Why you never see a policeman

They are either on holiday or on the sick.

Link Daily Post

Hanson Cement open day today

Would have gone but I'm double booked. Here is the 2008 one. Mark Cox the boss is a very nice man, very approachable. Pity some of our councillors don't get worked up over village safety (speeding cars)  like they do over possible effects of Hanson Cement stack.

In 2008 I asked Mark if he would sponsor a big lump of concrete for traffic calming outside the Penyffordd Post Office to stop traffic hammering through the village. I suggested a big Hanson Cement logo on the middle of it..............

postscript: I notice the smoke out the stack seems rarely to blow to the middle of the village these days. We are supposed to get the most fallout due to prevailing winds.

Congratulations to Cllr Colin Bithell and wife Faith

who celebrate 50 years of marriage.

Friday Night - Where the Streets have no policing

Friday Night - New Years Day

Friday Night - The Fly

Penyffordd Wine Circle Barbeque Bash 2010

Norman and Richard feeling the heat.

Sad Penyffordd people

seen washing their car at 11.15pm on the Poppy Field estate, next road to GNI. Or is it just a reflection of how little time they have during the day.

Julie Rowlands of Leeswood RIP

Click to enlarge

Village Peace

Due to Waren Bank diversions no lorries and short cut traffic. (at least in the morning)
No parents charging around with school children to deliver.

Ant plague

.

The other night on our walk we must have passed or walked over a million or three of these ants. At one stage I had 30 or 40 on my back. There for one day then gone. Quite strange but a relief as they were a pain. Huge colonies on roads, tracks and fields.

It's all explained below.

Links

Lasius Niger 

Antblog

Police reforms

An erudite analysis from The Slog  (slight profanity)
Also in The Daily Post

keyword: Theresa May MP

Relative Peace

We still have no traffic policing in the village due to supposed technicalities but the school holidays and the diversion of traffic at the A55 Warren Bank have lessened traffic considerably. A55 Warren Bank exit has been coming for a long time. Where have Cllr Tom Jones and Cllr Colin Bithell been whilst this above big issue for Penyffordd has been unfolding?

Penyffordd Community Council have had as far as I and the village are concerned a secret meeting with Derek Kirby and Charles Hughes of Flintshire County Council over Warren Bank.

The comment section is open if any councillor wishes to explain the full situation regards A55 Warren Bank exits and the effect it will have on Penyffordd

Alison Halford

tells Cllr Aaron Shotton as it is. Boom!
Power to the blogs. Plus the background to the whole bullying saga.


keyword Susan Lewis, housing, slippery, Eversheds

Bacon and Eggs

 

Yes its Lurpak butter as well.

Roasted sausages in balsamic vinegar

Lisa's Kitchen - Salmon cakes on a bed of lentils

 

A joint effort of Lisa, Jamie Oliver, Delia Smith and Gino D'Acampo.

Jamie Lentils

http://www.jamieoliver.com/foodwise/article-view.php?id=1824

Delia Fishcakes

http://www.deliaonline.com/recipes/main-ingredient/fish-and-seafood/salmon/salmon-fishcakes.html

and Gino the broccoli (Italian style broccoli stirfry.)

Lentils although I realise are good for me I do have problems eating them. In this recipe by Jamie they are cooked with balsamic vinegar and mint which makes them very palatable.

Elwyn the Tractor

This is Elwyn a friend of ours with one of his tractors an International 434 made by International Harvester. Elwyn is a very nice man who lets me have well rotted manure for the garden. Elwyn has lived in Nant Y Ffrith a long time.

Chirk Carboot Sale

Not for sale though.

Joe Davies rest in peace

Funeral next Wednesday 10.30 am at Penymynydd Church.

How cycling should be

The Dept of Transport continue to encourage people to take to the roads to mix with the idiots who are allowed vehicle licences. Cycling should only be encouraged away from trunk roads and unpoliced minor roads.
A new coast-to-coast cycle track, the 169-mile Way of the Roses from Lancashire into Yorkshire, opens in September

Link The Guardian

Further on the deluge

In the Leader Cllr Chris Bithell (they mean Colin) says flooding issues need to be resolved before 200 further houses are built in the village.

