JAM TODAY


"The Paxton curse is manifest again. This time, the darkish
blue offending vehicle of Wolfsburg construction settled on a fixed speed of
43 m.p.h. for a long, long journey before disappearing (without timely
signalling, natch) to a certain executive-housing-plagued village".

writes our motoring correspondent who was presumably intent on escaping from the Jim Clark Rally. But the occasional faffer on the B6461, however intensely irritating that can be, rather fades into insignificance when compared to the Newcastle County Down heading traffic on a Norn Iron Bank Holiday. You never have tail backs in Berwickshire, apart from the Fishwick By Pass of course and the mad rush of two fisherman past Fishwick Mains and the Farmer C rejuvenate the Merse building development. But County Down is serious stuff and even when you reach Newcastle your problems are not over as it can take half an hour to squeeze past the massed ranks of day long parkers jamming the main drag or endlessly circulating around the One Way System, radios blaring until they appaer raey to disappear up their own.... Huttonian dwells at the quiet end of town,beyond the snarl of the OWS. But to get there...You could always take a thirty five mile detour via Newry, the Stranraer of Norn Iron, minus the ferry, coming up from ther south and I am sometimes tempted.

But not yesterday. Town almost empty. Wet morning. All the day trippers had gone home.

Good riddance I say


The image may not be of Newcastle but come here on the 12th of July you would find this scene familiar

Labels: B6461, Fishwick Bypass, Norn Iron

  ¶ 8:04 AM (2) comments

 
ALL CHANGE AT FISHWICK

I wonder from looking at Edwin Thomson's website here if dramatic change is coming to the Fishwick peri-urban region? Can it be that Farmer C is on the move? The mastermind behind the Fishwick Bypass and the progenitor of the Tweed side Mc Mansions is really deserting us? I hope not. This blog will be all the poorer for it.

So if you have £1.7 million looking for a home, or indeed a series of homes, hurry; bids must be in by 7 November. And if you modestly just go for one plot, rather than the full Monty you can build something like the tasteful bijou pad as illustrated above.

But surely, says the still small voice of common sense: Farmer C cannot be putting his toe in such frigid waters, chilled further by the Credit Crunch. It may just be a trial balloon. A sort of 'cry for help' in Shrink-Speak.

Come on potential purchasers, keep your hands in your pockets. Don't let Farmer C go

Fishwick needs him

Labels: Farmer C, Fishwick Bypass, Mc Mansions

  ¶ 11:19 AM (2) comments

 
Vandalism at Expected Level Shock

Berwickshire News has an article about the local crime statistics here
Pretty humdrum stuff compared to Norn Iron although Duns with its Boy Racers and vandalism* seems a crime ridden spot compared to Hutton. But 'not so' say my car insurers. By moving from The Old Manse to the Small House in Duns I am saving myself £30 a year (10% or so) on my car insurance. As we are TD15 in Hutton we get tarred with the Berwick brush-presumably

Yet another reason for the creation of a TD 16 post code for rural & Scottish parts TD15

Or, wait a minute, is it to do with the excessive and dangerous traffic on the Fishwick bypass driving up Hutton premiums?


* I am intrigued by Inspector McClean's comment : "Vandalism has remained at the level expected for this time of year"

What should we expect for October-seasonally adjusted?

(There are 1703 images on Flickr for 'Boy Racer' This one of them.)

Labels: . Duns, Fishwick Bypass, Hutton, Insurance, Vandalism

  ¶ 11:51 AM (0) comments

 
Nothing happened in Hutton, horror

Huttonian knew it would happen-habitual bloggees from the Hutton, Paxton and Fishwick catchment area have formally complained-or at least one has, that the Blog is BORING as its focus has moved away to Duns. Where are the snows of yesteryear-or as that excellent if reluctant linguist Farmer C might put it 'Ou est les nieges d'antan?'. The trouble is that although little happened in the greater Hutton metropolis while we were there, the little there was provided good blog material. I assume that little is still happening in our old happy hunting grounds but it is difficult to detect at this distance-indeed it was often difficult to detect even when under our noses-the slurry from Hutton Hill always excepted. On a recent visit to Hutton I inquired about recent happenings-'nothing' to report. Except, of course, apart from an attempted break in at JR's , a slightly vandalised car blamed on the frustrated thieves and slurry wagon shedding its noisesome load in Hutton Main Street. Thats a lot of nothing by Hutton standards and your faithful chronicler nearly missed it.

