Pocopson Circus

The detour around the forthcoming "roundabout" (a kinder, gentler traffic circle) on Route 52 in Pocopson is wreaking havoc with some residents' driving habits. Fortunately my favorite co-pilot grew up in the township and is thoroughly familiar with all the back roads and shortcuts, but other motorists are frustrated and confused by the detour.
One loyal reader writes:

"We returned from a trip over the weekend and found ... that we had to take sightseeing tours of our township and the 2 neighboring ones just to go 2 miles to Baily's Farm for ice cream and the other great things they have - 20 minutes to go maybe 5.  Can you believe gridlock and traffic jams have reached Pocopson where there is only one traffic light in the entire township? Every back road is a raceway, and at the light[s] at the Elementary school and 926 & 52 there are long lines and lost souls. That's why I an calling the situation and new roundabout "Pocopson Circus" from the English vernacular : "A public scene of frenetic and intrusive activity" & "as a place name a roundabout open space where several streets converge: Piccadilly Circus."
On Saturday morning I saw a friend who lives very close to the detour and asked how it has affected her. She said she too has seen a lot of lost-looking motorists looking for detour signs and a distinct increase in traffic on her little street and narrow Parkersville Road.

 

School board

Plenty of Unionville-Chadds Ford residents grumble about school taxes and teachers' and administrators' salaries -- and then boast about living in such a high-rated school district and reap the benefits of its salutary impact on property values. Have you ever thought of getting involved and joining the school board? Due to a resignation, the Unionville-Chadds Ford school board has a vacancy for someone living in Newlin, Pocopson, or Birmingham Township. See the district's website for more information. From what I've seen, true dedication to quality education, a tolerance for long agendas, ambassador-level diplomacy and tact, and a thick skin are prerequisites.

The aftermath

I heard miserable stories of protracted, frustrating commutes the morning after the rain storm, when the Brandywine Creek had flooded major roads. One family member who never, ever misses a day of work (it's genetic) detoured south into Delaware and then northeast to his job in Delco. Another friend, headed from West Grove to Berwyn, found either flooding or impossibly snarled traffic at Routes 1, 926, 52, 162, and 842. He finally ended up going all the way up to Coatesville and taking the Route 30 bypass  -- which, as luck would have it, was at a crawl due to a crash.
The Unionville-Chadds Ford School District, being divided by the Brandywine, was forced to close for the day, pushing the last day of school even farther back -- to Monday, June 16.
Some horse owners whose pastures abut the normally bucolic Brandywine faced difficulties as well. Some fences were swept away by the water, or if they were still there they were festooned with mounds of debris. You could tell how high the water had risen by observing the collection of branches and junk that was left behind.
At least it was warm and sunny most of the day after the storm: at one farm I saw perhaps a dozen sodden horse blankets draped over fences, drying in the sun.

After the deluge

I took a drive around the area to see the flood's aftermath on Thursday, May 1, and found an especially dramatic scene on Laurel Road, south of Strasburg Road, in Newlin Township.
The raging waters of the Brandywine Creek had undermined some large beech and sycamore trees, and they toppled over, their root systems bringing a considerable amount of pavement down with them. A good portion of the road was washed down the steep slope to the  creek, and at one point the roadside guardrail is just hanging there in mid-air.

Township supervisor Rob Pearson was on the scene assessing the road damage with a township road-crew member and two engineers with clipboards.

I told him how amazed I was at the extent of the damage.
"This is what water can do," he explained. He said there was also some storm damage a little farther south at Harvey's Bridge.

Saturated

The evening of the rain storm, I was in the locker room of the Jennersville Y, and a fellow athlete, about to shower, was vexed to discover that she had left her bath towel at home.
"Why bother to dry off?" said another woman. "You'll get just soaked again as soon as you go outside."
Indeed. A few minutes later, I was southbound on Guernsey Road in West Grove when I saw a man walking north along the side of the road, with what at first I thought was a large white bandage on his head. As I got close I realized he was wearing a full horse-head mask. In the teeming rain. In the dark. In West Grove.
Of course, as soon as I got home I looked this up online and discovered that a whole subculture has sprung up around the wearing of these masks. It was certainly news to me.

The Deluge

I was talking on the phone to a friend the afternoon of the heavy rain storm, and she idly speculated about how high the Brandywine Creek was getting. We are both former reporters, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that the next thing you know we were in her huge pickup driving through Unionville, Brandywine Creek Road, Mortonville, Harvey's Bridge and Embreeville. We gawked in amazement at how high the water was, how fast it was going and how much debris it was carrying -- mostly tree trunks, but at one point I spotted someone's backyard BBQ zipping by.
All the usual spots were flooded out by the end of the day -- including of course Springdell and the bridges over the Brandywine at Pocopson and Route 1 -- plus some unexpected ones: I've never seen Apple Grove Road flooded before, but it was across the road near the Laurels. I saw some baffled-looking motorists driving very hesitantly on some of our gravel roads; they'd been detoured off Route 841 in Springdell. People have told me that their commutes home were the worst ever because of all the road closures.
All over social media, emergency services, police stations and municipalities were urging residents to avoid driving through standing water -- to no avail for some. Emergency personnel had to go out all over the place for "water rescues," including one at Harvey's Bridge in Newlin just minutes after we crossed it. Residents who live near the Embreeville bridge on Route 162 reported that foolhardy motorists persisted in trying to drive through the high water. Predictably, their cars stalled out.
Because the Unionville-Chadds Ford School District spans the Brandywine, schools were closed on Thursday, May 1, pushing the last school day back to June 16.

