Roads are in a terrible condition

TWENTY-one years ago, when we first bought a house in France for our retirement, we were incredibly impressed with the wonderful roads and the impeccable yearly maintenance. This was at odds with the ridiculously small amounts demanded in local and national taxes.

Then came the crunch. Taxes went up, but routine road maintenance seemed to come to a halt. Our lovely village has suffered renewal of electricity, water supply and drainage, and each time they dug up the roads they simply threw a bit of gravel in the holes and called it repaired.

You would think that a budget for road repair would have been foreseen from the start. After a winter of continual frost and thaw, snow and thaw, and back to frost again, followed by a year of digging up and patching, our local road network is in an appalling state.

Vivienne BLAKE
Cérisy-la-Salle (Manche)