Colin is right. Cllr Cindy Hinds has pushed the utility company on this issue with no outcome. When we get downpoors in Chester Rd gardens are flooded and grids become geysers. Sewage also appears out the drains onto the roads. We are on the high side of the road so we are ok. Opposite us can get a foot of water in the gardens, never seen any Barnsley trout though..

Sandbags for Chester Rd in the deluge

At 10.58pm the Fire Service was called out to a residential property in Chester Road, Penyffordd, after it flooded. Sandbags were requested from Flintshire County Council.

Link Flintshire Chronicle

A Wet Walk

Yesterday and Today

Should you owe money and are having difficulty

Link The Raccoon

Washing machine blues

We have a Samsung P1253S. I like it Lisa is less pleased. It has gone wrong for the second time in 5 years. Previously a wood screw got through the filter system and finished off the pump. New Samsung pump £60 without fitting. Asked for advice from an online seller who suggested a generic pump for £8.

This time I had an idea what it was from the symptoms. Took the cover off it's the belt as thought. Ask Ebay seller if they have our belt. Belts cost about a fiver. Ordering the belt will be two clicks of a mouse. Watch Youtube video on how to put a belt on.

Whole job will cost about a fiver ( or maybe £12, they say we should get part tomorrow ) rather than expensive servicing repairs or a new machine. The wonder of the net.

Links  
Youtube video putting a new washing machine belt on

Bought it from Amazon in the end

The truth about front line policing in N Wales

in The Guardian

plus why our CBM Howie spends more time on holiday than on duty in Penyffordd.  > Here MailonLine

(It's not his fault by the way it's the politician's fault) 

I was going to do an FOIE to NWP for a log of what time our CBM actually spends in Penyffordd since he took over from Chris Pullen. No need to bother. The Inspector of Constabulary gives a good enough picture.

There needs to be serious changes at NWP. Currently they are having a laugh at our expense.

North Wales Police Helicopter Blog

There are quite a few searches on Google with people asking why North Wales Police helicopter is hovering above their house. This is a new service given by North Wales Police. Although it runs a day behind and not all activities are explained. Some forces use Twitter which is more instantaneous.

Link
North Wales Police helicopter blog.   (closed down ?)

Geograph

New link http://twitter.com/NWCopter

Road to Broughton closed

If you go down to Broughton the road goes one way with lights ( Warren Bank A55 exit construction) . The one way is from Broughton up the hill. If you go down you get to the A55 the traffic is then directed up the A55 to Dobshill then back down. Better just to go to Dobshill from Penyffordd.

The Slog's Sunday Sermon

Where we are heading (here)

Waste at the WAG

Link Walesonline

Not sure if the Red Lion Strollers are up to these

 

Link Red Lion Strollers Football Club

Link Telegraph Week in Pictures

Airbus 380 cockpit

Here. A panoramic view.

NWP - Tackling what matters to you

Well as everyone knows speeding traffic through Chester Rd matters to me. I'm thinking of joining Facebook to reinforce the message. I and others wait for North Wales Police to do their job.

Link A Safer North Wales

Crime falls in N Wales by 3%

The problem with statistics is success can be claimed and not disproved easily. There is a major unseen revolution going on at the moment. N Waleans are buckling down due to the credit crunch. This is bound to have an effect on crime. There is also the issue of unreported crime, how much of that is there? Police are solving less crime as well.

Link Daily Post

Postscript
What the Slog has to say about crime statistics

Chicks for free - If you can play

 

with god Eric the Clapton......

Progress?

Might help if you had the words. The tale of a dusty old track that turns into a super highway.

First Minister Carwyn Jones pledges ‘summer of conversation’ with Wales

Well Carwyn here's Chester Rd Penyffordd policy improvements.

1. Stop  A55 Warren Bank  traffic using Chester Rd, Penyffordd as a short cut instead of using the Penyffordd By Pass.

Links  
Daily Post 
Summer of Conversation

Wheely bins for everyone

Flintshire moves to a fortnightly rubbish collection for non-food. This is the start of the squeeze to make you throw away less rubbish. This will prove a big issue for a lot, will fly tipping increase.

