Direct action gets satisfaction:)

Below is a quote we featured in our previous post. We don’t feature quotes just so we look like we know what needs doing. We feature them to act as a spur for us to take action ourselves when there’s either no point in appealing to the authorities to get things done, or it’s too much hassle and easier to take action ourselves.

Direct action involves taking action for ourselves, tackling a problem directly without appealing to any authority to act on our behalf. It involves finding solutions and bringing about desired changes through our own self-organised activity.

Here’s a case in point. We often walk along the road that runs down from Keynsham railway station and passes The Lock Keeper pub on its way to Willsbridge. On the west side of the road, there has been an issue with low overhanging tree branches and brambles making access along the pedestrian path difficult. It was getting to the point that people were having to step out into a busy main road to let others pass.

The problem with the overhanging and access along the pavement was on both sides of the Avon. The Avon forms the boundary between the local authorities of Bath & North East Somerset and, South Gloucestershire. To pursue the issue via official channels would have meant having to deal with two local authorities. As you can imagine, that’s a fair bit of hassle!

Yesterday (Sunday 22.6), we’d been working on the community vegetable plot in Keynsham Memorial Park. We decided we had done enough to merit a drink in the garden of The Lock Keeper pub. To get there, we had to negotiate the overhanging branches and rampant brambles impeding access along the pavement. As we sat in the pub garden enjoying a drink, we decided that this was something we could address ourselves.

We’d been gardening so, we had two pairs of secateurs in the bag. What is the point of having secateurs in the bag and then moaning about vegetation impeding access along the pavement we asked ourselves… So, we resolved to get out the work gloves (helpful in dealing with brambles) and the aforementioned secateurs and, on our way home, cut back as much of the overhanging tree branches and brambles as we could. Simple, direct, and a lot easier than having to deal with two local authorities.

It might not be much in the grand scheme of things but, the act of doing something about a situation ourselves rather than relying on officialdom is empowering.