Dartmouth Park Restoration - VIII

Well, another 3 weeks on since my last offering, and still the 'Sandwell concrete step' saga meanders on.

By last time, the missing bits of the railing had turned up, and the whole 'construction' stood, forlornly, looking, from a distance, for all the world like scaffolding, as though the thing wasn't finished.

Perish the thought.

But Lo!

Along came a man and painted it. Or, actually, along came a man several times and painted it, or maybe he just missed a few places the first, and second, times.

Now, the railings proudly surmount the concrete steps, splendid in their Public Lavatory High Gloss Green, a tribute to all who have so diligently designed; planned and toiled these many long months in the furtherance of excellence.

Wasn't it someone in Sandwell, or maybe it was Chartwell, who said 'Never in the field of human endeavour has so much time and money been spent, by so many, achieving so little,' - or something like that.

And it isn't over yet.

The architectural inspiration continues to pour forth.

Something is happening on the lefthand side of the concrete steps, just where the elegant stone stairway graced the incline before the Sandwellian intelligentia tore it down.

Great piles of soil have appeared.

Now one of two things is happening here. Either some dipstick of a driver missed what used to be a sunken bowling green in Dartmouth Park until the Restoration brigade converted it to a landfill site, or Sandwell have realised their folly in destroying the stone stairway and have decided, in an attempt to make amends, to give it a decent burial.

We shall have to wait to see what transpires.

Incidentally, and off topic, Sandwell have put up a huge sign on the side of the building which is close to the newly laid out tennis courts/5-a-side football pitch.

It procalims 'The home of Football' - then in somewhat smaller letters - 'Here in Sandwell.'

Doesn't this just prove my often made point, if any further proof were needed, that Sandwell lives in its own little bubble - devoid from reality. Worse still, this sign shows that staff within the MBC live inside their own bubbles, collectively making a sort of heady froth.

How could anyone think that a part-time 5-a-side football pitch and the adjacent King George's football pitches could possibly constitute the home of anything, let alone the national sport.

And, just as a detail, hasn't anyone told the people who thought up this sign, and the other people who approved its production and display, that 1 mile from where the sign is affixed, is a place which stands a slightly better chance of claiming to be the home of football in Sandwell.

It's the football stadium of West Bromwich Albion, Premier Division Football Club.

Dartmouth Park Restoration - VII

I must apologise for not having kept up to date with my blog postings, but life has been rather hectic recently.

Those of you who have been waiting with bated breath for news of the splendid new concrete steps which Sandwell have been constructing for the last 10 months, with the help of the National Lottery, need wait no longer.

The great news is that they are, almost, finished.

And the even greater news is that the handrails, which for so long didn't seem to feature at all in the design, have at last made an entrance. And to be fair to Sandwell, they appeared, one sunny day, about 3 weeks ago.

Actually, it is more accurate to say that most of them appeared about 3 weeks ago.

For some reason, the top section on one side wasn't installed then.

It looked like another metaphor for Sandwell MBC, ie something which appeared not to be quite all there, and badly in need of finishing off.

But Halleluja!! Last week the missing bits turned up and are now in place.

Of course, the concrete steps are still not open to the public. There's probably going to be a Grand Opening by the Mayor, like the one Sandwell had in March to celebrate the opening of the Main Avenue and Drinking Fountain. If you're lucky, there might be a jazz band as well, and refreshments - just like last time.

But then again, you might have to wait a while yet.

Last November, when I was commenting on the incredibly slow progress of the destruction of the stone stairway and construction of the concrete steps, I, somewhat tongue in cheek, said that at the then rate of progress it could be this March before it was finished. I added, even more tongue in cheek, that allowing for the Winter months, it could be August before Sandwell lumbered to some sort of a concluion.

Well, dear readers, March started just over 3 months ago, and August starts in a little under 2!!!!!!!!

You can write the next bit yourselves!