The Curious Case of the Self-Flipping Pothole

ALMOST A REPLICA OF A 'REPAIRED' POTHOLE

So, yes… not hiking related… but stick with me - we do need roads to get to the trails, unless we’ve all secretly committed to just walking everywhere.

I hike… but I also rant.

Frequently.

So… apologies - if you’re here for peaceful trail content… you’re also getting the rants.

It’s a package deal.

Anyway… I don’t know what your neighbourhood is like, but in mine, we need to find whoever is overseeing our road “repairs” and remove them from the decision-making process.

Immediately.

And possibly from tools.

Because WHAT is happening??

There must be a meeting - there has to be.

Some dim room with flickering fluorescent lights, someone says things like,

“Great job team — that tyre-eating crater from yesterday? Let’s just… flip it.”

Because how else do you explain the phenomenon?

One day you’re inching past what looks like tectonic activity in the middle of the road. You slow down, grip the wheel, mentally prepare for financial consequences.

Next day? “Fixed.”

Except it isn’t.

It’s risen.

It has ambitions now.

It is now above ground.

Where there was previously a crater threatening your alignment, there is an uneven mound of tar.

No markings, no warning - just a quiet sense of inevitability.

You approach cautiously, hopeful even. “Ah,” you think, “progress.” And then your car launches slightly into the air, and you realize - no.

This is not progress.

Nothing has been resolved.

The hole has not been removed - It has simply been inverted.

At this point, I can only assume we’re not dealing with road maintenance, but some kind of experimental physics.

Perhaps it’s a study.

Perhaps it’s art.

Perhaps the roads are trying to teach us resilience.

Or perhaps - and this feels most likely - someone, somewhere, genuinely believes this counts as fixing the problem.

Either way, note to bloody self - drive as though the road is an obstacle course, and trust nothing - especially anything that appears to have been recently repaired.

And don’t even get me started on the highways - perfectly functional sections, repaired for reasons unknown, only to emerge in worse condition than before and now in need of further repairs to correct the repairs that were not needed in the first place.

It’s no longer maintenance… it’s a long-term commitment with absolutely no exit strategy.