Pass the Grey Poupon

Driving home from breakfast on April 29, I saw a Rolls Royce turn from Route 926 onto northbound Route 841. I noted it with mild interest: it's not every day you see a Rolls on the road.
But then, no more than five minutes later, I got an excited call from a frequent Tilda contributor: she wanted to let me know that she had just seen SEVEN of the magnificent vehicles in a row on Newark Road between Routes 82 and 842!
I did a quick online search and found the explanation: the Rolls Royce Owners' Club was having its a week-long outing through our area. They had quite an itinerary: on April 28 they went to Longwood Gardens and the Brandywine River Museum, with dinner at the Greenville Country Club.
On April 29, when we spotted them (and other people reported seeing them along Routes 82 and 926), they were on a 60-mile driving tour of the Brandywine Valley, with lunch at Buckley's Tavern. According to their brochure:
"Join us as we tour the Brandywine Valley that winds through the scenic Chateau Country of Southern Chester and Delaware Counties, PA and Northern Delaware. The narrow twisting roads that tradce the Brandywine River force slow progress through lanes of Tulip Trees and Oaks. Wildflowers, not billboards, line the roadsides."
On April 30 they toured Nemours and Hagley Museum, with lunch at the Dupont Country Club. On May 1 they drove through New Castle, Del., and through southern Delaware (a 130-mile trek), with lunch at Sambo's Crab Shack. May 2 was a tour of Winterthur. May 3 was Auburn Heights, with dinner at the Greenville CC. And the outing wrapped up on May 4 at the Winterthur Point-to-Point.
I was amused to see that when they registered for the event, participants had to promise that they would drive only a Rolls or a Bentley. As far as I could see there was no Official Mustard Sponsor.

Used books

For years I've seen the sign along Route 41 for the Avon Grove Lions Club book sale, and finally on Sunday I stopped by. I'm glad I did. Tucked away in the C.P. Yeatman & Sons/Mother Earth Organic Mushrooms Farm is a big barn full of used books at very low prices. Think of the annual Unionville used-book sale in a barn. I especially liked the sign that hung over the Literature section: "The Books You Had to Read in High School."
Proceeds support the Lions service projects. The club's president, Jane Frank, was there on Sunday and told me that in addition to the bluebird house program, a lesser-known program that the club runs involves loaning out hospital equipment like beds and wheelchairs to people who need it.
The book sale is open from April through October, Fridays from 4 to 7 p.m., Saturdays from 9 a.m. to noon and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Directions to the sale, at 600 North Baker Station Rd., are very well marked after you leave Route 41.

A colorful Sunday

On Sunday afternoon, after the Wounded Warrior tractor parade (a sea of green John Deere tractors, plus other big farm equipment and lots of motorcycles and American flags), three of us took our first walk of the spring through Kennett's wonderful Anson B. Nixon Park. I've never seen so many trout lilies in bloom; there's an especially large patch of them near the north side of the lake. Look for their mottled green leaves (hence the name) low to the ground and the nodding light-yellow flower. We also saw a snapping turtle swimming across the middle of the lake--to be more precise, what we saw was just its head and its wake, like a grainy B&W photo of the Loch Ness Monster.
Speaking of being in touch with nature, I ran into an old friend at a party on Saturday who teaches a mass communication course to high-school boys. To impress upon them how much influence the media has, he creates an alphabet of letters taken from the logos of well-known consumer products (Apple, Doritos, McDonald's), and they're able to identify each product readily.
Then he shows them photos of a dozen trees they see every day around the school's campus. Rarely is a student able to identify a single one.

Photos

Local photographers Jim Graham, Beth Harpham, Barbara Proud and Peter B. Kaplan will be part of a show called "Transitions," which is opening at the Delaware Art Museum in Wilmington on Saturday, May 3, with a reception from noon to 4 p.m. on Sunday, May 4. The show runs through Aug. 10.
Jim and Beth, among their other work, take photos of the Cheshire Hunt and all the local equestrian events; Barbara has traveled around America making a series of portraits of long-term same-sex couples; and I know you saw Peter Kaplan's photos of the Mushroom Drop in the center of Kennett Square on New Year's Eve (he mounted his camera atop the crane that lowered the 'shroom).