IN any good dictionary, you’ll find potholing defined as a leisure activity involving going into underground caves and tunnels.
Here, in this parish, of course, we have come to recognise that the word potholing can be used to describe something very different.
Yes, as any motorist knows, potholing can also mean the art of dodging mini-craters in the road.
Perhaps it is just me? Or, perhaps, it’s down to the suspension of my aged car having to cope with the added demands of speed bumps every couple of hundred yards?
The double whammy of speed bumps and potholes probably means good business for garages, service centres and tyre manufacturers.
A drive out on the Penclawdd road this week left me twitching the wheel so often that Mrs L thought I might have contracted St Vitus Dance or another similar disorder.
I swear you could get a decent echo peering down one pothole, while another was big enough to merit a small bridge.
Of course, some of the problems are to be expected after the winter – but we haven’t had the hard frosts which usually break or roads up like Crunchie bars.
‘Chwarae teg’ and fair play to Swansea City Council as they promise to get to every problem pothole within 48 hours.
Go online to report your neighbourhood pothole at https://www.swansea.gov.uk/article/4141/Report-a-pothole-online
I’ll be taking a spin down to Penclawdd again next week to see if the tarmac fillers have done their job.
Finally, just a thought . . .
There are plenty of laws which make it clear we should keep our cars roadworthy.
But is there a law on the statute books that says our roads should be carworthy?
Just asking!
PS: Many thanks for the comments received last week about my column on the sand in Swansea Bay and on the promenade.
Brian A Arthur wrote in with this observation –
‘Swansea Council raised the sand level starting at Trafalgar Arch by some 14 foot, towards Brynmill Lane.
‘There are pictures to back this up.
‘Alas, the prevailing wind blows directly at the beach at this point.
‘Ever since, the council have had men working to replace the sand back on the beach. This must be costing them many thousands of pounds every year.
‘Also driving on wet sand is very dangerous as is the sand being blown over the cars as they drive on the road.”
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YES, there are times when I think I’m losing the plot.
And watching the telly doesn’t help.
Sunday night used to be the preferred time for some relaxed viewing.
(Mrs Lloyd’s preferred choice would be for endless repeats of Aidan Turner stripped to the waist as Ross Poldark.)
Instead, Sunday evening has turned into something of a minefield.
The latest version of The Charles Dickens classic Great Expectation has me spitting feathers.
Screenwriter Steven Knight, famed for Peaky Blinders, has ‘sexed up’ the celebrated story, bringing in topics he felt Dickens alluded to but couldn’t explore when he was writing in the 19th century.
In other words, he’s taken some bleeding liberties.
In one scene, the bleeding liberties, are very literal – a scene in which a naked Mr Pumblechook (Matt Berry) is whipped by housewife-turned-dominatrix Mrs Gargery (Hayley Squires).
Watching this latest version of Great Expectations has been baffling. After all, why bother tinkering with a story which has been told so very well in previous versions (a waste of public BBC money, perhaps?).
Mrs L and I thought we were being clever by going into the BBC iPlayer app to watch the latest episodes.
After episode No1, we played episode No2 on iPlayer.
We were a good 20 minutes into the programme before we both suggested Steven Knight was adopting a very strange approach to the production, replacing Olivia Colman as Miss Havisham with American actress Gillian Anderson.
And then the penny dropped . . .
We’d downloaded the 2011 version of Great Expectations!
No wonder the thing didn’t make sense.
But, I have a feeling that mixing the 2011 and 2023 versions of the story may be more entertaining than sticking with the Steven Knight version.
Twitter: @rlloydpr
Email: robertlloydpr@rlloydpr.co.uk
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