A DOWNHILL STRUGGLE..

What a pleasant scene.  A gentle downhill slope as the road meanders through the Ayrshire countryside.   But all is not what it seems, for this scene has both enchanted and puzzled me for many years.   It`s the Electric Brae, a quarter of a mile stretch of the A719 near to the Scottish town of Ayr and it`s here that the laws of gravity appear to operate in reverse, for what you see in the photo above is, in fact, the road going uphill.

So what`s going on?   How can it be that motorists regularly pull up at this spot, turn off their engines, disengage their handbrakes and marvel as their cars apparently roll uphill? Magnetic fields?  Minerals in the rich coastal soil?  Faeries or some other unknown phenomenon?  Sadly none of these, but rather the fact that whilst the road is on a hill with a gradient of 1 on 86, the surrounding landscape tricks the eye into believing that you are heading downhill when you are actually going uphill or believing that you are going uphill when you are really going down.

The road has baffled travellers from far and wide for years, including General Dwight D. Eisenhower who visited the Brae when staying at Prestwick during the Second World War. And so it`s a shame in a way that science - the scourge of imagination - has come up with the answer.   Here it is:-

Despite which, it`s one of those places I must visit before it`s too late.

WAS YOUR JOURNEY REALLY NECESSARY ?..

To Southampton yesterday with my eldest son to see the Saints take on Barcelona`s second football club Espanyol, in the last pre-season `friendly.`

Now here in Kent, for 26 of the last 44 days, we have been pretty much gridlocked thanks to the ongoing Operation Stack, courtesy of striking French seamen and the occasional migrant.   The result has been that we have not dared venture onto the M20 and turn right or have any intention of heading eastwards towards the Kent coast, since the traffic snarl-ups on the alternative roads have been the stuff of nightmares.

So yesterday we left home and turned left, optimistically expecting a carefree, leisurely drive down to Southampton and it was OK until we got near Leatherhead on the M25, from where we crawled and crawled until, in a fit of desperation, I turned off the motorway at Wisley and went down the A31.  Good progress until we reached Guidford - another crawl - and yet another one at Farnham;  but we rejoined the M3 at Winchester and arrived at Southampton`s Town Quay just in time for a quick bite before the walk to St. Mary`s.

We thought the return journey might be better;  after all it`s a summer evening in early August and surely there won `t be that much traffic about.   But we hadn`t bargained for the `long term roadworks` on the M3 all the way from Basingstoke right up to the M25 and we hadn`t expected the logjams on the M25 itself.   So our day was spent mostly on the super highways of southern England, tiresome to the extent that I began to wonder if the journey had really been necessary.

But then again it`s more than a pleasure to go back to my boyhood roots, to retrace the steps of the walk from Town Quay to St. Mary`s Stadium and to experience once more the special feeling of being a lifelong Saints fan.   The game itself was inconsequential, sandwiched between the first and second legs of the Saints Europa League tie against Vitesse Arnhem and the start of the Premier League next weekend, but the highlight was seeing Jay Rodriguez` stunning 25-yard volley to level the scores at 1-1. Especially pleasing for him as he has been out of action for 14 months with a serious knee injury.

So, to answer my own question.  Was the journey really necessary?  Just about.  And I dread the day when I may not be able to make the journey again.

IT`S GETTING SERIOUS..

I`ve lost count of the number of days Operation Stuck has been with us here in Kent - it`s been on and off for the best part of the summer but right now it looks like being on at least for the rest of this week.

There`s been a lot of talk concerning what to do about it but not much action and so a whole series of people are being inconvenienced either through striking French seamen or, more recently, increasing hordes of migrants invading the Channel Tunnel. 

We`re told that the migrants, all of whom seem to be male and between the ages of 18 and 30, are desperate people;  desperate to get away from war torn middle eastern countries or poverty stricken African ones and I absolutely understand the situation they are in and their determination to improve their circumstances and find a better life for themselves. 

But having made the perilous journey to mainland Europe, they don`t seem too desperate to want to stay in Italy, or go to Spain, Portugal, Greece, Germany and they indeed seem even more desperate to get out of France and into England.  They don`t seem bothered about Wales or Scotland and Ireland never gets a mention in their ambitions.   There must be a reason and I think we all know what it is but we seem reluctant to admit to it, let alone do anything about it.  

And the knock on effect of the mayhem in and around Calais is that the M20 is closed, now in both directions as the lorries stack up;  the M2 alternative is not much better (someone I know took two and a half hours do get to Faversham which would normally take 40 minutes);  and the villages strung out along the A20 are suffering gridlock.  Dave Cameron says the position is `concerning` and he feels for the lorry drivers and the holiday makers who want to get to France.  Haven`t yet heard much sympathy for us residents of Kent who have to put up with the chaos that surrounds us.

So it`s getting serious, to the extent that my son and I have a planned visit to Canterbury tomorrow to watch Kent play Hampshire in the 50-over One Day Cup competition at the St. Lawrence Ground, but that is now in serious doubt.  The traffic problems might just be too daunting and we can do without the hassle and the uncertainty of it all.  Now that is serious.

