The case of the disappearing lamp posts!

[dave]

The council, in these austere times, have decided to replace all the fully-functioning, solid cast-iron, decorative street lamps in our street with cheap galvanized junk that are some 6 feet higher than the old ones. No doubt they are more energy efficient, easier to maintain etc etc.

At the moment we have pairs of lamp posts in place awaiting the digging up of the entire street to lay new power cables and the removal of the old lamp posts.

I asked the chaps who were installing the new ones whether it would be possible to buy one of the old posts for a garden ornament (yes I suppose these are not the people to ask - but anyway...). I was told "No - they are going to heritage site villages". Ha b***dy ha. So we have these neat lamps in our street now and they are going to be taken to some other place to show people what nice lamps they are.

Amazing. I wonder how many lampposts may be lost along the way - well they are very, very heavy :-)

[pete]

Phone your local council. Once you can get past the sheer laziness of employees who don't want to put themselves to any trouble, I'd expect it would just be a case of coming up with a price. Common sense says that a heritage village will be much smaller than the town you live in, so there are bound to be many going to scrap.

Apropos having them changed. This happened in my neighbourhood a few years ago. There was quite a prolonged period between the council removing the old lampposts and replacing them with new. Long: as in several months. While we're told they are all about safety and security, since they felt we didn't need street lighting over the whole winter, it kinda makes one wonder if that's all just whitewash?

[Dave Liquorice]

Can you find where this "heritage village" is? When I lived in Clifton, Bristol some of the old stone flagged pavements where removed and replaced with tarred sand (it wasn't proper tarmac). Allegedly the stone flags where moved from the pavements on the "ordinary" side of the Clifton suspension bridge to pavements on the "posh" side...

The FOI Act and carefully worded questions might be quite informative if you can get an straight answer via the normal channels.

[The Natural Philosopher]

No, its just sheer incompetence. And recieved wisdom.

Somewhere I saw a report that a council actually switched off its lights after 11pm. No rise in crime or accidents was reported. IIRC they are now considering switching them off entirely, and removing them.

Like so much other LeftWash, 'citzens must be protected' blah, you will find that somewhere its become accepted truth without ever being questioned that Citizens are safer if the lights are on, as they feel afraid of the dark, and are more likely to be mugged by people who cant see them, than by those who can, and cars will travel faster and take less care when they cant see a mile into the distance, than when they can.

And a committee of Safety In Our Streets gas been set up tasked with 'Making Our Streets Safe For Chill Drun,' and has, lacking any intelligence beyond a crude sense of self preservation, decided to spend money in doing something that can narrowly be justified as being within their remit, and costs a lot of money, so the fact of their salaries to 'oversee' it looks like a valuable small proportion of the total spend.

[dave]

Good ideas - will try a nice letter to someone at the "carnsil" and see if anything positive there first.

The two guys I asked were polite enough but kept glancing at each other - just as if I'd asked them something awful! Mind you I was covered in a selection of grease, oil and paint from working on the car and painting gates - looked like the creature from the black lagoon!

Will keep grp posted (huge groans all 'round :-) )

[Tim Streater]

Yes, please do. We need to keep on top of the jobsworths.

[Broadback]

I think street light are the pits. If you are lucky enough, or can visit an area where there are none look up into the sky on a clear night, and be enchanted!

[Rob]

Where they've been disturbed by parking or tress, ours have been replaced with concrete cast in-situ - despite being in a conservation area. Cost, apparently. Seems the council can work by whatever rules it likes.

Rob

[Corporal Jones]

Had ours replaced last September with LED ones. The originals in our area where quite pretty and unusual, OK the led ones do the job but it is now an extra expense for me. With the old ones they cast enough light into the house to find your way to the toilet during the night without having to put lights on, now we have to put the lights on and use leccy to aim correctly, With 3 men& 1 women in the house (the wife cleans the bathroom)we are soon told the error of our ways if we do not turn the light on. Actually I replaced the lights in the bathroom with these new fangled candles(CFL's) once they have gone I will replace them with real bulbs, they give out about as much light as I used to get from the glow of the old street lights!

[John]

Just sit down to pee. I've been doing it for years because of a bit of a problem but the germans are now running campaigns and actively trying to get men to sit down to pee. You'll not need the light on, you'll never miss and your wife will never complain again about a bad aim.

[Onetap]

It is a reservation where councillors live. Investigate your councillors' addresses.

The York stone flags relocation exercise happened around here years ago. Relocated to a conservation area (a reservation where Conservatives lived) minus those that were broken or went missing in Transit.

[Onetap]

I think street light are the pits. If you are lucky enough, or can visit an area where there are none look up into the sky on a clear night, and be enchanted!

Or go to a country where they have no street lights (or electrickery) and try to follow one of the residents at night. Night vision is a skill that most western countries have long abandoned.

[Harry Bloomfield]

dave wrote on 04/08/2010 :

You should have had some readies in hand, when you were asking :-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

Walking the dogs at night with no torch out in the woods and fields is definitely 'interesting'

[Dave Liquorice]

Too right. A clear, moonless, night up here is glorious. There are so many bright stars that I have trouble picking out the constellations from the "noise". The Milky Way is just there, a band of light arching right across the sky.

It's not that good ATM because the sun doesn't get far enough below the horizon during the summer for it to become truely dark, there is always a glow from the north.

electrickery)

He he, "interesting" as in what you walk into or fall over or "interesting" as in how well you can see by star light alone?

TBH it's rather disconcerting being outside when it is truely dark. Like on a thick cloudy night that blocks even moonlight. Can't see a thing dark, even after waiting 10 or 15 minutes for your night vision to really start working, you still can't see a thing dark.

[dave]

It's a free'ish country - think what you like.

Have to say that that comes over as a rather a patronizing comment as you don't know me in the least. I have seen and admired the night sky on many many occasions - having lived for years in areas with no steet lighting whatsoever, But you know what - not many suburbs are without lighting these days. In any case I would like this lampost for the quality the design and engineering and as a garden decoration - which in itself is a worthwhile thing imho.

[dave]

ha ha nice one Harry. In fact I did and was told "they would loose their job" - which is honest of them Either that or there were other more lucrative plans afoot... (cynical or what). I did genuinely (& stupidly), think they were just going to scrap the things. Maybe I've stumbled some kind of plot here :-)

[The Natural Philosopher]

it is amazing how little light you need to see a path, and how much your ears and nose tells you about what's around and where you are, in pitch darkness.

And how my LIFTING YIOYR FEET to diont trip eiyher.

The worst is the branch across te face.

That's when it REALLY gets interesting. Try bat type sonar. you cam 'hear' your way round major stuff.

Moonlight of course is more than enough to walk about in and is truly gorgeous to do so in.

Starlight is enough to see from the edges of your eyes, just not et cones area.

[David]

I spent several winters running up an old railway line which had been converted into a path. I took a torch, but most of the time I was OK without. Easily enough light once your eyes get accustomed. Very calming and relaxing. I can't say the same for the early morning dog walkers I met, who when it was raining saw a caped figure swooping towards them in the darkness. The impression created was often enhanced by my swearing loudly at the Today programme which I was listing to on headphones...

david

[Jim K]

wow - is that phonetically spelt local dialect?

IIRC rods at the edges

Jim K