WHAT’S ON YOUR MIND?
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Too Many Roundabouts
Although I have been aware of this project for years (Finally, a Road to Somewhere in HIP 259), I have only recently taken an interest in it. It seems to me that the new road will solve some problems but in most cases will make no difference or, indeed, make traffic flow more complicated.
East Sussex County Council say that there will be “better connectivity between Bexhill and Hastings.” It would be more accurate to say better connectivity between Bexhill and the A21 to the north of Hastings.
Apart from that, the route between The Ridge and the A21 (both directions) will be more complicated. Instead of, at present, traffic having to negotiate two junctions, there will be The Ridge/Queensway mini-roundabout, the Queensway/Queensway Gateway roundabout, the Queensway Gateway/Whitworth Road roundabout and a new roundabout at the junction of Whitworth Road and the A21. Four roundabouts within about half a mile does not seem wise. I am thinking that southbound drivers from The Ridge (hospital direction) will use Harrow Lane instead.
Why close Junction Road completely to traffic? Closing one road at the same time as opening one new road just means the traffic is moved from one place to another. Already The Ridge/Queensway junction gets congested. Leaving Junction Road open to left-turning traffic only would spread the load.
David Stevenson
Letter
Sharing Caring
Dear HIP
I enjoyed Educating Ourselves About Health in HIP 257, though
was sorry I couldn’t find to whom the very thoughtful piece was
credited. The author’s reflections on perimenopause were particularly powerful.
If our Hastings community is indeed to be a place of support and care, that surely starts right from early life: making sure that girls aren’t raised to accept as their inevitable lot in life the sole, onerous
responsibility for caregiving.
Sharing that burden more equitably with others in the first place might avoid the decades-long build-up of fatigue and self-denial that may make menopausal symptoms more severe than they might otherwise be.
Katharine Manning
Letter
A Good Samaritan on East Hill
Dear HIP
Friday 13th is a date to avoid for some, but for us it was a reminder of the good nature that still exists in people, and we would like to use your pages to thank the person or people who found my husband’s smartphone and handed it to the Police.
We were walking on East Hill, and feared the worst when we realised it had been left behind on a bench and subsequently disappeared. As a minimum we would be faced with the inconvenience of numerous bank and store card cancellations, plus having to recreate the on-line world that we all live in these days and of course the cost of purchasing a replacement device. At worst we feared the possible consequences of criminal activity should it have fallen into the wrong hands. A frantic search ensued until we were finally able to obtain an answer (my husband has his device permanently on “do not disturb” of course!) from someone who, to our great delight, turned out to be a police officer.
We were hugely relieved to find out that it had been handed in, and the whole episode was over and done with in less than two hours. The Good Samaritan in this story did not leave their name but, if they are reading this, we would like to offer them our grateful thanks – and to the staff at Hastings Police Station who were also incredibly pleasant and helpful.
With much gratitude to all concerned.
Steve & Jacky Wolton
Letter
Don’t Believe the Daily Mail
Dear HIP
Was I alone in rubbing my eyes in disbelief to read recently in the Daily Mail (13 September) that Hastings was ranked among “Britain’s best high streets”?
Featuring a large photo of the “arty” George Street, the piece went on to praise the High Street and talked of “upmarket homeware shops and artisan bakeries”, saying it “was all about vintage stores”.
Well, maybe, but I hardly know anyone who shops in the Old Town. “Too expensive; just for visitors” is the common refrain.
But this year the visitors have not been coming, and many traders report footfall and takings are up to 30 per cent down on last year.
George Street is eerily quiet from 6pm on a Sunday evening right through until tea-time Thursday when the DFLs arrive with their suitcases on wheels. Some shops and pubs do not even bother to open on a Monday.
Coach parties from Eastbourne are dropped off at the Stade, and after covering our three famous streets, these elderly folk often ask “Excuse me, which way is the New Town?” To which I have developed a rather dispiriting reply:
“Go straight ahead to the burned-out night club site; turn right past the street sleepers, abandoned shopping trolleys, boarded-up shops and graffiti-covered walls until you come to the underpass. When you find yourself stepping on litter from Sports Direct, Costa Coffee and McDonalds, you have arrived. And mind the scores of mobility scooters and kids on electric bikes.”
Hastings one of Britain’s best high streets? Someone is having a laugh.
Michael Collinson
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