Where`s Wat Tyler when you need him?

EVERY LITTLE HELPS....

So, Operation Stack is now in its fourth day with little prospect of the chaotic consequences being eased any time soon.   Now here in my very own Kentish enclave we are not (yet) directly affected by the closure of the Ferry Ports and the Channel Tunnel, all thanks to yet another daft strike by some French malcontents.   At the last count, there were 40 miles of lorries - about 6,000 vehicles - stacked along the M20 Motorway all the way from Maidstone down to Folkestone and beyond.   

That`s bad enough, but the less fortunate Kentish enclaves a little further down the road - Leeds, Hollingbourne, Lenham, Charing, etc. - are suffering the logjams to their villages as a result of non-commercial traffic being diverted from the M20 onto the now inadequate A20.   Villagers are stuck, complaining that it`s impossible to get in or out. 

And all of this in the grip of a heatwave, the likes of which have not been experienced  in July since records began.  There are just so many people to feel sorry for but it seems that those worst affected are the lorry drivers stuck on the motorway with nowhere to go and little in the way of `facilities.  And so it was literally refreshing to see that Kent County Council, through its Emergency Planning regime, have so far distributed something like 7,000 two-litre bottles of water and 700 snack meals to lorry drivers in partnership with the Red Cross, community volunteers, the Fire and Rescue Service and other agencies.

So well done to all those involved in what has become a genuine humanitarian issue.   Now I read somewhere in the numerous reports about this fiasco that the supplies, whilst `organised` by Kent County Council, were actually donated by Tesco - this seems to be confirmed by the photo above.   But so far there has been no mention of this in any of the KCC Press Releases or media interviews.  If it`s true, then we all owe a debt of gratitude to Tesco, which needs to be acknowledged, especially by KCC who are particularly adept at trumpet blowing.  

If on the other hand the cost of supplying these drinks and meals falls on the Council Tax Payers of Kent, then I have no problem with that.   But I hope the KCC are sending the bill to the French authorities, whose collective indolence has given rise to the unprecedented chaos which not only  the lorry drivers but also the good folk of Kent are having to put up with.   

Dreckley / Dreckly - at some point in the future; soon, but not immediately; like "mañana", but less urgent (derives from English "directly" but differs in meaning) 

One of the many charms of Cornwall is its quirkiness.   Of course, the county is rightly and staunchly proud of its cultural, if not political, independence from those `up country.`  A couple of examples from our most recent visit....

The first is that, however much the Cornish economy relies on tourism, now and again you come across little things that make you wonder just how welcome you really are.  During a recent visit, we parked in the almost secret car park above Pendower beach and so I had a look at where the rest of the few cars that were parked there came from.  Lo and behold, they were all `local` but one had a sticker on the rear bumper showing the Cornish cross with `NON EMMETT` emblazoned across the middle.   Now the Cornish word for visitors and those who have made the Duchy their retirement or second home is....Emmetts.  And this car sticker was a clear signal that  the owner was Cornish through and through.  I felt I should buy one that just said `EMMETT.`

More intriguingly, on the drive back to Rosevine from St. Anthony`s Head, I noticed a signpost in the village of Gerrans that puzzled me.   Nowadays it`s impossible to see the join between Gerrans and Portscatho but the signpost pointed the way to Portscatho just down the hill.  What took my eye was that Portscatho was spelt `PORTSCATHA.`  

Further research has shown that the same signpost points the way to St. Austell, Tregony , Percuil and St. Anthony.  All very helpful.  Only St. Austell was spelt `ST. AUSTEL,` Tregony was spelt `TREGONEY,` Percuil was spelt `PORTHCUIL` and St. Anthony was spelt `ST. ANTONY.`   All of which makes that particular signpost possibly the most intriguing in all of Cornwall.  I`m reluctant to draw its idiosyncrasies to the attention of the authorities because I`m sure, given the passage of time, it will all be put right dreckly.

Proper job !!

SIGNS OF THE TIMES..

I`ve mentioned Feock in Cornwall before, notably when I congratulated the residents there for transforming a redundant telephone box into a Book Swap Box, where you could take any book from the box provided you put another one in its place.   It said much about the community spirit in that quiet, idyllic Cornish village and they`re in the news again.

This time it concerns their frustration with the number of road signs cluttering up the place and with a tiny population it worked out that there was about one road sign in the village for every two or three residents.  Feock is in a designated area of outstanding natural beauty and it was refreshing to learn of the willingness of the highway authority to reduce the 864 signs by about 200, although many might argue that there will still be too many.   I guess it`s getting the balance right but having driven through Feock and its winding, narrow lanes I`m not sure drivers will still be able to concentrate on the road and take in all the signs at the same time.

Anyway, maybe Feock`s de-cluttering trial run might lead to unnecessary road signs in other areas being culled too.   There are, of course, examples of signs that are just plain daft:-

......and others that might prove useful in an emergency:-

There really are times when you couldn`t make it up.