I spent yesterday clambering over the broken stiles of East Sussex yesterday. Which is fine, I can clamber, and pretty much expected. Then we got to the last bit of our walk just outside Uckfield. A big 'footpath closed' sign. Apparently the staircase by the train track crossing was in a bad way. But it was getting dark and past beer o'clock so what the hell, we've clambered this far, let's ignore the notice.
Glad we did. The footpath was closed because of one slightly broken step. A man with a replacement bit of wood and a few tools could have fixed it in 30 minutes. Instead, it's taken both East Sussex CC and National Rail all the effort (and cost) of getting a closure in place (one with no defined end point). Bejeebus, I've just clambered over 30 km of broken stiles, I'm not likely to come a cropper on one slightly sloping step.