Latest Moan From You and Me 2024

Wonder what that could be!

 

I get ..it.

 

Many councils have made their reporting systems somewhat 'obtuse' as well, so you've got to jump through a number of hoops before you get your report submitted... plus, when reported direct to the council, they have full control of the data and how it is classified internally, so can choose to ignore/lose the report. If you report via an external site such as FixMyStreet then the council cannot deny receipt of the defect report.. furthermore, fixmystreet follow up with the council seeking resolution updates. Councils hate if you use these external providers because they have nothing to hide behind - this was confirmed by our local councillor quite recently.

If you have an Android phone, there is also an app called "Stan The App" (God only knows who dreamt up the name!) which is absolutely brilliant. You can either use it in photo mode (where you simply take a photo of the defect and it matches your location with the photo) or you can use it in video mode where it uses AI to scan the video footage to identify defects and then reports those on to the local authority. I've not used it a huge amount yet, but the little I have used it had immediate results in getting not only the holes I was reporting fixed, but also a few others in the same stretch of road.

 

That is really good to hear - certainly not the case with Slurrey County Council.

Another good resource is One Network which is used pretty much universally now - it shows upcoming roadworks and can even show diversions to bus routes etc.

 

A new moan.. broad leaved docken, specifically - where has it gone? It always seemed to be the case that where there were nettles, somewhere nearby there would be docken leaves, often used as the antidote to nettle stings.

Yesterday, we were out for a walk down by the river with the dogs. and one of them managed to make a bit of a mess of himself as he went for a number 2 - normally, we carry wipes as a just in case, but it being so warm we were wearing shorts and t-shirt with no pockets, so only had the poo bags with us. Needing something to wipe with until we got home, I went in search of docken leaves.. and there was nothing. In the end I whipped a couple of leaves from a nearby tree. For the rest of our walk, I was actively looking to see if I could spot any docken anywhere and there was none.