Travel with Angela Lansbury: The Reason For Potholes In Britain & Worldwide

Sunday, September 28, 2025

The Reason For Potholes In Britain & Worldwide

Now I know why we have potholes.

1A new type of road surface constructions introduced a couple of decades back.

2 The new product not adhering to specifications and insufficient quality control (checking it was done right).

3 Lack of money allocated for maintanance, so we fixed holes instead of resurfacing the road as part of regular maintenance which should be done (about every five years, if I remember rightly. Maybe big motorwars, get more usage or were built at different times.

You can report potholes to your local council in Britain. Or write to your MP complaining.

Pothole Filling, Art, Humour

On a lighter note, a man in the UK has filled potholes.

Another has planted flowers to alert people to avoid them and draw the council's attention humorously. Others have drawn animal faces with mouths, or other humorous pictures.

Wikipedia had the story about Seinfeld TV series had an episode in which keys were lost, and found dropped into a pothole. The pothole was filled in and when you drove over it a tune played. Link in Wikipedia.

From my previous posts, whilst hunting for pothold pictures, I found this

USA
Chicago - mosaics in potholes - made by Jim Bachor, mosaic artist. Every year he has a new theme, such as ice cream of flowers, something attractive. He encourages publicity by leaving a goody bag for/from the Best Neighbour with instructions on how to post links to his artwork.

What to see in Chicago:
The C l o u d Gate in Millennium Park. (Spaces inserted in text to defeat what I shall call the automatic "spell spoiler".)
Pothole Art by Jim Bachor 'The Pothole Guy': approx 45 sculptures, since 2013
Artwork by Jim Bachor at Chicago city's Thorndale Red Line "L" station.

USA Tips
Update - http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4459346/Child-killed-3-adults-injured-truck-hits-car-NYC.html
More information from:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcthree/item/0366e18c-09e6-4847-8afe-1e3977a9a81a?intc_type=singletheme&intc_location=bbcthree&intc_campaign=bbcthree&intc_linkname=article_mosaics_contentcard33
http://www.bachor.com/4600-north-kenton---map (where to see potholes he filled in Chicago)
http://www.bachor.com/pothole-installations-c1g1y (shows his mosaics in potholes)
http://www.bachor.com (shows his mosaics which are not in potholes)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Bachor (History including his commission 'Chicago Transit Authority that was installed in the city's Thorndale Red Line "L" station.'
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2656250/Talk-street-art-Chicago-artist-fills-citys-potholes-marks-one-beautiful-mosaic.html
http://chicagoist.com/2017/04/05/jim_bachor_pothole_art.php#photo-1
Jim Bachor is on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

UK Pothole
In the UK, in the city of Manchester in the north of England, potholes have been outlined by prankster nicknamed Wanksy (for any foreign language readers, this is a pun on the name of graffiti artist Banksy, combined with an insulting rude word). W a n k s y (spaces inserted in text to defeat 'spell spoiler' (Angela Lansbury's term, coined today, 26 April 2017) which prefers winks) has used graffiti to draw penises around potholes to draw attention to them. I'm a fairly prudish person in some ways, when it comes to what is said, done, and painted in public places, but I think, for once, this is 'hilarious' (as the Daily Mail likes to say).

UK Tips
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men/the-filter/11570595/Meet-the-man-using-penises-to-fill-potholes.html

Artistic or obscene? Amusing and practical? Both have their places in filling potholes.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.