Kentish Express Ashford & District
Just trotting along for the weekly shop
We hope you enjoyed our story last week about the man who was pictured after taking a pony into the Lidl supermarket in New Street.
The stunt had the desired effect on bemused staff, who weren’t sure what to do, and shoppers who were stunned to see the small equine in among the aisles of the Ashford store.
So it set us thinking as to what might be on such a pony’s supermarket shopping list.
On the normal food/drink list we reckon it could have been: A selection of ‘mane’ dishes Some Red Rum A punnet of ‘straw’-berries A ‘cob’ loaf Some golden ‘stirrup’ A ‘saddle’ of lamb A ‘bit’ of beef Some ‘Ponio’ dog biscuits A pair of ‘jockey’ shorts And, on the medical side we think he could have been searching for:
Throat lozenges to stop him going ‘horse’
Stomach medicine to stop his ‘trots’
Some plasters for any ‘grazes’
A press release from Highways England dropped into the Kentish Express email inbox last week detailing various road improvement schemes in the south east and crowing about how 120 miles of extra lanes are coming to the region, with £2.2 billion to be invested by 2020 in 24 major improvement schemes due to start by that year too.
Among the projects highlighted is the creation of the M20 junction 10a scheme, which will now cost “up to £80 million” (up £10m on the previous estimate we noticed).
But hang on a minute, doesn’t this all sound rather familiar i.e. headlines in the Kentish Express stretching back over the past five years along the lines of ‘M20 junction 10a scheme moves a step closer’ or ‘Green light for M20 junction 10a scheme’.
And when we did some research on our own coverage of this scheme – which aims to alleviate traffic problems on the existing M20 junction 10 turn-off and roundabout near the William Harvey Hospital – we did indeed come across several stories which spoke of government plans to “earmark” money for the scheme or “commit” to its go-ahead or “pledge” to build it.
So it will be interesting to see how long it actually is before the contractors and their bulldozers move in to start construction on a project that has been talked about since 2003.
We also noticed in the press release that the junction 10a scheme is listed as “due to start in the next five years”.
Given the previous track record with this scheme the emphasis is probably on the word “due”, so don’t hold your breath if you’re a supporter of this project.
We have doubts whether it’s in the fast lane.
Although there have been a few problems recently with people putting non-recyclable items in their recycling bin, resulting in a warning notice being put on the bin and it not being emptied that week, overall Ashford Borough Council’s recycling system has generally been a success.
Introduced a couple of years back, it saw wheelie bins introduced for both recycling waste (green ones) and household waste (grey ones) and then little black caddies, with orange lids, allocated for food waste.
But according to a new survey (oh, how Nuts and Bolts loves a good survey!) wheelie bins and recycling boxes supplied to households by local authorities have been dubbed unsightly, spoiling the appearance of homes, and need ‘hiding away’.
The survey, conducted by the world’s largest outdoor storage company Keter, says homeowners across the UK feel strongly about the negative impact the bins have on the appearance of their properties.
Almost 70% of those surveyed reckon these receptacles are so ugly they need to be hidden from view, and most of those said they would consider purchasing a storage solution to hide them from public gaze.
Craig Saul, marketing manager at Keter, said: “It is not surprising that almost all the survey respondents agreed a neat and tidy garden adds value to a property.
“With the number of council-supplied wheelie bins and recycling boxes increasing, homeowners are prepared to look at alternative options to maintain the look of their property to ensure it holds its value.”
And despite such bins getting dirty and smelly over time, the survey found only 29% of people clean theirs less than once a month and a whopping 35% said they never clean their wheelie bins at all.
But before you all start worrying about your property prices and start building bin ‘hides’, there is an alternative.
You could get your wheelie bins decorated/camouflaged (as illustrated) to disguise them.
It’s all about keeping up appearances and the tone of your neighbourhood, don’t you know?
Lots of us have suddenly discovered rugby, thanks to the extensive World Cup coverage.
But one thing those of us who know little about the game wonder is... why is the scrum-half putting the ball into the scrum allowed to put it in angled completely in favour of his own hooker when, as far as we are aware, the rule is that it should be put in straight?
Surely a law of the game is a law of the game?
The other team’s hooker therefore has virtually no chance of winning the strike against his opponent.
Strange!