"There was I, guarding this hole" Whilst returning home from the village, I was stopped and asked if I had seen the hole in St Clairs Road.

Being a dutiful councillors wife and used to getting messages for my husband I agreed to report it, but before doing so I thought I ought to check it.

There it was at the junction of Clacton Road. It was no more than 6 inches diameter but it was so deep that I could not see the bottom of it. I dashed home to report it to the Parish Clerk and with thoughts of the car sitting in the hole in Norwich which I had seen on TV earlier in the week, I reced back to guard the hole. Shortly afterwards Roger Squirrell arrived to inform us that ECC Highways contractors were on their way. After about half an hour diverting all the traffic including an ambulance, away from the hole the conractors arrived with two buckets of cement "to fill in the pothole". Realising that this was totally insufficient, a rethink was necessary. Our white garden chair was brought ceremoniously down St Clairs Road to cover the hole. Soon after a police car arrived to find out why this "mad woman" was sitting on a bench seat in the middle of the road! On realising the seriousness of the situation, the highways contractor was dispatched to collect road closure signs and meanwhile the police assumed the role of "hole guardians" until the signs were erected.

It was found by Anglian Water, that the hole was over 7 feet deep and spread over an area 10 feet by 12 feet. The void had been caused by a faulty junction pit in the storm water system. Over the years, the water had swirled around and eroded the subsoil leaving this chamber under the lean mix of and tarmac that formed the road surface.

Several days and many cups of tea later, only new tarmac marks the spot. S.L.W.