For the last 6 months I have been going through stuff "that might come in handy" from the last 25 years. It's amazing (sorry I mean embarrassing) what I have collected.

2 electric tile cutters
5 sets of tree loppers
1 large car gearbox
3 circular saw tables ( you may think why)
5 rakes
4 electric drils
 5 battery drills
4 shovels
4 forks
screws, bolts and nuts by the 1000.
Over a ton of wood offcuts (for the wood fire)

Steel and old electrical tools down to the skip, precious metals down to Chadwicks Sandycroft. Last trip to Chadwicks brought in £70 for aluminium scrap.
And of course stuff off loaded on the ubiquitous Ebay

The above measures by FCC have to be taken due to EU directives.

Quote "Cllr Tony Sharps said: “Now we are going one step forward and making the service cleaner, more hygienic and better for the customer .
“Let’s catch up with Coronation Street, they’ve had wheelie bins for 20 years.”


Link Daily Post

One back against the lawyers

in The Daily Post

New ways for paying for your taxi

Not sure if it will catch on. The Leader have the comments section closed for some reason.

Link The Leader

Bid to boost tourism in N Wales which includes vandalism

I am not the only one who wonders why we need more tourists. Have you ever seen the A55 on a Friday afternoon and Saturday morning? There is near grid lock. Bikers using the roads as a race track. Local find tourists a pain.

Recommendation includes vandalising Colwyn Bay Pier. Lets hope the locals put a stop to this. Further reading of article leads me to think consultants are talking moonshine.

Work takes us down the coast. We prefer N Wales away from school holidays and weekends.

Link Daily Post

Who says there is not a god

"WAG also failed to convince that the potential harm to wildlife of killing 2,000 badgers outweighed the potential benefits – an estimated 0.3% drop in the annual rate of herd breakdowns."

Well done the law lords.

Kink Daily Post 

 

  I know of maybe a dozen badger setts. These creatures keep to themselves.

Alison is not happy, then she is.

Council Capers June 2010. The Ombudman plays unfair. Now it's Patrick Heesom's turn.
Alison however is very happy over Canton and the direction the new head of housing is taking.
Link Alison Halford

To Dave's for Dinner

Pick Jeanette up but can't go around to Dave's yet as he has a flap on and things aren't ready. Talk about Come Dine with me. Two trips to Asda whilst we are loitering at Jeanette's.

Chicken Fricassee

Dave's dog Mollie the St Bernard

Cooling off and having a drink

FCC Traffic Calming Policy

Purpose of policy.

To reduce road casualties and minimise the adverse effects (environment)  of motorised traffic by the introduction of traffic calming techiques.

There is a points system to work out a method of qualification. My thanks to Cindy for giving me a copy.

Flintshire crime figures are down ( In the Leader not online yet))

Burglary figures are down. Everyone is patting themselves on the back. Is the lowering of crime figures down to North Wales Police or some other influence?  We are in the middle (start?) of the greatest pull back in consumer spending ie the credit crunch. Are they claiming credit for something not of their making? Have patrols increased in Flintshire? I think not. Are NWP getting smarter?

Pothole compensation rising in Flintshire

Link The Daily Post

keyword Cllr Tony Sharps, Northop Hall,

New Content

on Penyffordd Community Council website.

Link http://www.penyfforddcouncil.com/

Seen elsewhere

A true story from The Raccoon of family and mental illness.

Link The Raccoon.

Quote of the day

Good old Mandy.

In an interview with The Times*, Lord Mandelson also rejected criticism that he is too fond of the high life for associating with people with money, such as the Rothschild family and Oleg Deripaska, the Russian billionaire.
He said: “Do you know what I say to that? Good for me. I mean, I’m not going to be governed by Labour Party political correctness about who I should meet or talk to or where I should spend my time.
“Look, I’m interested not in people’s names but who and what they are. I’m not governed by how famous people are but by how interesting they are. For me it’s the interesting life.”

