True Grit

On the Newcastle University Campus, the Business School sits on a road that slopes uphill past St James Park.  Walking back from the city centre I passed a group of men and their gritting van spreading grit on the pavements.  I stopped to chat and asked how far up the road they were going and they assured me that they were gritting all the way to the Business School but no further because that is the West End and that is not their area.

I had walked down that hill earlier in the day when I walked from the Medical School, through Leazes Park.  The pavements were a skating rink and I almost fell. I chose to walk in the road rather than end up on my bum.

The pavements in Jesmond have gritting bins and around the schools residents and volunteers had spread grit on the pavements, on the pedestrian bridge over the metro line.

If a group of workers is gritting halfway up the hill couldn’t they also be given the discretion to go all the way up the hill? Alternately give residents access to grit. There would be a reason why a city council would choose to keep grit bins off the street corners but as an ordinary pavement user I struggle to work it out.  There are too many steps between the original decision and my glass ice pavement perspective.