Bohemia Village Voice

Vivienne Bond and John Humphries in Horntye Road as part of the BAA membership drive. Centre is resident Mrs Sturdy.

Residents of Horntye Road have been making their voices heard. Bohemia Area Association’s Vivienne Bond and John Humphries were made aware of the issues on the doorstep whilst canvassing for membership subscriptions yesterday.

PARKING

By far the commonest concern was the problem of parking, which is worst when parents come to drop off and collect their kids from St Paul’s School. One mum, is apparently so keen not to be late, that she arrives at about 2pm and sits doing her knitting until pick-up time. The sheer volume of cars in and around the area at these times means it’s almost impossible for residents to find anywhere to park.  Teachers’ cars were blamed for exacerbating the parking problems and it was suggested that St Paul’s School should provide more space for its staff. More than one person mentioned the enterprising activities of a Horntye Road lady who keeps her own set of traffic cones in her front garden and pops out to claim her bit of road space as soon as hubby goes off to work. The problem of double parking is far from unknown – even at 2 o’clock in the morning.

RUBBISH

The perennial problem of rubbish dumping was mentioned by several residents. Examples given included a fridge left in the footpath which runs behind numbers 1 to 5 Horntye Road; a burnt-out mattress left in Briscowe’s Walk; drug needles left in the same Walk. Other subjects raised were the possibility of opening Horntye Fields in the evening for kids to use – which might divert some energy. Another complaint was of youngsters getting up to petty mischief – throwing eggs at a front door was mentioned.

     oBy the way, the statistics for the BAA membership drive (so far) in Horntye Road are as follows: Total occupied houses: 43. Total houses where at least one person has joined: 28 (65%). Total membership fees collected: £37. Total unoccupied houses: 2. Houses where no-one wants to join the BAA: 2 (5%). Houses where no-one has answered the door or are not in: 13 (30%) – we’ll be calling back. 

Paul Elmes writes (Jul 2006)

[“More than one person mentioned the enterprising activities of a Horntye Road lady who keeps her own set of traffic cones in her front garden and pops out to claim her bit of road space as soon as hubby goes off to work” – Bohemia Village Voice 23]

The correct spelling  is ILLEGAL –  and not ‘enterprising’ as she does not own the Queen’s highways and byways. The FBI and the MET and M.I.5.  will all be on to her now you’ve blown her little secret. Spies will be everywhere down Horntye looking for those cones,  tut, tut. Paul Elmes, St Leonards.

Nick Browne writes (Jul 2006)

PS. Your mention of the lady placing cones outside her house [Bohemia Village Voice 23] reminds me of a family I once knew 20 years ago in Watford, who went one stage further.  They only ever swapped over their 2 cars, never removed both at the same time. To my huge delight, I once arrived in that split-second when they were maneuvering, and nipped into their space. Im sure theyre still talking about it. Nick Browne, New York.