besieged

We are now besieged by road closures and they could not have come at a worse time. The weather is still dire [as expected for the time of year]; the roads are either frozen or under water or, as yesterday, both.

There have been three large yellow and black signs put up on the grass verges in the last week up, within 3 miles of here, and each notice said something different [roadworks starting for: 1 day, 1 week and 3 days] and after making several phone calls and driving around asking different gangs of men who each in turn grinned and said: “No , not us darling,” I eventually made contact with the powers that be.

We have a farmers market tomorrow nearby and the lanes are very narrow. On Saturday we have my birthday party, at lunchtime, and a lot of family and friends are expected, many have never been here before so imagine if they arrived at the end of the village and found a road closed sign. Not a great idea.

After very constructive discussions with the supervisors we hope it is now arranged that the road nearest the farm will be mended tomorrow (Friday) and the road nearest the market will be mended on Saturday but even if this plan works I do know that all the local drivers will be having a chaotic and frustrating few days ahead. And I still can’t understand why they chose the worst time of year to do it, but perhaps the holes are so big now that they have no choice.

Do you think I should smile sweetly and ask them to fill in the enormous pot holes in the farm drive too? Now that surely would be a birthday present to remember.