At 05:00 on a chilly, wet morning, the best idea would be to stay in and enjoy the warmth of your bed under the cosy covers, right?
Well, no, not for superheroes.
In fact, this seems like the perfect time for this local superhero to come to the rescue of his residents by quietly filling potholes before disappearing as swiftly into the early morning hours as he appeared in the first place.
Pottie the Pothole Hero, as he calls himself, wants to remain anonymous, like any other superhero out there, as he only has the residents of Nelson Mandela Bay’s best interests at heart.
Our hero was discovered when a reader, who also wants to remain anonymous to protect Pottie’s identity, recently saw a stationary car parked at the corner of William Moffett Expressway and Main Road, Walmer, opposite the Moffett on Main Lifestyle Centre.
“I thought that the car had become the umpteenth victim of that giant groot gat that has been lying in wait for months to swallow and destroy cars’ wheels and tyres, but I found Pottie instead,” the reader said.
“Pottie is a virgin of sorts. This was his first pothole fill and chatting with him, his philosophy about these ‘problems’ is simple: you can either complain and point fingers at the problem or you can become part of the problem and try and fix it a little bit,” the reader added.
“Was the pothole repair as good as a tarmac repair? No, but it was a whole lot better [that] morning for all road users than what it was at 04:59.”
Pottie told our reader that he had learnt some valuable lessons and wanted to share them with other budding pothole fillers:
It’s not that difficult to fill a hole, if you have 20 minutes to spare (for a big pothole) just fill a pothole! He also learnt that water is a pothole’s enemy and that 05:00 is the perfect time to fill a pothole.
Pottie said that potholes suffer from the iceberg effect.
It also takes four times more stone chips or soil as you thought.
Most important: you don’t need a red cape and speedo to be a pothole filling hero.
“Pottie was beaming when I drove off and said that it felt great to have filled his first pothole.”
MMC for Roads and Transport in the metro, Rano Kayser, said that the ‘War on Potholes’ is still very much in progress.
“Since December, we have repaired more than 15 000 potholes, but the metro is huge and there is a backlog with infrastructure maintenance,” he explained.
“I understand that many residents would like to see that their potholes receive attention immediately, but it’s not a once-off thing. Repairing potholes is a process and we are winning the fight.”
Kayser also wanted to thank Pottie for this selfless act. “I would like to meet him and maybe take him for lunch or coffee. These are the types of people that we need to shake hands and work together with.”
Kayser said that Pottie can contact him anytime on 041 505 4420.