*The Times is now behind a paywall.

Link The Telegraph

Meadowslea Housing Specification

Link Elan Homes Meadowslea (pdf)

Penyffordd Electrician

Huxley Electrical and Home Services

Telephone 01244 543726

Mobile 07711309778

keywords: Penyffordd

Power to the people

Prime Minister David Cameron is talking of giving power back to the people. I am starting to warm to this man. Perhaps all the hammering traffic we get each day can be stopped. Penyffordd needs a revolution with regards  policing and councillors if they continue to ignore safety and environmental considerations of Chester Rd.

Link Mailonline

Something very sad

There's a story in the papers today. Some one has hung himself. A friend of mine could hear his wife shrieking from his garden as she ran into the main road distraught after discovering the deed. I am familiar with the family.

I have played golf with the departer of this world. I was a member of the gym with his distraught wife. She and children did not deserve this. How selfish.

Perhaps credit crunch easy money required to be repaid immediately, huge loss of face in his community . We will see
Wife did not deserve this and may not recover.

Penyffordd Community Council meeting tonight

So are PCC backing Chester Rd for traffic policing or siding with North Wales Police not to traffic police Chester Rd?

Putting village residents lives in danger on a major route to school.

700 speeders doing 31 to 76 mph each day at the last count in June 2008 measured by Flintshire County Council.

Are we all on anti depressants?

You need to be living on Chester Rd. Shrimps have been found giving themselves up to predators in the coastal waters because they are all on prozac. Nearer home a friend of Lisa's in Mold questioned the vet over one of the medications for the dog under treatment. The vet explained it was a doggy prozac to help the dog whilst it was ill.
One week after the dog stopped taking doggy prozac it was acting a lot better........

Link  The BBC

Engineering Magic

A Blog to Penyffordd Cllrs - re 20 mph.

Dear Councillor

 You may be aware that in surveys conducted last year over 80% of members of the public were in favour of 20 mph for residential roads. This mirrors the developing view across the country that our current speed limit of 30 mph is just too high in residential areas where it is inevitable that vulnerable road users will be at greatest risk.

In fact, if we compare it with the speed limit in Northern European towns  it is 60% higher than the 30 kph (18.5 mph) limits that they have for residential streets. No wonder perhaps that 92% of pedestrian deaths are on urban roads in the UK and at 21% we have a higher proportion of pedestrian deaths on the roads than any of our European neighbours.

In Hilden, Germany, the setting of their 30 kph limit in the early 90's was the foundation of them encouraging cycling and walking. In fact now 23% of in-town trips are now made by children and adults using bikes instead of cars.

You may be wondering about how much this would slow down our car journeys and cause congestion. Well the campaign is only for residential streets to be changed with most A,B and arterial roads remaining at their current speed limits. As almost every house, office or school is within 1/3 mile of such an arterial road then the maximum increase in journey time would be just 40 seconds. Surely worth the benefit in lives and injuries saved.

You may also be wondering about the cost and inconvenience of all those speed bumps. Well many authorities are using changed Department of Transport guidance which encourages lower speeds to be set without necessarily involving physical calming. With education, consultation, social pressure and some enforcement, authorities such as Portsmouth have implemented a council wide default 20 mph limit for residential roads without any physical calming at all. Other authorities are taking Portsmouth as an example and Transport for London recently announced the intention for all London Boroughs to adopt 20 mph as the default for residential roads. Lewisham is expected to be the first to implement such a default.

Most significantly City Councillors in Norwich recently unanimously voted to have a default 20 mph in residential roads as priority for 2008/9. Such support from all local political parties shows how 20's Plenty is a universal aspiration for communities, constituents and politicians rather than a party political one.

And of course 20's Plenty saves lives. A recent PACTS (Parliamentary Advisory Council for Transport Safety) identified that child accidents fell by 67% where 20 mph schemes were introduced.

