Holloway project needed for potholes

WHAT is a “holloway”? It’s an English surname; also the name of a neighbourhood in London and of several towns in the US.

But actually it’s a sunken footpath or track caused by centuries of human and animal traffic, especially in the southern English county of Dorset.

It means what it says: “hollow way”.

Some holloways have actually been tarmacked and have roads running along them.

Others have become footpaths, others have sunk so deep in forest and undergrowth that they are forgotten.

But now, according to the BBC, Dorset’s holloways are being explored and documented by ecologist Andy Jefferies and archaeologist Rosie Cummings, who are leading a project with Natural England that aims, for the first time to map this ancient network across the region, using state-of-theart 3D cameras and reports from hikers and locals on the ground.

A worthy project. Somebody should engage Andy and Rosie to come, once they’ve finished with Dorset,

to this country to investigate our own holloways that also coincide with human traffic, often on tarmacked routes.

It’s only the terminology that differs. Here they are known as dongas and potholes, and they’re spreading apace.

Fried fish outage

NEW Jersey householders in the US had their electricity cut off by a fried fish.

The sudden and unexplained power cut in Lower Savreville was a mystery until repair workers found the fried fish on top of a transformer, according to Sky News, and have pinpointed it as the cause.

How it got there is still a mystery but it’s presumed it was dropped by a bird – probably an osprey, a species that is common in the area.

“We are guessing a bird dropped it as it flew over,” the local police said on Facebook.

Jungle joker

A READER reports encountering a circle of people in the jungle. They were laughing hysterically at jokes being told by a lizard standing on his hind legs.

I said: “That lizard is amazing.” Reply from the circle: “That’s no lizard, it’s a stand-up chameleon.”

Tailpiece

A COUNTRY road crew get their work assignment one morning to go and patch some potholes.

They arrive at the assigned location but when they go to get their stuff out of the back of the pickup they have a problem.

The team leader gets on the radio and calls the supervisor: “Boss, we got out here but there ain’t no shovels in the truck.”

Supervisor: “Dang it all, that other crew must have not put them back when they finished yesterday. Just sit tight and I’ll bring some out to you.”

Foreman: “What are we supposed to do until you get here?”

Superintendent: “I guess you’ll just have to lean on each other until I can get you some shovels.”

Last word

WHAT is life but a series of inspired follies? The difficulty is to find them to do. Never lose a chance: it doesn’t come every day. |