Getting Excited!!

Oh yes, I'm getting in the Christmas mood ... after the almost total lack of Christmas lights in Langley Mill last year, things are bound to improve this year.

Well, you only have to read about Asda in Langley Mill donating £2,000 to Nottinghamshire's Eastwood switch on - I have to keep reading it because Google kindly sends me alerts whenever 'Asda Langley Mill' is mentioned on t'interweb. Ahem, 4 out of 5 times it's me that mentioned it ... but I digress.

If Asda in Langley Mill, DERBYSHIRE [oh yes it is] was that generous to a nearby town in a different county, just imagine what our Christmas lights and switch on event will be like in Langley Mill itself - where Asda actually is.

Oh I can't wait ...

Mini-Toton At Langley Mill

I know our sidings, complete with silver birches are on a much smaller scale than the ones at Toton. But when they bulldozed the trees there everyone seemed to be up in arms about it. Here it's gone relatively unnoticed and unremarked about [except by my friends, the grumpy old man and myself].

Am I to set up a one woman campaign by lying down in front of the bulldozer? I think not, I don't do mud and it's mostly too late. I wonder if anyone has asked the council if it's ok [for whoever now owns that bit of land] to do this tree felling? - by dumping Asda's excavated soil on it. Which is, incidentally [apart from the mountain], still about 2ft-3ft deep, although you can't tell from the photos. So there's still a lot more spreading/compacting/tree felling to do.

I know I used to walk my dog there - and lots of other people did too - until they put up a new fence and notices saying 'Private please keep out'.

At the risk of repeating myself - yet again ... What are the plans for these sidings? I don't know if I'm being thick or blind but I've seen nothing at AVBC except in the 'Scoping Survey Report' done for the Asda/Heanor Haulage plans, with the following quote ... 'The only area with ecological value was found in the area between the railway track and the perimeter wall of the industrial site ... This area is outside the site and walled off from the industrial area and not included in the development plan.

So what are they doing in it? ...

Peace And Quiet?

People keep saying ... 'Oooh, I bet it's lovely and quiet now Asda is done' or words in a similar vein ... IS IT BO****KS!!! And to prevent any poor bugger who asks me yet again from getting their head bitten off, I will explain what life is like now Asda has left us in peace.

There is the constant bleep-bloody-bleep of the bulldozer flattening trees and spreading Asda's excavated muck by the railway lines. There's the noise from two lorries whizzing [one much faster than the other, this driver must be a certified lunatic] across the FOOTPATH at the top of Bridge Street, around the back of our houses onto Heanor Haulage land to fetch the aforementioned muck. Plus the digger filling the lorries.

Then there's the resident roadsweeper ... up and down, up and down the back of Asda to stop the muck getting beyond Wesley Street. Unfortunately this roadsweeper doesn't clean the quagmire at the bottom of the ramp or the bit of footpath that the lorries are churning up. May I remind them here AGAIN!!!!! That it's a public footpath they're crossing at speed - not a construction site with attendant security/watchman on duty!

Oddly enough - and I don't know why, maybe a bit of a dispute or strike - but yesterday morning was peaceful until 10.56am. The four men were standing around with hands in pockets or poking about among the scrap. Even the roadsweeper sat idly with his engine running for three hours of inactivity, until a car came racing around the back and they all dashed to their respective vehicles, whereupon work started [damn] ... Oh how I relish those three hours of peace.

And now I've discovered why everything sounds extra noisy even with the bedroom window shut. This morning my curtains were billowing wildly plus the wind chime was jingling and I thought ...  'Well that's a bit odd'. Hmm, not as odd as you'd think, there's a crack in the wall all around the window where the weather and the noise is coming through and the wall has just crumbled near the sill.

The blackout blind had already been put up by the grumpy old man, but that's driving me potty because the bottom is rattling against the window frame in the breeze.

This crack in the wall must have happened when RG Group broke up the concrete in front of us - they didn't use a pneumatic drill to break this thick concrete, they hit it repeatedly with a digger scoop for over an hour [August 13th] until my fillings were rattling in my head and the cat went into hiding.

Oh chuffing heck! Bits of the bloody roof are dropping off now with the first real wind of the season ...

Avoid The Path From Pottery Lane To Bridge Street

If you're thinking of walking to that new shop in Langley Mill - or anywhere else for that matter - via the top of Bridge Street ... don't. When I took the above photo, a lady looked over and said that she'd better go a different way. It was a bit late for a lot of people, they'd already committed themselves with the end result being ... YUCK!

It's a disgusting muddy mess at the bottom of the ramp ... never mind the fact that you're likely to get killed by a lorry crossing the path every five minutes taking muck from Heanor Haulage to the old railway sidings to flatten the trees there.

You should see the state of MY trainers now and I didn't go quite as far as the ramp. Get our footpath and your act cleaned up please - whoever is responsible ...

I Love Tesco

I was woken by my new favourite swearword [Asda] at 5.38 this morning by a delivery lorry - and this was with the window shut, I couldn't breathe, I'm all bunged up from lack of air - who cares? It just got worse and noisier as the day went on with the Asda muck-mountain being moved from behind us and over to the side of the railway.

Questions:

1. Who the hell decided that it would be a good idea to make the lorries sound like a cross between a constipated duck and an angry crow when they're reversing ... again and again and again? 
2. Is the service yard big enough if they have to take 15 attempts to reverse in?
3. Wouldn't it have been better to have the service yard the other side of Asda?
4. I've read that Asda has got to offload 47 Netto stores [office of fair trading decision], Morrisons want some of them, but what about Langley Mill's Netto????
5. Why is Asda's money being spent on Aldercar recreation park and not Queen Street recreation ground? [or is that to happen later?]
6. Why am I in such a bad mood? ... Crushed Silver Birches, dead wildlife.
7. How come the rules for Heanor Haulage's workshop [had it been built] stated that they couldn't start work before 8.00am, yet Asda can wake me at 5.38am - they're lorries ... making noise ... chugging fumes.

