Bridge Street

Twice a year I have the pleasure of renting the fishing punt at the Bridge Pool just opposite the Kings. Last year I had the bonus of being there whilst Bridge Street was closed for the bridge repairs. It was absolute heaven, quiet, serene, picturesque and totally Christchurch if you get my drift. This year my mate and I were equally pleased to be there but had to endure the thunder of the traffic especially the diesel buses that hurtle over that bridge at an unholy speed creating an equally unholy racket, no wonder the surface is breaking up, the resultant impact force must be enormous. On more than one occasion two double Decker buses followed one another; I counted no more than four passengers on both of them! To our amazement a single Decker was within metres again with very few passengers. Bridge Street at some time in the past must have been the most delightful place to live, stroll along with its eclectic architecture all seeped in history. The closest we can get to that is on Mondays when the buses take the diversion to avoid our market day; my point is why cannot we have this every day of the week? The normal traffic is bad enough but the addition of the buses is a step too far. Just in case you are wondering we caught loads of fish but none of the targeted species and we both got very wet!