I do hope that Penyffordd people can rely upon their elected representatives to follow through this excellent policy for the sake of its communities. It would have all the following advantages :-

·    Encourage modal shift to walking and cycling leading to healthier children and adults.
·    Lower pollution
·    Lower noise
·    Create a better environment on residential roads
·    Save lives and injury

Most people involved in transport development recognise that, at some time, 20 mph will become the default speed limit for all residential roads in the UK. Penyffordd can "hang on" till such a time and in the intervening period vulnerable road users in Penyffordd will die or be injured as a result of such a delay. The sooner we adopt the 20's Plenty initiative then the greater the saving in lives and injury and the earlier the benefits in quality of life on our streets.
Penyffordd children and adults want and need 20 mph as a default speed limit in the roads where they live and 20's Plenty For Us will be continuing its campaign for early adoption of this life saving move.

I trust that our communities can count on your support for this initiative and that Penyffordd can be a "can do" council when it comes to taking such sensible steps to make all our lives better and safer.

Please let me know your thoughts and if I can assist in explaining the initiative, its benefits or its implementation then I would be very pleased to help.


Yours sincerely



Colin Hughes

postscript. A standard letter not my style but it gets the point over. Not many Penyffordd cllrs see this sort of vision which is why they should not be sitting around the council table in the first place.

20's plenty for Penyffordd village centre

A far sighted website http://20splentyforus.org.uk/

ps. Penyffordd Cllrs "20's Plenty Where People Live".

Chief Constable Mark Polin's vision for North Wales

to be written later work takes precedent today.

Warren Bank A55 exit

which  is currently under construction will have lasting negative consequences for Chester Rd, Corwen Rd and Wrexham Rd. As the ex trunk road to and from Mid Wales we will be the road of choice once the above development has finished. Have Penyffordd Community Council contacted any of our elected representatives over this highly unwelcome development?

I mean Mark Tami MP, Carl Sargeant AM or Mark Isherwood AM. Welsh Assembly officials are talking to Higher Kinnerton.
Have we been stuffed? Is there any political downside for all those sitting on their hands?

Link The Leader comments

Penyffordd Community Council meeting on Wednesday

I asked Nigel (GNI) the clerk if speeding was on the agenda, he said no. There was however the last meeting where Howie our invisible CBM was asked to come to Chester Rd as a police presence. Has he done what the PCC asked or has he done what he normally does, ie nothing.
The thing is as a modern CBM you can't go upsetting the locals by stopping them speeding through the village. Child safety and resident environment takes second or fifth place. I presume the council meeting agenda will be hidden behind the glass case so you can't read the agenda. Messsage from PCC to the residents FU.

And still the speeding goes on in Chester Rd. In other parts of Flintshire Cllr Colin Legg, Cllr Chris Jones and Cllr Ted Evans are on the case with regards speeding in communites.

There are two kinds

of people with regards backing up of important data on their computer. Those who back up data and those who wished they had...................
Backup's also have to held well away from original data such as online or in your pocket. I am a bit laissez fair with backups but we have various places on the net where important data which has taken 4 years to process is kept.

Link The Daily Post

Carl Sargeant tells Anglesey what the score is

Letter to Anglesey Councillors
Link The Druid

Bob Newhart - The Invention of Tobacco

Link Bob Newhart

Is there any political capital in garnering

the support of residents in Flintshire and North Wales with regards speeding through communities and bikers racing through N Wales. There is also the issue of Warren Bank A55 exit which is going to dump loads of extra traffic through the village, What has Mark Tami MP and Carl Sargeant AM done about Warren Bank and Penyffordd? All I hear is silence. And for that matter Mark Isherwood AM.

Chirk Carbooty

-

Dell 17" flatscreen monitor £5, walking shoes £2 and grape bush £4.. I asked the chap what chance was there that that the monitor would work. He reckoned about 50%.............
Two months ago the field had mud 9 inches deep now its like a dust bowl.

Penyffordd district property sold June 2010

8 Cae Fawnog £112,500
Penyffordd, CH4 0HH 29th March 2010

11 Poppy Field Drive £212,000
Penyffordd, CH4 0GE 26th March 2010

You can search all these sales totally free of charge by going to OurProperty.co.uk.

