Hello and welcome to my website! A website which I hope to keep updated in a blog type format occasionally discussing current issues that are going on in the world and important to me…or at least topics on which I have my two shillings to share with the world.
It is 29th February 2012 which can only mean one thing, a leap year and today it is a leap day. Curious day for it is essentially the left over residue of time that has amounted from the prior 4 years. So today is all about maintaining the status quo and making sure that we are once again back in sync with the seasons and the Earth’s orbit. Since we have an extra day in the year I have decided to take this time and set up my own website and blog! If you are reading this right now then congratulations! You have successfully found this blog!! May I suggest you click the little clicky thing towards the bottom of the page and ensure that this blog is stalked? Oh go on!
Right, well, by way of an introduction who am I? I am a graduate law student living in the South East of England in a small, but surprisingly famous village called Hindhead. Why is it famous? I hear you mutter blankly to your LCD screen. Well…. It is famous in the surrounding area for a tunnel that has been successfully constructed last year. Prior to the tunnel traffic was BAD in the area, and no surprise too! The area is the main route serving London to Portsmouth and at Hindhead there was a junction with traffic lights which caused endless queues during rush hour.
When I was 16 and doing my GSCE Geography coursework I chose to undertake in producing a report over the A3 tunnel project. My duties involved measuring the decibel levels with the use of a Ghostbuster’s type device, taking surveys, counting cars passing and talking to local residents. To my amazement I spoke to some delightful elderly women in the Sue Ryder charity shop in the town of Grayshott who informed me that the A3 tunnel project was actually first mooted back in the 50s! And that the only reason it did not take off was due to the lower number of vehicles. The ends did not justify the means back then.
So year on year the project was delayed until we hit the age of Thatcherism and ultimately the Blair years and the number of vehicles significantly increased and we were stuck! Most people could now afford to own their own vehicle and we delighted to take it out for a spin in congestion. Right up until the mid 2000’s our local MP, Virginia Bottomley, was campaigning for the tunnel to be built and year after year there was a delay and it did not go through. Then in the 2005 elections Jeremy Hunt, the current Secretary of State for Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport assumed office and not long after this he managed to get the A3 tunnel project approved. I must admit my first thought was how Mrs Bottomley must have felt, all that hard work and then someone gets it approved and takes the limelight. Well luckily Mr Hunt was gentlemanly enough to share the achievement with her.
Now it’s 2012 and the tunnel has successfully transformed the area allowing all traffic to flow neatly underground. To date I am only aware of one time when the tunnel was shut and we were back in the dark ages with lorries, vans and cars helplessly taking to the country lanes and getting lost. It was only a matter of time before the tunnel would need to be shut and this was an inevitable result, why oh why did they shut the old A3 I will never know, but hey that’s another debate.
Also I should mention that in mid August last year I started working for a local law firm and to my great surprise I met a chap there who was very passionate about the A3 tunnel project, so much so that he started a blog about it, carefully documenting the updates and providing its readers with useful information, if you would like to check it out please go to http://a3tunnel.blogspot.com/. The blog was so popular that he even a guest on Jeremy Vine’s show on BBC Radio 2.
Right, so now I realise that in my attempt of introducing myself I have waffled on more about a dual carriageway A class road in south east England…what does that say about me? So yes, I am a graduate law student living in the south east of England. I have recently taken my first step into the career and I am currently working as a paralegal for a local law firm. I am surrounded by the beautiful Surrey hills and woodland and treasure this greenness and tranquillity every day. I enjoy a morning jog, frequent hikes and occasional bike rides through it. I am the proud owner of an AA book entitled 50 Walks in Surrey and I aim to get through it as soon as possible.
I should also mention that I am of Polish ethnicity (if you didn’t work that out from my surname) and I am fully bilingual. During my gap year at university I was really privileged to have studied for a year at Copenhagen University in Denmark, which undoubtedly changed my life. I really love that city! But perhaps not as much as Sydney in Australia. Ah yes! That banner you see so elegantly flying high above this page is a panoramic photo I took in 2010 from Harbour bridge of the Sydney opera house and its surroundings. Back in the early 90s when I was about 6 years old I was fortunate enough to go out there on holiday with my parents and it made such an impression on me that I remembered a surprising amount of it, so much so that I decided to go back and visit after finishing university. I can honestly say with no hesitation that Sydney is my favourite city!
Right I believe I have said what needed to be said when launching a blog (roads, tunnels, hiking and Sydney) so I will stop here, allow you take in all this useful information and then continually post updates when I have something curious to share with the world.
Best wishes!
Adam Leszczynski
adamleszczynski 