OUT IN THE FIELD: Pavement parking is no April Fool

We have had some fun here at the Herald offices over the years with April Fool prank stories. In recent years we have joked the Town Hall clock face was being replaced with a digital display, a landing strip would be built at Beachy Head and a statue celebrating the birth of the iconic frozen dessert Arctic Roll would be unveiled on the seafront. My own personal favourite was plans to replace the iconic Beachy head Lighthouse with a block of flats similar to South Cliff Tower and put a road between it and the cliff edge for residents to drive over. My how we laughed. So, you can imagine then that when we saw the photographs of the topsy turvy parking scheme in Ashford Road this week, we thought it was another April Fool, an early doors prank by someone with a sense of humour at County Hall who thought it hilarious to paint white spaces half on the pavement and half on the road. But it would appear this is no early April 1 joke and this method has been approved by the Department of Transport in order to maintain two lanes of traffic, accommodate the world's largest cycle path on the other side of the road and keep residents' parking spaces. That's all well and good but what about the damage to the pavement and the cars bumping up and down the curbs, not to mention disabled, partially sighted people, wheelchair users and people with buggies and prams who will all face something of a dangerous and precarious obstacle course when it's collection day for wheelie bins?

It looks like an April Fool's Day prank but the new parking arrangement is Department of Transport approved

Sometimes I wonder what planet the top brass at Southern Rail are on. Bus replacement services of a weekend are pretty commonplace these days and now the main route to and from London will be closed over Easter with journeys taking a minimum of two hours and a bus ride thrown in for good measure. All at a time when people might want to visit London during their bank holiday time off. Is it only commuters that matter?

The school holidays have already begun and if you’re looking for something to do on Easter Monday and haven’t eaten quite enough chocolate, there is an Easter Egg Hunt going on in Gildredge Park and Manor Gardens from 10am-12pm. Organised by the Friends of Manor Gardens & Gildredge Park and the lovely Mary Corran, this egg hunt is a quaint one, perfect for toddlers and younger kids. Bunny headquarters is at the Hermitage at the north-west top of the park, there’s eggs aplenty and it’s £1 to take part.

Finally this week, birthday greetings of the 40th variety to our colleague and Herald sports editor Derren Howard and congratulations to my Twitter friend @courtneyfables aka courtneytranstastic who won the Miss Transliving Golden Girl 2016 held at the Haddon Hall Hotel in Eastbourne recently. Courtneytranstastic is a transgender blogger, runner, liver bird, singer and accountant whose motto is you only live once but if you do it right, once is enough. I love it.

Happy Easter.

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