should take any notice of the effect their works will have on the livelihoods and businesses in the village, like the shops and pubs, let alone residents trying to get to work.

Mind you, I do not know why we are surprised, when Brunel built the railway he smashed straight through the centre of the village, destroying houses and dividing the village into half, hence what was originally three level crossings, although the one bridgeable one was bridged some years ago.

As I said, bring back the canals!

Perhaps it is something to do with canals and rivers katy
A few years ago we moored our narrowboat for the night at Irthlingborough on the River Nene and several policeman appeared, to check that we and the other boaters were alright and hadn't been bothered by any local yoofs

Perhaps they are sending them to charm school now!

The road outside our house was re-surfaced last month (it's a major road, very busy except late at night). We were dreading it, especially getting out of our drive in the morning.

We needn't have worried - I've never encountered such efficient, polite and considerate workers before! When the work was going on directly outside our drive they made sure we could get in and out by holding up the traffic etc. and all ramps were made as smooth as possible. And they finished earlier than estimated - really impressed!

Katy K

As you quite rightly say, how refreshing.

It's good to hear of good service as we are all too quick to moan.