The Boys & The Black Stuff

We have had a good rain over the last couple of days. Rain means potholes.
Potholing, or Pavement Repairs, to be flash, can be hard work.
Shovelling a couple of tonnes of Pavelay, which has the consistency of sticky toffee, means you get home stuffed.
When the weather is good, and the road behaving itself, a pothole run can be a doddle. A gentle cruise to a small hole, a repair and a chat.
After heavy rain, we get craters. Some areas we put wheelbarrow loads of black gooey stuff in.
It is very heavy, 2.2 tonnes to the cubic metre to be precise. Most we shovel off the back of the truck, if it's quiet we can just use a trailer, or a couple of bins.
Drivers have an aversion to Pavelay. They will run you over rather than drive through a freshly repaired pothole, yet slow moving traffic makes a great roller.
The truckies know what we are up to and will line up a repair and roll it for us, some are brilliant at it. Yet the average car driver will risk death by driving on the wrong side of the road rather than risk getting Pavelay on their car. Something that is unlikely. It is not like tar.
So rain means a stuffed Oldfart. The weather forecast isn't that flash either....
Duval Eliot , The Road Worker, 1938 (charcoal)