Cromford Road Recycling Site

My grumpy old man has been repeatedly asking me over the last couple of weeks ... 'Have you blogged about the recycling bins yet?' I have to remind him every so often that this IS my blog and if he's so bothered to write his own. And anyway I've been busy writing about things that interest me - like rg Group attempting to undo the irreparable damage caused to the railway sidings.

He comes in most days announcing - not 'Hello darling, you look lovely' - but more along the lines of ... 'I want you to write about blah blah blah' ... my brain has generally cut off most auditory senses by now, and I sit nodding and shaking my head - at what I judge to be the appropriate moments by his increase in volume - with an expression approaching sympathy [my face can't lie either]. Nine times out of ten it's usually some tw*t or other driving in a way that annoys him.

Righto, anything to oblige - and shut him up - here goes. 

OI COUNCIL! Where has our recycling site on Cromford Road gone? Grumpy went down Bridge Street with our plastic a couple of weeks ago, and there the bins were - gone! He said that other people had obviously visited before him as there were several carrier bags full of plastic bottles left where they used to be.

Yes, we know Asda is going to HAVE a recycling area, but it's not there yet is it? No, because the recycling space is currently taken up with construction containers for the almost ready petrol station.

Do I take it that you want us to further pollute the atmosphere by making a special journey in the car - as indeed grumpy did [twice] - to take our recycling elsewhere? Or would you like us to send all our plastic to landfill since you are neither providing this area with the means of proper recycling, nor do you want to collect it from the kerbside with the crappy recycling system you've got ... money, money, money.

Oh yeah, I've read in our latest Derbyshire County Council 'What a wonderful job we're doing for you' newspaper that we're being bribed to recycle - all we have to do is leave our recycle bins out on our collection day and we could win £50 shopping vouchers. Apparently they've given away 36 already and have about 60 more to give away until July.

They say it's to increase the amount of rubbish recycled in the area. Don't make me laugh!

We're hardly being encouraged to recycle except on a very moderate scale. We mustn't overfill the blue paper bag, and we daren't buy anything that involves cardboard packaging, any extra left outside the orange bag won't get taken away; so we end up binning it - well not me obviously, but I know someone [without transport] who did just that last week after the recycling lorry left it behind. So council, do you want us to recycle or not?

There grumpy - job done ...

Langley Mill Railway Sidings ... part 2

Any odd letters in the wrong place, please blame the cat. She shot across the keyboard [managing to hit the up arrow with every foot] as I was finishing Friday's bit, I've removed all I could find but I'm fed up of reading it now ...

Another exciting instalment of 'a week in the life of ...'

Monday from 6.48am:
It was just another routine day of noise. The huge clatter of the first scoop of muck dropped into each of the lorries, then the constant background noise of the digger rearranging the ever so slightly shrinking heaps ... we're beginning to wonder if it'll ever end.

.....

Tuesday 6.44am:
Yawn ... they're all turning up. 6.48am the digger starts ... he's becoming a right pain in the bum!

YAY! ... The bigger trees have arrived and are being planted. I decided to go and have a look at them, and whilst I was out in the dank, misty air I thought I might as well go the long way around [via Asda] to see how the petrol station is progressing - the lid is on, it shouldn't be too long before it opens - my grumpy old man went with me and of course I shoved my camera in my pocket.

We carried on along the front of the Acorn Centre, stopping off at one of the area's 5,000 odd charity shops [I like a bargain]. We then went up - the much drier and less puddly than when I was with the borrowed dog - Pottery Lane.

Where does the disgusting element of Langley Mill come from? Who breeds them? There's tat - including Netto rubbish - and dog crap [Ugh!] everywhere.

We finally arrived at mission control aka the portaloo by the gates onto the devastated railway sidings. There were two men chatting to the digger driver, one was the man overseeing the lorries - already questioned by grumpy - the other was a rg group man in charge of proceedings - also questioned by grumpy - [they were possibly all rg group].

'Hello' shouts my GOM. They shouted greetings back but the next bit got me totally wrong footed and all the questions I was going to ask were completely forgotten as my brain short circuited, fizzled out and I went into autopilot.

