I'm grateful that you're deciding to resurface the A41 given the fact that in parts you can see the original Roman road through the potholes, but if you're going to close it to do so we'd appreciate a little more warning than the half-baked hand-written yellow sign you left at the side of the road the day before.
At 70mph, what you actually read is this:
"AS PART OF OUR HIGHWAY IMPRO...."
What you miss is this:
"By the way, this road will be closed overnight for a couple of weeks while we dig it up. We won't give any more information but we have been scouting out a diversion that takes you through some of the more scenic parts of Wales and over a rather splendid series of speed bumps we found recently."
I mean, how bleedin' hard is it to have (a) a bigger sign, and (b) perhaps more than one so drivers don't have to screech to a halt on a dual carriageway and reverse back up to look at it?
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Which bit is that FF, the Aston Clinton loop? I saw some cones down there the other day.
Have they stopped the messing about at Adams corner yet, by the Esso station?
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>> Which bit is that FF, the Aston Clinton loop? I saw some cones down there
>> the other day.
>>
>> Have they stopped the messing about at Adams corner yet, by the Esso station?
>>
That's the bit. They resurfaced the northbound side properly, southbound they've done the spray-tar-and-gravel approach. My neighbour and I both have huge chips in our windscreens now thanks to people ignoring* both the temporary limit and no overtaking signs.
They've ruined the bit by the Esso station by making it into a six-way traffic light controlled junction. Not sure if it's still in "trial" mode, but two days ago the queue stretched back onto the bypass roundabout because anyone could have told them that lights won't work there.
I've not been following it 'cos I now nip through Broughton instead, though went that way on the bike at the weekend and got shouted at for riding over freshly laid tarmac.
* Though I can't help but admire my neighbour for chasing the person that overtook him, overtaking them in turn and then sitting in the middle of the road to generate an impressive hailstorm of gravel chips in revenge. :-)
Last edited by: Fursty Ferret on Wed 31 Jul 13 at 10:35
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It's not just Bucks CC.
Over the past couple of years, I have honestly lost count of the number of roads in our neck of the woods (Hampshire and Surrey) that have been closed with little or no notice, in some cases for up to six months at a time. One stretch barely a mile long was shut for six months.
What can you possibly do to a mile long stretch of road that takes six months of complete closure?
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>> What can you possibly do to a mile long stretch of road that takes six
>> months of complete closure?
>>
>>
>>
Bridge repairs.
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>> It's not just Bucks CC.
>>
Agreed - we're having the same issue at the moment - two junctions with mini roundabouts are being resurfaced.
We have an array of yellow signs telling you where and when the closure is, but not in any meaningful way irrespective of if you are a local or not, and a whole load of 'road ahead closed' signs.
They've been doing the work for 10 days now, and I've yet to find the road closed in any way whatsoever, but traffic is screwed because people are driving round rat runs avoiding closures that aren't there.
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>> What you miss is this:
>>
>> "By the way, this road will be closed overnight for a couple of weeks while
>> we dig it up. We won't give any more information but we have been scouting
>> out a diversion that takes you through some of the more scenic parts of Wales
>> and over a rather splendid series of speed bumps we found recently."
Methinks you're fibbing.
Last edited by: L'escargot on Wed 31 Jul 13 at 11:25
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>> Methinks you're fibbing.
>>
What gives you that idea?
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Incidentally FF, how are you settling in Aylesbury Vale apart from the hostilities with Bucks council?
I discovered a nice little lunch venue yesterday for you to check out if you like - the Pointer at Brill. Good beer, nicely done out, very professional, and they do £2.50 snacks if you don't want to splash out - rarebit, olives, scotch egg, hummus and flatbread for example. Nice run up there as well, go up there via Cuddington, Chearsley and Chilton from the A418, and back down on to the A41 to get home - lovely views across to the north.
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To follow on from that, I quite like The Pheasant, also in Brill - although its about 9 months since I was last there.
www.thepheasant.co.uk/
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>> To follow on from that, I quite like The Pheasant, also in Brill - although
>> its about 9 months since I was last there.
>>
>> www.thepheasant.co.uk/
Called in yesterday before going to the Pointer - we were checking out venues for a car run in September, neither is really big enough. The Pheasant had been done out and enlarged since I was last there - good location just by the scarp with the windmill on it.