We went to Argos for the blackout blind I've had to buy to block out Asda's security and loading dock lights [you owe me £12.99 Asda]. Seeing as we were already at Heanor we went to TESCO - bags of space ... loads of offers ... £10 off voucher [coupon, whatever] ... fast and friendly service ... a breeze to get around - well, it was bound to be really. Langley Mill was still full of people queuing to get into Asda's car park and bogging up the roundabout when we left ...

Asda At Langley Mill Is Open

What a chaos! The traffic is as bad as it was with the traffic lights - during the roundabout construction - with cars backing up to Heanor and Eastwood. Mini-fights [well, severe finger wagging] in the car park when someone parks in someone else's space. There are community police down there, presumably to try to direct traffic and calm things down. Attendants trying to advise people where there's a space to park ... AND THERE ARE ASDA SHOPPERS PARKING ON BRIDGE STREET when we were promised they wouldn't need to.

Get a grip people, Asda will still be there tomorrow ... and the day after ...

A Blast From The Past And Wholesale Tree Destruction

Well, if I thought I could have a nice peaceful birthday, I can think again. PMB Pallet Express were here all day clearing up the crap they left behind when the building was demolished around it - so ... brrrrm, brrrrm, clatter, clatter.

Funnily enough, I was only saying to the grumpy old man yesterday morning that I really miss them waking me up in the night [such a fib!], but it would take a long time to erase the memory of what they sounded like.

Moments later [literally] Mr Heanor Haulage arrived, closely followed by two PMB lorries. Mr HH says that next week we'll have the pleasure of listening to mountains of muck being shifted over to the railway lines to join the other mountains and are to be flattened, crushing yet more trees [not his exact words, but I'm sure it's what he meant].

According to the 'Ecological Appraisal' done at the time of Asda's and Heanor Haulage's proposals, 'the only area of any ecological value was along the railway track outside the development site, this area is walled off from the site and is not affected by the proposal'.

Should Asda really be chucking their building/demolition waste over the fence when they're trying to aid Langley Mill to become more environmentally friendly?

Anyway since the plans were passed the boundaries have become somewhat blurred - with the purchases of certain bits of railway land - so I think we can safely say goodbye to these areas of ecological value ...

Sold!! To The Highest Bidder

Well, I've been sat here waiting for some juicy offers to plop through the letterbox from Asda - seeing as they open in less than two days. Nothing! Whereas my new favourite Store ... Tesco - actually, I hate Tesco but I have very low morals when it comes to bribery - have sent us each yet another batch of coupons to spend.

The grumpy old man flashed both our Tesco letters at me, then proceeded to open his and my mail - including one of my birthday cards ... and read it out to me - git [his excuse was that I was having a shower at the time].

But wait!! My GOM has since been out and just returned from Eastwood brandishing an Asda leaflet ... are there coupons within? Are there buggery. All Asda could manage - so far ... there's a little time yet ... Tesco can still be outbid ... I'm very bribe-able - was a store guide.

So, four more trips to Tesco to spend £60 to save £20 ... with a trolley each, plus pen and paper so as not to underspend [my calculator skills are crap, I kept adding things twice last time we went, until the GOM took over].

Am I shallow? You bet I am. I will of course waft through the doors of Asda on Monday night for a browse around - and to see how many times I can drop my Tesco coupon and announce loudly as I pick it up that we're just on our way to TESCO - I may get chucked out ...

The Eyesore

I'm referring to the lamppost opposite - the top light on the post works OK but is no longer necessary as it was to light up the bridge steps, whereas the bottom one [in the photo] hasn't worked since E.on fiddled with it a year ago. Of course with Asda's ultra-bright security lights, everywhere is lit up. In fact we no longer need electricity in our bedroom but I really must invest in something to block out the light, I keep waking thinking it's time to get up!

Now that we're all smartened up with a wooden fence and plants - yes, maybe the houses do spoil Asda's view of Bridge Street, but tough, we're staying - this street light is an incongruous mess. It's mottled green, having been painted years ago by the Groundwork crew to match the mural on the side of the bridge steps.

The lamppost is actually on the road, not the pavement, so not the best place for it - no the road hasn't been widened before you ask, it was always on the road but now the bridge extension has gone, it's in the way. It's covered in electrical tie-wraps to keep essentials fastened on, rusted at the bottom, albeit not rusty enough to fall over when I witnessed someone leaning heavily against it [note to friend - push harder].

We contemplated bribing a nice man with his digger to knock it over by accident whilst he was removing the temporary ramp next to it, but tut, he was way beyond careful.

The planting is now complete right up to the fence, so there's no immediate need for me to go out armed with spade and my own trees - shame, I was looking forward to that.

I'm not even going to mention the mess that is 'security fenced' off at the top of the street - oh, what? I did mention it, well it was only a teeny weeny little gripe. We can see the security man's kennel little shed from here, ahh, bless, and lots of old PMB Pallet Express mess.

The detailed plans haven't gone in yet for the new housing on Heanor Haulage's land - I don't mean the outline plans that were passed at the same time as the Asda store - but as soon as they do I'll be having a nosy [and no doubt a little moan].

There's still quite a lot of HH's crap to be moved before anything much can be done. Every so often they come and rearrange the odd scrappy bit of metal with their crane and then re-park it behind our house, possibly to annoy me [so my neighbour thinks], but as I've not been at home most of the summer I'm pleased to say that this would have been a wasted exercise ...