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Here we go again – have you seen all the potholes that have popped up all over the place? Actually, to be more accurate, they’ve sort of popped down all over the place. We had this same vexing problem last winter when the so-called “Atmospheric River” and “Polar Vortex” – two nasty fellas, the first one out of tropics, the other out of the Arctic region – attacked our mountaintop communities.

The recent series of seemingly unending rain and snowstorms has gifted us with a fresh crop of…you guessed it…potholes. These bumpy, bone-jarring, wheel-bending, tire-flattening, axle-busting, accident-causing menaces must be dealt with quickly. Otherwise, all those menacing aberrations I just mentioned will continue, unabated. These abominable holes where the rain gets in must be fixed right now or my mind will just keep wandering.

I’m fixing a hole where the rain gets in and stops my mind from wandering where it will go. I’m filling the cracks that ran through the door and kept my mind from wandering where it will go.  (“Fixing A Hole” – The Beatles – 1967)

Not sure where Lennon and McCartney were going with that one, but it was the only good song about holes that I could dig up.

One such menacing hole is located in the upbound lane of Highway 138, just past Waters Drive. Other horrendous holes can be found all along Lake Drive, on Highway 173 between Highway 18 and Lake Arrowhead Village and on most freeways and streets down the hill.

Not only can they cause serious damage to your vehicle, but they can also result in serious injury or even worse…a visit from the Grim Reaper, when your car is thrown off its course after falling into a hole and suddenly slamming into a tree or another vehicle or a pedestrian or goes flying over the side of the mountain.

Another deadly scenario could occur when a driver avoids a pothole by swerving around it and collides with a tree, or another vehicle, or a pedestrian or…well, you get the picture.

By the way, according to the CHP, it’s illegal to swerve over the painted centerline on any California road or highway. It’s a citable offense, not to mention that you are liable if you cause an accident or injury by doing so. So please don’t do that. It’s better to swerve to the right of the pothole or any other obstruction in the roadway, as long as it’s safe to do so.

Unfortunately, I haven’t seen any pothole crews around here lately. Perhaps some of you folks could call and remind them to fill all the holes. Not even sure how many holes there are.

I read the news today, oh boy, four thousand holes in Blackburn, Lancashire, and though the holes were rather small, they had to count them all. Now they know how many holes it takes to fill Albert Hall, I’d love to turn you on. (“A Day In The Life” – The Beatles – 1967)

Keep it flyin’,

Uncle Mott

Editor’s note: We contacted Brendan Biggs, director of the county Public Works department, about the potholes. Here is his reply: We are aware that potholes have formed after the storms. Typically, potholes are repaired in the warmer months of the spring when we reach paving temperatures. We are planning to address critical ones that are in the driving lanes and are large with cold mix as soon as we catch a break in the weather. Also, Lake Drive is scheduled for a maintenance resurfacing this summer. We encourage the public to use SeeClickFix which allows uploading pf photos and exact location. The link to the site is https://dpw.sbcounty.gov/operations/see-click-fix.