I had asked Fishwick Special Branch* to keep me informed of significant developments but under their rules I no longer 'need to know' as I am now outwith. So Farmer C and other bloggees, Huttonian is dependent on good information about the local scene-my previous network of informers have been pensioned off or left the locality

So up to you matees.

* A FSB spokesman also explained that they have been deprived of their counter terrorist role and asked to concentrate on (undercover)traffic duties in the Fishwick
Bypass area; bad news for those scores of Tweed bound fishermen who daily jam the roads with their 4x4s hurtling around the infamous dangerous corner hell bent on scaring the living daylights out of gentle countryfolk:

WHAT DO WE WANT?

THE FISHWICK BYPASS.

WHEN DO WE WANT IT?

NOW

(The image is a FSB/Hutton Think Tank computer generated image of traffic through Fishwick in late 2009 if the bypass is not built by then)

Labels: Boring, Fishwick Bypass, Fishwick Special Branch

  ¶ 9:37 AM (1) comments

  The White Van's Burden


Huttonian washing hanging out the washing as one does in the Merse when it is too hot to do anything else-wrap yourself in one wet sheet and hang up the others -magic-when a White Van man arrived in search of Honeysuckle Cottage. His Tom Tom had lead him to Hutton-all the village shares the one postcode, and then he had spent half an hour looking for the cottage which is a former outbuilding in our 'compound' He apparently could not find anyone alive(and out of doors) in the village to ask in our post post-prandial heat induced stupor (it was 76F, honest) and when he did made the mistake of using the word Manse; which one? the former one?, the future one?, the Old one?etc etc. Honeysuckle due a blank but as he was about to return to Selkirk he met one of our neighbours who personally escorted him up Kirk Lane to Honeysuckle Cottage. Mission successful and he left Hutton hotter but less bothered than when he had arrived.

The image is of a white van turning circle. May be part of the Fishwick Bypass. Our man to day could have done with one as it took him ten minutes to reverse down Kirk Lane with several false starts

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Honeysuckle Cottage, Old Manse, White Van Drivers

  ¶ 4:03 PM (0) comments

 

Thankyou very much Hels of 'Country Strife' for this story of ordinary country stoats


A mother and her family of three had a near miss encounter with a lorry at Whitemire stud.

An eye-witness gives the following account:
"I was walking back home with my two greyhounds, Poncho and Jen, when I heard the lorry approaching behind me. I turned to see where it was and pulled the dogs onto the verge. As I turned back I saw four stoats run into the middle of the road and stop. I held my breath as the lorry thundered on towards them. At the last moment they made a dash for it, and I saw them all reach safety and disappear through the hedge on the other side of the road."

The above is for Huttonian in case he is having animal-story withdrawal symptoms - although he hasn't yet featured our neighbours' (Sheila and Margaret) success with Australian terrier Melba at the Kelso show :)

I am looking forward to featuring many more animal stories, especially those not on the Berwickshire front page. I hope Melba can be persauded to have a go at the Duns Show, surely a cut above the Kelso affair?.

The stoat above is from flickr. My advice is for it to avoid our Borders' roads-and especially that black spot the Fishwick bypass

Labels: Berwickshire, Country Strife, Fishwick Bypass, Stoats

  ¶ 11:28 AM (0) comments

 
McMansions in the Merse, revisited


Anyone interested in the rash of McMansions breaking out all over the beautiful Borders countryside should go to http://eplanning1.scotborders.gov.uk/WAM/doc/Drawing-2067409.pdf?extension=.pdf&id=2067409&location=VOLUME1&contentType=application/pdf&pageCount=1&appid=1

to see one at the planning application stage- Equestrian Holdings just off the Fishwick Bypass is the case in point. It will be a lot of house (for a lot of horse?) for the 800 grand or so being respectfully requested for similar edifices in the immediate vicinity. There is a fine artists impression of the main building including an image of the thrusting businessman owner bringing much needed investment to the underdeveloped rural Borders talking on his mobile to a financier in some far flung money market-or perhaps he is just checking train arrivals at Reston Station.

