Call to Order

I can't believe that I have actually attended a Town Council Meeting - in a foreign language!

One of our neighbours came and told me that there was a meeting on Wednesday at 8pm, to discuss the poor state of our road (or at least, that's what I thought)!

He wasn't able to contact Monica, but as I could get her on the internet, I offered to do this for him. All I knew, were the basic details, but I thought that she would find out more, if she needed to.

At 8pm, most of our neighbours were waiting patiently inside the Town Hall. Apparently, there were a series of meetings that evening, for each street that was badly maintained. When it was our turn, we went into the main room, where 2 councillors explained the situation. There were some 30 roads in need of repair, and not enough money to do them. Just like back in England.

Since our road had been tarmacced in the past, the council accepted responsibility for it, and acknowledged that they should pay for the repair. The cost would be just over 7,000€. The council were not prepared to pay this, as the rates received from the few houses in the street did not cover the costs. They would, however, pay half, if we would pay the other half.

Unfortunately, of the 10 plots of land on the lane, 2 of them belong to people with no houses on the plots (just scrubland) and 1 belongs to a very old couple, who have only visited the house once in 3 years. Needless to say, they have no intention of paying anything. There are only 3 houses fully occupied (including ours) and one of them does not want to pay. We are not prepared to pay over 2000€ for everyone else's benefit. Oh well - it could be another 2 years before anything happens!

In the meantime, Ed will simply go on filling in the pot-holes when necessary! (I must admit, we seem to have no through traffic any more!)