Pavement 12: All quiet on the pavement front

Its very rare that adverts convey truth, but I think the message on the side of this lorry just might be the first. Road surfacing and pavement works don’t usually blend into the background. However, this vehicle, as a part of a convoy trundling down Church Street to finish the road and pavement works, is not quiet because it produced little noise. No, it is quiet because the asphalt surfacing was finished before it started, and in comparison to the amount of time it has taken to complete these works and the noise of those pavement slicers, it seemed very quiet indeed.

In the morning I saw the operation gearing up, cars and lorries at the ready. When I got off the 73 (1 stop too early by the Church Street/Albion road roundabout due to the diversion) later on that evening, all was finished. The asphalt surfacing was done in an instant. After the drawn out cutting up of the street in the last 6 months or so, to see something finished so speedily was surprising.

I celebrated with a firm stamp or two on the new surface as I walked up the street. A celebration that the streetworks are finishing. At last.

And to finish on a sort of bibliography… Here are other online authors who have taken an interest in these works. Pavements in London are a big issue, and pavements in general are fascinating insights into everyday life. Check the links out:

Stokey talk – Church Street reopens

Stokey talk – The worst surface in Stokey

Sterostokey – Poor old church street

Hackney council plan’s for the street