Sharp eyed bloggees will note that the TBO is on the first floor. Is this because the artist reckons that he looks good there-a sense of scale if not a sense of place in planning lingo? Or is it that

he can't get a signal

downstairs?

Worth enquiring? Caveat Emptor and all that

(The image which is from a Dubai planning portfolio could well be a model for the New Greater Fishwick. According to Hutton Think Tank-(Vision Thing Section)should this model be followed the tall tower would be for the Fishwick Special Branch and the Traffic Control offices)

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Mc Mansions

  ¶ 12:42 PM (4) comments

 
Patience and its own reward


A bloggee, with a long memory, having read Huttonian's previous post on the theme of patience with a reference to Godot has asked for a rerun of this ditty from a 1997 anthology, now out of print. Hutton Think Tank's last (and only) literary project.

The man on the bench,
behind the war memorial,
outside the kirk complained
about the view
(obscured by the war memorial)
'Its boring,waiting'.
He complained to the passing fireman.
'Waiting for Godot? Is it?, asked
the fireman (fresh from dousing
the flames under a Christmas turkey)
revealing a hitherto, unsuspected
literary bent.

'I am Godot' replied
the man on the bench.
Untruthfully, as it
happens.

No response from the fireman,
busy on another call. This time
of
nature.

(from Mouse Droppings in the Merse. 1997.Anthol of Verse for the Bewildered. Pub: Hutton Think Tank

No apology from www.wewillgetyourcheapmowerthereverylateifnecessary.com for its late arrival. Anyhow here it is and(eventually) assembled thanks to the Wife's technical background. The drawings in the instructions were nothing like as good as IKEA and we did wonder if they applied to a different model.'You would need a doctorate in Rocket Science to assemble this ' I suggested wittily to the Wife.

'No.It's much more difficult than that' was her modest response

(Thankyou Flickr-Vanderal-for this image'Titled 'Waiting Behind Godot'. Presumably taken on the Fishwick Bypass where you can be held up for hours?)

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Godot, Lawnmower

  ¶ 10:38 AM (0) comments

 
TV poll backs Berwick border move
Is a headline in today's BBC on line

Berwick to go to Scotland


Fishwick opts to Cross Tweed

could be the sub headings.

Full story:

Berwick has changed hands between the two nations at least 13 times
Residents in the Northumberland town of Berwick-upon-Tweed have "voted" in favour of becoming part of Scotland.
According to a poll by a TV company, 60% of those who responded wanted the town to be administered by Scotland.

Better financed public services, including free personal health care for the elderly, were the main reasons.

The referendum, for Monday's ITV1 Tonight programme, saw 1,182 voters in favour of becoming part of Scotland and 775 in favour of staying in England.

Earlier this month politicians in the town vowed to block any move to take Berwick back into Scotland.

I'm not saying that the Scots should not get what they get, but that we should get the same

Pro-England supporter Barbara Herdman

The hard-line stance came after Scottish National Party MSP Christine Grahame lodged a motion in the Scottish Parliament calling for the town to "return to the fold".

But the town's Lib Dem MP and council leader warned it would be too complicated and cause major upheaval.

Organisers of the TV programme said the poll turnout of 1,957 votes compared to some 3,800 in the last local elections.

Former policeman Michael Ross, from Berwick, who headed the pro-Scotland campaign for votes, said: "Berwick is a very special place and I think it is largely forgotten within England.

"I believe we would be the jewel in the crown of Scotland, I believe our economy would be better understood and better looked after by the Edinburgh government than it is by Westminster."

'Grass is greener'

Former school teacher Barbara Herdman campaigned in the town for a pro-English vote and for a change in how public spending is allocated across the UK.

She said: "I think that Berwick should stay part of England because it's so unfair what is happening at the moment.

"The Scots are getting more money than we are. I'm not saying that the Scots should not get what they get, but that we should get the same."