The Pointer is at the other end of the village by the green. It has a butcher's shop in it!
www.thepointerbrill.co.uk/
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Is The Pointer the one that was The Red Lion?
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And for your car meeting, the Plough & Anchor on the A41 in between Bicester & Aylesbury might be worth a shot.
Big car park, pretty big inside, food is excellent, and the beer is quite good. Gets hellishly busy on a Sunday though.
Although its 9 months since I've been there, also.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Wed 31 Jul 13 at 17:36
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>> And for your car meeting, the Plough & Anchor on the A41 in between Bicester
>> & Aylesbury might be worth a shot.
Missed that one, Kingswood? We checked out the Crooked Billet, now reopened yet again, this time as the Cook & Fillet (sounds like a Spoonerism). It was the landlord of the Pheasant who suggested it actually. Can't have been far from the Plough and Anchor.
We ended up reversing the route and picking a pub in Northants as the the lunch stop. With maybe 50 people turning up unpredictably and wanting anything from a sandwich to a three course meal, you really need somewhere fairly industrial.
Should have consulted Duncan, really :)
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Opposite side of the roads, about 400 yards towards Bicester. Just past the crossroads that I suspect you used to come from or go to Brill.
How is the Crooked Billet? It opened again after I left. It was pretty rubbish before. In fact its been pretty rubbish for years.
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>>How is the Crooked Billet?
Trying to be upmarket. There's a deli in there now. We didn't hang about, having had a couple of halves and a snack in the Pointer.
We actually took a wrong turn from Brill and ended up going via Westcott the former missile place, where we stopped at the caff and had an ice cream.
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Shame I didn't know; at the back of the industrial estate at Westcott is a Rover specialist. He's got some interesting old cars on his lot. Perhaps nothing you'd want to buy, but interesting stuff like Elfs, 1300s, Maestros, Heralds and the big, big old Rovers.
I wouldn't go there specially, buts its always worth a mooch if you're around there anyway.
There y'go, thread drift *back* to Motoring.
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>> Is The Pointer the one that was The Red Lion?
Apparently - I couldn't remember for certain if there had even been a pub there.
From their website -
Buckinghamshire County Archives show that ale was first sold on the premises in the early 16th century by the Cubbidge family and that it was they who probably named the establishment The Pointer. In 1731 the land again exchanged hands, going to the Hunt family whereupon in 1746 it appeared again, this time referred to as ‘The Red Lion, formerly The Pointer’. This was no doubt following the imposition of King James that all public buildings should bear his arms. We decided it was time to change it back to the old village name.
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>> To follow on from that, I quite like The Pheasant, also in Brill - although
>> its about 9 months since I was last there.
>>
>> www.thepheasant.co.uk/
>>
Funny... I was there just last week!
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Mostly forgotten now......would have made a good tourist attraction.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrastructure_of_the_Brill_Tramway
Maybe one day ?
Ted
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>> >> To follow on from that, I quite like The Pheasant, also in Brill -
>> although
>> >> its about 9 months since I was last there.
>> >>
>> >> www.thepheasant.co.uk/
>> >>
>>
>> Funny... I was there just last week!
>>
And rode past on the mountain bike last night!
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>>And rode past on the mountain bike last night!
I hope for your sake you were going down the hill, not up. The children's school is not far from there an in the snow that area is a laugh and a half.
Last edited by: No FM2R on Thu 1 Aug 13 at 12:14
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>> >>And rode past on the mountain bike last night!
>>
>> I hope for your sake you were going down the hill, not up. The children's
>> school is not far from there an in the snow that area is a laugh
>> and a half.
>>
Oh, hang on - wrong Pheasant!
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As mentioned in a previous thread they've re-surfaced the lane through the village. Rumours started in May - then I happened on a A4 piece of paper stapled to a lampost - photostated the map could have been anywhere and the colour coded bands shewing the proposed works and diversion were in different shades of er..grey. The text written by the Island's chief word jumbler made no sense in English - the routes referred to street names (we have no street name plates in the village !), in fairness to the company doing the works they spammed us all a card the week before advising us of the road closures....we all had to travel outside the 0800 to 1700 work times or park elsewhere - quite where wasn't clear. Anyway I don't care now they've finished our bit.
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To the MORONS at Bucks CC... - Manatee
