60 mph is too Much
A report published by ‘Brake’ the road safety charity and the insurer Direct Line suggest that 60 mph is too much on rural roads where there are blind bends, animals in the road, lack of width for vehicles to pass and slow moving traffic. They go onto to say that more than a third of the 1000 drivers surveyed stated that they had had a near miss on a rural road.
Brake had called for a reduction in speed limits to 50 mph previously but in this new report it does not specify a suggested limit. The report suggested that the Government should review the speed limit on single carriageway country roads with a view to introducing a reduction. The Department of Transport also said last year that 60 mph was too fast for this type of road.
Research indicates that a 10% increase in the average speed of road is associated with a 30% rise in fatal and serious crashes.
Fines for Idling Vehicles
The Government are proposing the issue of instant fines to drivers who leave cars idling. Currently a driver can be fined after ignoring a warning and continues to allow their engine to idle for 1 minute. I have done this in the past but now my car has an annoying, but less polluting, facility of switching off if I stop. Does this reduce waste and pollution? I cannot find any data.
Foreign Electricity Reaches a new High
A new undersea power line has allowed the Country to increase its foreign power imports to 10% of its needs. This cable links Kent with Zebrugge in Belgium. I am surprised that we have the ability to import so much electricity but provided it is imported from countries that have the same move to renewables that we have then I dont think it is an issue.
The Sorrel Defibrillator
Chatting with a couple of villagers the subject of defibrillation came up and the site of the facility in the village. Apparently each minute a cardiac arrested person is not defibrillated their chance of survival goes down by 10%. The defib requires you to call 999 to get the code to open the defib box and then you need to stay on the line. The problem is that few of us can get a phone signal. The pub does close so use of the facility will be a bit of an issue when the pub is closed. Is this a problem?
A url on the use of the machine is below.
https://www.google.com/search?q=using+a+defibrillator&oq=using+a+def&aqs=chrome.1.69i57j0l5.7499j0j8&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=1Who was in the Sorrel Horse
In a previous blog post we reported on the two drinking establishments which existed in the village in about 1850. The Sorrel Horse was run by a lady called Susan Manthorp or Manthorf depending on what documents you look at. There are a lot of errors in the digitisation of the paper records.
This lady appears to have been a widow in 1851 on the census at that date. She was born in Eyke in about 1793. On the 1841 census she is shown as living with her husband Samuel and 7 children. It may be 6 the record is not very clear. Samuel was shown as a Publican. By the time of the 1851 census it appears that Samuel had died and Susan was shown on the record as Innkeeper with 6 children.
In the 1861 census she was still just shown as Innkeeper with one child of 20 at home. I can see that a lady with the same name passed in 1863 in Woodbridge which I think must be her. I can see one of her children living in Shottisham in the 1861 census. He was William who was living with his wife Jane and one child Susan C. By 1869 he was shown in the Post Office directory as publican of the Sorrel. He unfortunately died that year and his Wife Jane was shown as Innkeeper of the Sorrel Horse in the 1871 census. In 1881 on the census at that time shows her as married to James Smith and he was shown as Innkeeper of the Sorrel. In the 1891 census they are still shown as in the Sorrel. William is interred in St Margaret’s Churchyard.
Shottisham Blog 