It is reported that some of the inhabitants of the bustling, car infested hamlet of Fishwick are looking to be reunited with England. "Northumberland has a much better record on traffic management than Berwickshire" said a spokesman (76) who had forgotten his name and could not be identified

(The image is of the Tweed at Fishwick. Difficult to get the village across the river but Hutton Think Tank is on the job)

Labels: Berwick upon Tweed, Fishwick Bypass, Return to Scotland

  ¶ 2:06 PM (2) comments

 
Count Down to HogmanayAs the deep freeze intensifies in the Merse- a sighting of a snowplough yesterday may be some kind of portent-its off to the Isle de France, Greater Paree, for Christmas with half the family and 50% of the grandchildren-the other 50% having opted for a Welsh celebration.We will however be back for Old Years Night, Hogmanay and the rest of the Scottish end of year festivities. As Dr Johnston once said, or was it Boswell-'New Year in Scotland is like New Year in England, but with extra vomit' With the usual crack down on drinking and driving in the Borders the vomit may be confined to walking distance from the Cross and other hosteleries and towns with many pubs-Coldstream, Duns, Eyemouth, pools of the stuff may be confined to within the 30mph limit. Huttonian is glad to be in bed well before ten pm by which time, anyhow, the New Year is well advanced in Sydney, Wellington and Mumbai.

The French are determinedly and officially secular but Christmas is as evident in say L'Etang La Ville (The Town Pond apparently) as it is in Regent Street. It will be fun but we will miss the wild scenes of enthusiasm in Fishwick where (according to a Hutton Think Tank puff) the main street is a pedestrian only zone between 2 and 6am, long after the rush hour traffic has been parked before the dangerous corner and the cavorting fishermen, well away from their cherished 4x4s dance in thigh length waders to canned hits from the 50s and 60s. New Year is even wilder and an alternative to the massive Hogmanay Bash in Embra-see image above of the fireworks last year. No doubt Fishwick, the odd damp squib always excepted, will put up a similar display of pyrotechnics

Labels: Christmas lights, Fishwick Bypass, Hogmanay, Merse

  ¶ 12:51 PM (2) comments

  GREAT MERSE TRAINING RUN-CONGESTION IN FISHWICK HORROR

A bloggee, near neighbour has asked for the following to be posted


I am taking part in the BUPA Great North Run 2007, Sunday 30th September.

Running as part of the British Red Cross team - over 350 in the team this year - I hope to complete the 21K / 13.1 Miles in under two hours. My best time for a Half Marathon is 1 hour 43 minutes, but that was over 15 years ago :-)

If anyone wishes to sponsor me you can do so via the Just Giving Web Site. All funds raised go directly to the British Red Cross.

If you are local to the Hutton area you may see me training three / four times a week, Hutton -> Fishwick -> Paxton -> Hutton. Two laps, 11.3 miles, 1 hour 50 min's presently.

See more on
http://www.hexcentric.co.uk

Best of luck Neil Couch but I am slightly concerned about the Fishwick training leg given the heavy traffic on that route

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Great North Run, Low Flying Merse

  ¶ 1:24 PM (0) comments

 

FISHWICK KIRK-it exists!

Or did up to 2002. Huttonian has to thank a nearby bloggee for the scanned images of an old map showing the exact location of the church. And thanks to his research we also have images from an organisation which lists Scottish historic buildings at risk. I reproduce one of the kirk taken 5 years ago. To see the rest in a higher quality (subject to copyright) you will need to go to http://www.buildingsatrisk.org.uk/view.asp?SCT+Ref+No=0942 and click on the individual images.

Next step is to send an expedition to find the place and take more photos.

But after the vegetation is less challenging

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Fishwick Kirk, Merse

  ¶ 10:32 AM (0) comments

 



Fishwick Church-the search continues

Following a bloggee's clue we set off once more down the Fishwick Cul de Sac Blackspot in search of the remains of Fishwick Church. They are remarkably elusive and are presumably in the dense vegetation pictured above. The copse is surrounded by a barbed wired fence-WW2 surplus from Stalag XIV or XV and the nettles are so high that further exploration will have to wait until Autumn. But it was good to see for the first time the (presumably) Tweedhill Fisheries' Tweed side Bothy/Winebar and there were even fishermen in evidence parked beside it having, presumably, found no room in the official car park. A gaggle of geese had found refuge in the shallows and were being noisily provocative to a herd of cows who trying to emigrate from Scotand to England (or vice versa) had found themselves stranded on an island rather nearer to Scotland than England but did not seem too concerned.

