Those who read the rest of the Watford Observer once they’ve calmed down from the excitement of the Nostalgia pages, may remember reading in last week’s paper Mike Wright’s excellent comment piece on the lunacy of Hertfordshire County Council officers wasting our Council Tax money painting unnecessary yellow lines all over Watford Business Park. [If not, you can catch up HERE].

Well, it seems that such highways idiocy is not exclusive to modern times.

The Watford Observer of June 6, 1925, published the following letter from a correspondent who signed himself, or herself, simply “62”. It’s headed Road Tarring and I reproduce it here in full.

“Sir, — As a resident in Hempstead Road and incidentally a ratepayer, I send the following.

“On Saturday morning, a notice was put into my letterbox which read as follows: ‘Road Tarring. This road will be tarred tomorrow (weather permitting). Please keep your windows and doors closed while the road is being swept in the early morning.’

“Though wondering why it should be done on Whit Sunday, when the holiday motor traffic was certain to be abnormal, the request was complied with.

“Nothing happened on either Sunday or Monday, but on Tuesday about 7am, a motor lorry came along and men deposited nice little heaps of small stones on the footpath.

“Shortly after 8am, two tar boilers with fires lit, passed the house and I though the tarring will certainly be done today.

“Shortly after this, men swept the road and the debris was carted away on a tumbril [small two-wheeled cart].

“By 10am, a motor lorry came along and men carefully gathered the nice little heaps of small stones and put them back on the lorry, sweeping the paths and leaving everything nice and tidy.

“Tuesday is one of the days in which the road is swept in the ordinary routine. Sure enough, the man came along between 11 and 12 and did his work as usual.

“If this sort of thing goes on all over the borough, no wonder the rates are going up.

“Meanwhile, we are wondering when the road will be tarred and whether we shall receive due notice. Yours, ‘62.’”

Frustrating though this must have been, I wonder how “62” would feel to know that 89 years later, we’re still subject to the same old wasteful nonsense.

ONLINE TOMORROW: Watford observed - some stories from Junes past