You may have read my article about Seven Dials in the last edition, and now I write about Brighton station: our hub of survival; a lifeline for our commute; and a place that reminds us of home as we return from the Big Smoke.

The wizard of Seven Dials has returned, this time to lay a tree-lined double pavement in Surrey Street leading to the station. The crew arrived to build it, and did a near perfect job, I must say. Polite and fun, I almost miss them. Now for the detail: the kerb is too high for a car to stop with two wheels on it, and since there is now only one lane because of the double pavement, you can’t stop to deliver shopping or drop off children and dogs, or wait to pick up a loved one from the train. Any single car that tries to stop now blocks one of only two roads that lead to Brighton mainline station front entrance. At least there isn’t a bus stop at the end as there is at Seven Dials. Oops! Oh no! Wait, there is.

I try to take a positive view, as our wizard seems to be making ‘better places’ with the only disadvantage being for cars. Roads are like a city’s arteries and this one is now constricted and choking. However, let’s choose to be on the wizard’s side seeing that he or she is set on making Brighton station a place that welcomes us home with sparkling pavements and lush trees.
So, in conclusion, drop the lip on the new Surrey Street pavement so the locals can still drop their kids and dogs off, make the trees fabulous and let’s wait with bated breath and shiny spectacles for the next taxpayer spend and recognise the wizard is learning…slowly, but surely learning.
Ajit Chambers