'Have you been filming me again today?' 'Am I on the Internet yet?' ...

This from the digger driver. I mean, I was incognito ... we went the long way around to get there ... I did my hair different! How the hell did he know who I was?

Of course I answered truthfully [bugger, I still can't lie even with the brain switched off] that yes I'd been filming him but he wasn't on the Internet yet, only the pillock on HH's back yard had reached there. My grumpy old man - bless him - shouted back 'Have a look on t'interweb at grumpy old woman Langley Mill'. I hissed at him to 'shurrup!'

We had a bit of a chat about what time they had to leave home to get there [4.55 one picks the other up] to be able to wake us before 7.00 every morning. Then the digger driver announced that:

1. He was going to phone his missus to tell her to have a look for him on the Internet.
2. He doesn't go shopping, not even got any teabags in [discussion on Asda proximity].
3. His mum cooks his dinners.

So here we have a married man with no food in the house who possibly lives with his mum [I may have been on autopilot but I still have an excellent memory for all kinds of flannel].

They told us that having already witnessed some tw***ish lads kicking the newly planted hedge, that they fully expected smashed digger windows when they arrived Monday. So apparently - yeah right - they were going to nip down with a box of chocolates on Friday so I'd keep my eye on it over the weekend.

Now before anyone thinks 'Ooooh, doesn't she think she's great? Expected to watch their equipment.' forget it, I'm well aware they were taking the wee wee. I'm just amazed they'd seen me and knew who I was, especially as this was the only time I went out while they were there ... so, not much point hiding behind a badger photo on my profile now is it? Except the badger is prettier [I'll say it before anyone else does].

.....

Wednesday ... later than normal [but not a lot]:
Oooooh, a big transporter has come for the digger. I spent ten minutes taking photos and waving good riddance to the noisy sod .... three minutes later it's backing up onto HH land in front of us ?????????????????

What's that doing there? No ... they wouldn't ... if he lowers his flaps it means he's dropping him back off! Down came the ramps *%*<^**!!

So now we have noise UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL!

Ooooooer, everything is shaking, the roller is well - rollering - straight across the road from us, I'm trying to work and I feel decidedly seasick!

Ahh, peace - at last ... but for how long? It looks like they've just made the HH land in front of us a bit less lumpy ready for some smelly tarmac to arrive. I will eventually upload photos and a little bit of film just for the digger driver - but I must, simply must get some work done ...

.....

Thursday:

Oh no! What's that now? ... Asphalt, surely they're not tarmacking HH today, I can't stand the smell  ... and there's no escape as one of us was so nosy that they've got behind with their work ... didn't we?

Oh phew, it's not stopped, I forgot that everything big that's working on the petrol station turns up on Asda's back yard - possibly to wind me up, but more than likely just to turn around out of the way of traffic ... who knows?

My GOM went to the Post Office and had a look at the petrol station progress. Criky they have got a move on. As well as the canopy being finished - including the signs that say '24 hour petrol' - the pumps were being fitted and of course, ahem, the tarmac was being laid. We've been told it opens Friday 25th March, completely self service, pay at the pump with no kiosk.

.....

Friday Afternoon:

Hmm, what are Heanor Haulage [yes, them that sold up and left to make way for Asda] up to now? Over the last few days they've gradually brought - as far as I can see by balancing precariously on the bedroom windowsill [not nosy at all] - a minimum of fourteen flat-beds, some double-deckered on top of one another.

15.33 - I've finished work now and can be as nosy as I like:
Four more flat-beds have just noisily announced their arrival on the back. I won't be at all surprised if they eventually migrate over to the railway sidings. I could of course be completely wrong again, an unfortunate habit I've developed lately ... or they could be doing major work at their new place over the weekend [normal practice for HH] - but we'll see ...

McDonalds Not In Langley Mill

I've just had a nosy at AVBC planning - to make sure I'm up to date with anything that is likely to make me grumpy - and noticed that the application for a fast food outlet ... a.k.a. McDonalds, on a former second hand car dealers  ... a.k.a. CJ cars has been withdrawn. I wonder why ...

Update 1st June:
Plans for McDonalds were resubmitted yesterday

Langley Mill Railway Sidings

Well, well, well ... another week of near constant noise.