Only jarring note to mar a quiet bucolic idyll was provided by English Yuff on the Horncliffe bank with their motor bikes. Presumably banned from the peaceful village streets they were doing their things on the river bank-click on image for the whole sordid spectacle. Try that on this side of the water it would be an ASBO and a forced appearnce in sack cloth and ashes at Fishwick Kirk.

If we could find it

Labels: Fishing, Fishwick Bypass, Tweed

  ¶ 10:21 PM (2) comments

 

McMansions in the Merse

I don't know if Farmer C reads the Guardian but if so he might like to look at the article on page 16 on the phenomenon of 'McMansions' in the United States. Go to http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2138023,00.html ) The illustration of one in Westport Connecticut is strikingly similar to the MacMansion(the giant Scottish version) erected on one of Farmer C's plots just south of the Fishwick bypass. The image above of this Merse Monster illustrates what I mean. The pressures against building houses of that size (over 6,000 square feet)heated by fossil fuels, come from the environmental lobby, who claim that such monstrosities are 'climate change disasters' They appear to be primarily status symbols similar to SUVs (Sports Utility Vehicles or 4x4s-not unknown around Fishwick. To quote the article: 'they express a certain kind of success and they are fun' And as one commentator put it (almost quoting from the Building in the Countryside legislation in the Borders) ' Mansion building takes away from a person's sense of identity of a place' Certainly the Farmer C contribution to the beautification of Berwickshires rural countryside will say something about its purchaser (if less about the countryside around it):

'I've Arrived'

(and I came by Rangerover

and my wife is following in one of the Landcruisers)

No doubt the developers will say this is the sort of thrusting wealthy successful incomer we need to regenerate this geriatrically infested sleepy corner of rural nowhere. Good for Berwickshire? How? The jury is out.

But good for the Planet?

You be judge of that

The other modest pad is a McMansion retailing at a snip : $5.2 Million (Thankyou Google images)

Labels: Farmer C, Fishwick Bypass, Merse

  ¶ 4:45 PM (3) comments

 





The Road to Fishwick Pier

Well, Church, actually. Fishwick Church is part of Hutton Parish but has long since fallen into disuse. Not marked on any map and the wife and I failed to find it although we did see (we think)the ruins in the distance on a rise above the Tweed But when we tried to approach it from the world famous commercial enterprise of Tweed Hill fisheries it eluded us. The Fisheries Car Park was full-one of those 4wds which so terrorises the Fishwick Road and ours. And it was good to see a Farmer C mansion-in the terms of the Building in the Countryside legislation lending such a 'sense of place' to Berwickshire, or should that be Berkshire? We also survived the notorious Dangerous Corner with its easily see through plastic fencing-narrowly missing meeting a car on the corner-and for the record we have to admit that in the course of an hour we saw one other moving vehicle and a tractor about to set off to join the traffic hell of a Merse weekend.

All worth it for the amazing views of the Tweed. Pity about Fishwick church-I think it is in one of the landscape images -magnify and you might be lucky. But if any bloggee can advise on how to reach it on foot (or even by car) we would be most grateful.

Labels: Fishing, Fishwick Bypass, Merse

  ¶ 9:10 PM (6) comments

  Sackcloth.No ashes.

Paxton's a fine snug place, Robin Adair;
It's a wondrous couthie place, Robin Adair;
Let Whitadder rin a spate
or the wind blaw at ony rate,
Yet I'll meet thee on the gait Robin Adair

runs the 1730 version of the traditional air which is all about Paxton and the promise of 'hae a night o'glee' -presumably in one of the many local taverns which preceded The Cross Inn.

