Pothole repair was going on in the village the other day, so we came home a different way, ending up on the route we take to and from the vet.
It is now gaining its summer appearance, which is entirely different and that day, the transition was noticeable. Soon it will be a dark, leafy tunnel.
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Many trees have already filled out but not all. I remember last year wondering if these early starters are also the ones that get their Fall colours first, but of course I forgot to take notes, so I still don’t have the answer.
Against a dark grey sky the fresh green is positively luminous.
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The other day I mentioned a great traffic snaffle in the village. The above is a representation of what we normally encounter.
This morning I came upon a notice from the town council advising that action will be taken against people keeping “junk cars”:
What the law is trying to do
The 1988 Board said it plainly: junk/abandoned/dismantled vehicles can hurt property values, invite pests, and become a safety hazard. The purpose of the law is to protect public health, safety, and the appearance of the Village.
This isn’t about punishing people. It’s about keeping Cambridge clean and safe.
They say that there have been an increasing number of complaints, so perhaps people are wanting to see the village cleaned up and it could certainly do with a make-over. Long ago, one feels that this was quite an affluent little town but it is sadly faded, like so many others.
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As for those potholes… a team was sent to deal with them only ten days or so ago, when we observed one man dropping a dollop of asphalt into the cavernous holes while two colleagues looked on. It was no surprise two days later to find ourselves again bumping over the same patch of road.
But this time, the two colleagues had acquired large red flags to wave authoritatively at on-coming traffic. These flags appear to have replaced the STOP signs we normally see.
“Maybe I’m supposed to rush at it like a bull?” said Grant.
We’ve not been by since, but this is a regular Spring performance. The road needs fixing properly, but funds always seem to get diverted elsewhere. Last year, it was many months of replacing a bridge we hadn’t known existed.
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Town taxes are close to being unaffordable, given the current cost of living, but what is one to do if indeed you can no longer pay up? Move to a more affordable residence, but where might that be and who would buy a property that has such extortionate taxes?
The government has been taking money off me for 61 years. Though no one likes paying tax, I always accepted that it was necessary, even when I didn’t agree with some of the government’s policies. This, after all, is bound to happen occasionally.
But now, I resent supporting the thugs who are in charge and everything they do. And I am outraged by the increasing gap in fortunes. It is not jealousy. I do not want to live in a fancy property, or to have an expensive lifestyle, but to find my humble home at risk of becoming unaffordable while the mega-rich are given enormous tax breaks, is sickening and I am so much better off than many who are less fortunate.
That so many in this country are dependent on food banks is scandalous.
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Raging about it accomplishes nothing, but remaining silent implies acceptance.
That life is unfair is simply the way of things, but I will never accept injustice without protest.
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We had been planning our next outing and decided on Saturday, it being predicted to be the first clear day. As it happened, these days that began so gloomy quickly turned very pleasant.
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But if we’d gone out on Friday, we’d have missed the bear!
While I don’t claim to know much, I do know that timing is everything!
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Who knows what we may have missed, being away from home all day Saturday, but we were busy seeing other things.
And I’ll get to that…
(Oh, don’t hold your breath. It’s not that exciting!”)
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Thank you, Carolyn, for the important thoughts. We’re facing the same issues here: taxes growing unreasonably and the government reversing promises of better deals. There are protests, but nothing is improving, and only a general election might bring the welcome change. The only beautiful distraction is spring.
Joanna
Taxes are out of control in NY. My cousin mentioned how bad her are. How do they expect people to live…
From reading blogs, it seems to me that Americans are fond of ‘policing’ their communities. You have numerous HOA, with some really crazy ‘rules’, and now I read here that old cars are being targeted. They might well be appreciating classics, and one day will bring in a lot of money for the owners. As for tax, I have paid endless taxes to governments I didn’t vote for, and politicians I hated. We now have an increase in our Council (local government) tax, and I didn’t vote for any members of that council either. Small wonder I am an ‘Angry old man’ these days.
Best wishes, Pete.
And me a cranky old woman!
Two years ago in our mega village signs, expensive signs, popped up all over town with arrows pointing to “districts” no one had ever bothered to name. Several million dollars to tell everyone This Way to X District. Districts which are actually busy intersections. While we have potholes you could lose a car in. Well, they say, the money was a grant, or earmarked in advance or some other BS. So now we have intersections with District designations someone’s brother in law got the contract for.
It is universal and I guess eternal.
Your story about the pothole makes me think about how many potholes there are here in South Africa. Luckily not in the Western Cape province where we now live, but when we lived in the Eastern Cape, we saw so many potholes that we always joked we might as well drive next to the road because there are fewer potholes than in the road itself. And I know for a fact that the taxes that are paid by the residents there are certainly not going towards the infrastructure, but to the pockets of the political leaders.
…but always interesting.