I was going to wait until the end of the week to publish this post but I see a few people have been trying to find out what this week's noise is all about so I'll just add a bit each day and maybe save the grumpiest bits until last - here goes:

My Latest Nosy Noisy Diary:

.....

Monday:
The first thing I saw upon waking and looking through the bedroom window; was the portaloo stood standing all by itself on the old Asda/rg group construction car park. Then I realised that there were men milling around being relatively quiet ... it was still early - well, my early.

About 11.00-ish, I noticed that a huge digger had turned up, and blow me if the heap of scrap from Heanor Haulage went around to do a bit of shoving muck about - mostly toward the bridge from the rec and proceeded to pile it up along Pottery Lane fence, hmm more heaps.

My grumpy old man went to make enquiries as to what was happening and was told there would be lorries coming tomorrow, because apparently they've got to remove the 3ft deep 100's of yards long and about 50ft wide heap of waste - and they're going to plant trees along the edge ... I'm completely flabbergasted - what a huge surprise.

.....

Tuesday 7.04am:
Oh, chuffin heck, I'm bloody awake ... the second lorry was being filled. Yes I did say second, I'd managed to sleep through the first but my poor neighbour, ahem, didn't. 6.47am was the time they woke her.

After opening the blind in a disbelieving they-can't-really-be-working-this-early-the-stupid-tw*ts kind of way, I settled down with my mug of coffee and watched the proceedings with interest. I can say that at times it was extremely NOISY! This is because being men, they haven't yet learnt to stagger the work over a period. No, all ten or so lorries turned up to be filled at the same time.

They were gone for approximately an hour and a half. 'Oh, was it quiet then?' I hear you ask. NO IT BLOODY WASN'T!! The digger just kept rearranging the heaps until the lorries all returned. Oh yeah, and the Leedale Road sweeper was fannying about all day.

The tw*t that drives/owns the mobile scrap heap - that he [and others] spent a week tinkering with and revving up - has got a Mr HH mentality for playing with his toys because he spent the afternoon playing on HH's back yard just bleep-bloody-bleeping backwards, brrrm, brrrming forwards and bleep-bloody-bleeping backwards, over and over again. There were witnesses who can confirm that I threatened to go over and fill his tank with sugar during the night ... These totally bribe-able people have promised not to give me away.

.....

Wednesday 6.47am:
Oooooer - déjà vu, I opened the blind and peered bleerily through the window - five lorries waiting and one being filled.
About 9.00am, Heanor Haulage and NM Construction men turned up to erect a new fence alongside the biggest heap of muck ... why? Curiously the lorries go past this huge heap to remove all the other waste. Some more trees that were in the way of the HH fence erection were savagely hoiked up by the digger and branches of bigger trees got zzzzz'd off

The noise continued all day but as yet I can't tell any difference in the amount of muck, it still looks like there's tons of the stuff left - hmm, I wonder where it's going ...

 .....

Thursday 6.50am:
Y-a-w-n, s-t-r-e-t-c-h ... All is quiet, where is everyone? Spoke too soon. There's the road sweeper taking a turn around the back of Asda - again and again. Apart from the two full KSD Recycled Aggregates lorries that presumably stayed overnight, there was no one else to be seen.

7.45 - Wagons roll! A Ward skip being delivered, then one straight after the other ... Bowring 1, John Wright [Ashfield Hauliers], Bowring 2, JC Balls & Sons - 1, 2 and 3 [yes, in that order].

They're a bit late. I presume that whoever had the keys to the gates at the top of the now PRIVATELY owned Wesley Street must have overslept - tut.

Anyway as the day progressed I noticed that the muck piles were going down - not necessarily away, mind you. The wind was blowing a fair amount over here [well, everywhere] - cough, cough.

Nice thought isn't it? All the waste dug out from Heanor Haulage - which incidentally was contaminated [according to the environment papers when Asda applied to build there. Oh yes, I do have a good memory for things I read ... such a shame]. First it was moved behind us, then dumped on the railway sidings, now it's being blown about whilst being rearranged by the digger - so it can waft through our windows and doors - before the lorries take it to [hopefully] its final resting place.

