So Ken Road has been resurfaced? cooked? barbecued?.

And yes it is KEN and not Kenn as some faceless #### civil servant decided. The original nameplate in blue enamel with white letters, erected on the orders of the Local Board of Health clearly stated that on the south wall of the Clevedon Engineering Company. 

However the thrill of watching mighty machinery has long gone. I can recall the days when the steam roller of the Clevedon Urban District Council using strong steel spikes at the rear used to rip up the old road surface. The shuddering and the jarring could be felt underfoot as we kids used to watch the work going on. We were encouraged to do this because - as long as we kept out of the way - the smell of the tar that was next sprayed was reckoned to be good for the health.

It certainly never killed any of us.

Then came the spreading of the grit that came to us  (via Barnstaple) on the "Bessie" a small boat that landed its cargo at Pill.

After a couple of weeks the road surface was good for roller skating again. Traffic? what traffic? cars were few and far between, all we had to bother with was not to upset the milkmen with their carts. 

I can recall that once in the foolish days of my youth I skated as far as the railway bridge at Yatton. We had little in those days but what we had, we did look after. Trouble today is that plastic breaks so easily

It seems to have formed an attitude in today's kids of "Here today gone tomorrow" and though it might be good for business it has started a throw away habit throughout the world.