Cavan always seems to steal the headlines when it comes to complaints about pot holes. Meath people have reason to know that their own case is quite as worthy of attention. A Saab driver broke a wheel recently and you couldn't be sure if that hole has been repaired. Drive on the wrong side of the road there anyway; that may just be a scattering of stones around the hole, rather than a full repair job. And could not those huge misnamed long vehicles (they are in fact, long, longer, longest, gigantic in some cases) be forced to take the main routes and not to thunder along secondary roads on their. way north, roads which can in no way bear the weight, and sometimes, the breadth.
You'd better stop, in some places, and go halfway up the hedge when a monster comes along.
Anyway, Cavan can't have all the grumbles. And this is the season of grumbles. The Meath Chronicle of February 3rd had huge coverage of the fact that Ashbourne is to get its long awaited water scheme, the work to start later this year. "We have had dirty brown water, damaged household appliances and at times no water supply," said one of the Water Action Committee.
And then there's the worry about the cattle TB. In the farming supplement that comes with the paper, Paddy Smith writes that "TB continues to rage in County Meath, with a massive 354 herds restricted at the beginning of January." And the headline tells us "Meath TB Crisis Is Steadily Worsening".
Not enough decent water, says one part of Ashbourne, but the residents of the Milltown Estate there were demanding action to prevent flooding in the estate, and to repair footpaths which, they claim, are in a "lethally dangerous" condition. Many householders, they say, have to walk through flooding to get to their front doors. Well, it's tough to be on Meath County Council: either too much or not enough.
No good news at all? It's probably healthy to grin and groan. Get rid of the lethargy of the post Christmas liverishness. Who, by the way, would be a farmer at this time of year? And you gardeners have lost quite a few plants through frost, and only the scattering of snowdrops to cheer you up. But on the roads of Meath, drive with extra care.