Postscript: There seems to be a time lag with new properties on the website enclosed. I presume there is a time lag with the company / government dept that keeps the data. Many of the Elan homes on the former Meadowslea have been sold.

Lollypop's having car trouble

We haven't got a lolly pop though.

Link Mailonline

Congratulation to Cllr June Fearnall

on becoming a new member of NWPA.  I do however take issue with the following statement from a PCSO and Ward Sargeant in Marchwiel when Googling your name.
Postscript: June was good enough to reply to my email. This puts her way ahead of other NWPA members.

"The Marchwiel village PCSO and ward Sergeant carried out a speed enforcement operation on the A525 through Marchweil Village during the early work traffic as requested by residents at the last NPP. During this busy period only four of the 100+ vehicles were travelling in excess of the 30mph limit. Three were issued with advice and asked to produce their driving documents. One person was issued a speeding ticket. It is evident that the vast majority of people drive sensibly and within the legal limit. This is an ongoing action plan and the neighbourhood policing team will continue to monitor the speed and deal with it accordingly."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This is standard North Wales Police tactics in downplaying speeding. Stand there in the middle of the village in high visibility vests with a speed gun. Every driver flashes one another that there are police in the village everyone slows down so there is no issue with speeding in the village, problem solved.

Moronic reasoning by police.

One hopes you will question why so many communities are not happy with speeding motorists and why NWP and NWPA are not doing anything about it.

Also why North Wales is used by bikers as a race track and why vehicle exhaust law is not enforced.

I hope you enjoy your time at the North Wales Police Authority.

Colin Hughes

keyword North Wales Police Authority, Cllr Chris Bithell, Flintshire, Cllr Alun Lewis, Police Authority Chairman.

Cllr Bernie Attridge says

I talk shite ( re email previous blog on David Hanson MP ) He is of course entitled to his opinion. Bernie has had a young child run over and killed outside a school in his ward. This is something that Penyffordd Cllrs don't bother thinking about. Perhaps they have had legal advice at county level that their rear's are covered?

Bernie says I should sign up as a special policeman and patrol Chester Rd with a speed gun. I say why buy a dog and bark yourself?

Where ex Minister for Police David Hanson MP went wrong

and why scumbags hammer through communities with no consequences.

Link The Telegraph

keywords Nick Herbert

Lawrence helping

-

Here's my wife's friend's husband Lawrence making the difference helping Epilepsy Wales at The Senedd.

"Several of the Trustees from the Wrexham office of Epilepsy Wales travelled to Cardiff to support the Epilepsy Awareness Campaign which was held at the Senedd, The Welsh Assembly Building.  The opportunity was taken to meet with Ministers and Assembly Members to stress the importance of the organization receiving service level agreements (id: funding) from the newly formed Local Health Boards (LHB), if the current level acress Wales is to continue unabated."  Mr Lawrence Pugh.

 

Cyclists on pavements

When you step out from our front gate you have to look right and left before stepping out on to the pavement in case you are "taken out" . If we had a police presence this could dealt with.
Anyway they have had enough on Deeside.

Just another factor on lawless Chester Rd.

Link The Flintshire Chronicle

Speeding traffic rears its head again

In The Flintshire Chronicle (dead tree edition only)
Flint Mountain are up in arms. Similar to Chester Rd but times 20. They are asking for a camera. They are doing a speed survey. I am thinking of warning the county cllr Ted Evans about tricks played to down play speeding by Flintshire officers and N Wales Police.

Rhosesmor residents are also complaining about speeding near the school. Meanwhile Penyffordd Community Council conspire with CBM Howie Williams to do nothing about speeding in Chester Rd, Penyffordd. Penyffordd Junior school shows no interest as do the school governors. Cllr Colin Bithell seems very concerned on the issue of children and Hanson Cement but continues to completely ignore speeding traffic through our village centre.

postcript. I am wrong Gosafe have been seen in Chester Rd. Howie appears to be the stumbling block. PCC tell him to do traffic policing and he drags his heels. Or perhaps Howie arranged Gosafe. Anyway no one tells residents in Chester Rd what is happening.
FCC also drag their heels on work required.