Can anyone tell me why the digger is parked on the biggest heap every night? Do they think someone is going to sneak in and pinch the muck while we all sleep? No - Oh I see, they're worried we might pinch the digger

.....

Friday 6.36am:

I'm getting tired of these early mornings now, I'm meant to be ASLEEP!!

Most of the usual tipper lorries turned up between 6.36 and 8.08. Grace Landscapes arrived at 8.40. No I'm still not being nosy, I'm just watching from my bed, it's the middle of my night!

Today I lost interest in the lorry activities and actually got some work done. Now Thursday was different, Thursday I could tell you exactly which lorry arrived and when it left, I was in nosy mode [actually I was trying to work out how much excavated waste was being shifted].

Grumpy had another sortie over to find out how much longer the job will take. He was told it should be finished by next Tuesday. The reason for the late start yesterday was the man with the keys was held up in traffic [accident during the night on M1].

There are four rows of mini trees [possibly hedgerow] planted along the edge of the railway sidings which leaves me to wonder what is going to happen to the bulk of the land.

Photos will be uploaded and possible overgrumpiness removed from this post when I get rid of my too-many-late-nights-and-ridiculously-early-mornings headache. In fact I may chop it into bits because it's getting t-o-o l-o-n-g ...

Heanor Haulage's New Fence

Things started early on Monday as we were promised, any hopes of it being a one day job were quickly dashed when it took about three hours to put up one piece of fence. Yeah, we soon realised they were going to stretch this out the whole week.

There was a huge skip delivered, although I'm not sure what they put in it as they had a bonfire every day - cough cough.

Contrary to my predictions, they didn't use the recently repaired heap of scrap for the fence erecting, instead they used a mini-digger whatsit. It was just as bad as when Asda was being built, the noise just went on and on and on and on and on and on.

Friday evening we were completely worn down by the noise and fumes, I was feeling miserable and sick - by now there were two bonfires, fortunately most of the time the smoke was blowing away from us, but this didn't prevent the smell seeping in.

We don't know what they were burning - apart from the greenery they hoiked out, being in their way - but late in the afternoon they were producing acrid, black smoke [which I'm told was visible from Brinsley]. It smelt just like when I accidentally get my saucepan handles too close to the gas flame while cooking - yes, you're quite right, this is a rare event [I actually have to dust inside my oven] but my nose has a good memory.

Around 6.00pm the grumpy old man asked me what time the International Space Station [I've seen it three times this week] was due to pass over the fume ridden, dog-s**t hole that is Langley Mill, as he fancied his chances at seeing it - which were zero actually, as it was still too light and much too bloody smoggy!!

Anyway grumpy went on the street for a look - I mostly make do with looking through the window, having been accused of being a pervert by some mad bint on her way from Chavsda. Whilst out there, he was able to witness an irate gentleman [from over the recreation ground] stomping across to one of the Neanderthals stoking up a bonfire. I can only assume that he'd gone to complain about the fumes.

On his way back out he told my GOM that he'd been told to p**s off. And that he was going to phone the police ... which he did. Almost immediately two 15 year old's in police uniforms turned up and had a little chat - completely pointless, because Heanor Haulage have always done what they want, when they want, and nothing will ever change that. And this - we all suspect - is the real reason they didn't build their workshop here [so far] because there were too many restrictions imposed by the council, whereas now there are virtually none.

The skip and the rest of the dug out soil was collected this morning - another quiet start to our weekend. We're still a bit perplexed about this fence - seeing as HH has supposedly left, but my GOM has just been told [by a man who had already asked], that someone keeps breaking onto the land and pinching stuff??????? - What stuff? It's all scrap - apparently they know who it is but the police can't do anything about it.

Hmm, funnily enough, speaking of scrap, we've had scrap men here three times in the last two weeks asking if we wanted any scrap taking away [not exactly from around here as I was called 'love' and not 'duck']. I finally got fed up of the visits - where they actually seemed more interested in HH land while supposedly talking to me - and told them if I'd got any scrap I wouldn't GIVE it to them, I'd take it and SELL it myself as I'm not entirely stupid ...