According to the Rev David Leslie who was Minister of the Parish and lived in the (now Old) Manse for 60 years both Paxton and Hutton were large villages in earlier times and rather dangerous ones as they were 'always in the eye of raiding hordes' -Reivers or invading English armies. That their size is much reduced since those halycon days may have something to do with the fact that in 1482 the Duke of Gloucester burned Edrington, Paxton and Hutton. 15 years later after James IV failed to capture Norham the Earl of Surrey destroyed Hutton Castle no doubt inflicting collateral damage on the two villages as well. In 1542 the Duke of Norfolk demolished Paxton once again causing considerable problems for the Paxton family who owned land on both sides of the Border subsequently much reduced in acreage by successive episodes of being on the wrong side of the argument at the wrong time. That family by the time of the Union had lost their eponymous patrimony and had only a few acres in Auchencrow to their name. A later member of the family Sir Joseph Paxton, no longer with any local building ambitions-not even Knowe's Close, designed the Crystal Palace-not too lucky with that as well.

Paxtonians were the backbone of the local Tweed fishing:

The best fish in the Tweed, Robin Adair,
shall be thy weelwar'd meed, Robin Adair

But if he did not fancy fish;


And welcome you shall be Robin Adair
To everything that you see
Thou shalt carve the Goose for me
and o'our roast pig you shall prie, Robin Adair

Its worth noting that even in those days Fishwick (fish village) was a troublesome spot long before a bypass was thought necessary. In 1649 10 local fishermen had to appear as penitents, dressed in sackcloth, at Hutton (literaly Wood-town) Church for fishing on Sunday: 'By fishing after the sun rising in the morning and before the sun set at night'

That is still an offence today. Punishable by a fine. On par with trying to buy alchohol at the Co-op before 1pm.

But

Sackcloth optional.

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Hutton, Lord Paxton

  ¶ 9:42 AM (0) comments

  FISHWICK AT THE FRINGE

Huttonian is giving some publicity to one of the more unusual events of the Embra Festival: I would hope that some of our local Councillors and especially Big Jim Conundrum gets a ring side seat to learn something about how planning should work, although in his case, and in ours, much of the damage has been done.

Planning Aid takes centre stage
An award-winning national charity that provides free independent planning advice is set to take to the Edinburgh Fringe stage as it brings planning to the people through its innovative workshop, ‘ Planning to Act’.
Planning Aid for Scotland provides free professional advice, support and training on planning and environmental issues to individuals and communities looking to engage in the planning system. Its first appearance at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe this year with its ‘Planning to Act’ workshop aims to bring the planning system into the lives of people through performance and visual art using a range of creative media.
The tailored workshop builds on Planning Aid for Scotland’s extensive work on community engagement in the planning process, allowing those who do not engage in any form of consultation a different means to express their views and opinions. The first workshop held at the Lot in Edinburgh in November 2006 produced very positive feedback and saw 20 people from a variety of backgrounds take part.
The workshop uses a mix of discussion, creative problem solving, hands on participatory drama and visual art to look at some of the core issues around the planning process, raising awareness and helping get people more involved.
The role of Planning Aid for Scotland, and the need for greater community engagement through workshops such as ‘Planning to Act’, has become even more critical with the passing of the Planning (Scotland) Act and the legal requirement for pre-consultation with communities for some developments.
Commenting on the event Petra Biberbach, Executive Director of Planning Aid for Scotland, said:
“We are delighted to be treading the boards at this year’s Festival Fringe for the first time. Planning is an issue that has a huge effect on the lives of individuals and communities and should matter to us all. Our workshop aims to bring planning to the people in an exciting and creative manner, and with the passing of the Planning Act there has never been a better time for us to demonstrate initiatives that reflect our understanding that different audiences requires different approaches if they are to have a true voice in the planning system”


Performances take place:
August 8-10; 15-17; 22-24; 29-31: 10.30 (2 hours) or 14:00 (2 hours)
Performances are free but places need to be booked in advance.
The venue is the offices of Planning Aid for Scotland, 11A South Charlotte Street, Edinburgh EH2 4AS, Tel: 0131 220 9730. Further information is available on page 122 of the Fringe Programme or at: www.edfringe.com
Notes to Editors
Planning Aid for Scotland works with people to shape Scotland's future, providing support and information when it is needed.
• Planning Aid for Scotland is a unique award-winning national charity that provides free independent advice, information, support and training to people looking to participate in the planning system.
• Established in 1993 it is a volunteer-led organisation, with 145 volunteer town planners who assist and provide advice to members of the public on all matters relating to the planning system across Scotland.
The role of Planning Aid for Scotland is to:
• Ensure that everyone has access to the planning system
• Provide knowledge and information to all people
• Help people to understand how the planning system works
• Enable all people to play their part
Further information is available at www.planningaidscotland.org.uk or call Petra Biberbach on 0131 220 9733. To book a place please call 0131 220 9730

Participatory Drama may include the re-enactment of an episode from real life which brought together people in a creative manner-the dramatic story of the FISHWICK BLACK SPOT (subtitled ' Demonstrating Initiatives and Pissing off the rest of us') and one struggling farmer's noble mission to solve it. Come along to cheer or hiss and boo as the fancy takes you. And you can learn in a vivid way how the passing of the Planning Act has opened up such attractive prospects for


The Developers

Labels: Embra, Fishwick Bypass

  ¶ 12:43 PM (0) comments

  An occasional bloggee has asked :

This radio show:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio2/comedy/daymusicdied.shtml

briefly mentions (and plays) "Don't Drink and Drive" by the Hutton
School Choir. Is it the same Hutton?

if so it must be from away back as Hutton School closed some time ago.

Hutton Think Tank (Music, drink driving and miscellaneous queries section) are investigating.

Its not really relevant to our dear Hutton. Pub has been closed these last 40 years and more. And there are very few cars. But they may of course had Fishwick in mind

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Hutton, Hutton Think Tank

  ¶ 6:37 PM (0) comments

  FISHWICK BYPASS.
Growing anticipation?

Lovers of building sites are wondering where they can get season tickets for the roadworks of the year: the recently approved Fishwick Bypass. Now that Farmer N has the go ahead for this stretch of public road to relieve the pressure on Nightmare Bend-aka the dangerous corner on the existing road, so dreaded by the hordes of Bebarboured fishermen risking life and limb in their armour plated 4x4s in persuit of salmon at Fishwick Road's End. Soon to be the site, so it is rumoured of a luxury 5* equestrian/fishing lodge provisionally named 'Close Encounter'

Roadees may have a bit of a wait. Cognoscenti of this planning saga will recall that Farmer N can hardly be expected to build the new N1 which he has generously underetaken to finance until he do so from the sale of the 6 building plots with outline planning permission residing some where in his agent's top drawer. And when the gleaming new mansions are up can we then expect to enjoy the security of the old Fishwick Road by then serving only the little hamlet whilst the fishing folk, the tractors, the pantechnicons, the juggernauts, the randy Bulls hurtle down the bypass with only the dead elms to terrorise?

Or is there just a small, remote, barely possible, chance that Farmer N,profits firmly pocketed, may just have a change of heart?

Bypass? Dangerous Corner? Pull the other one. Lots more dangerous roads in the Borders. Irresponsible to encourage more vehicles in such a quiet corner of the countryside.Global warming etc etc.

Watch this space.

Make sure you are sitting comfortably

Labels: Fishwick Bypass, Planning

  ¶ 9:50 PM (0) comments

  A spokesperson For Farmer C Developments has commented as follows

Good Morning, Sir. I was recently reading your blog, and I thought...
Fishwick Bypass Toll
It is with great regret that we have to announce a toll on the forthcoming Fishwick Bypass. This is as a result of the severe congestion at Tweedhill Fisheries caused by rubbber-neckers - aka sight-seers - attempting to turn their vehicles around on a narrow country road with no legal access to the numerous turning circles associated with the incumbent residential properties. It is unfortunate that large numbers of the local population have been, as one, inspired to venture down the narrow road, with its dangerous corner [shortly to be by-passed] to view either the corner itself or possibly the house currently under construction, by widespread coverage on the internet. It is to be hoped that this enthusiastic curiosity will abate; otherwise dual-ing will have to be seriously considered. The raising of the speed limit to 70 mph would thereby make the by-pass even more essential, though it is questionable whether the manning of a double set of toll-booths could really be economically justified.

Its very good to be able, quite literally, to laugh all the way to the bank.

Labels: Farmer C, Fishwick Bypass

  ¶ 9:10 AM (0) comments