What a light mess!

Well I see Walsall Council are struggling with what is truth again! On one hand the Cabinet Member for leisure tells us Walsall Illuminations has finished for good and on the other hand the Leader of the Council denies it!

Who do we believe?

What is the truth!?

Why has the Cabinet member resigned?

Did he trip or was he pushed?

I don't know the answer to any of these questions but then I bet Walsall Council don't either!! I can just see the leader saying to the cabinet member 'another light mess you've gotten me into'!!

Darkness falls on Walsall.

It was with mixed feelings I read the news tonight that the Walsall Illuminations have ended for good. I have attended for many years more that the 25 I have lived in Walsall and most years went twice - once near the beginning and once near the end. In the last few years as prices have gone up and the quality of the lights has gone down we reduced to once a year and in fact last year i was asked on the way out what I thought - I reckon the young lady wished she hadn't asked as I related very politely my thoughts on how rubbish the show had been, how poor the laser show had been and hoe inept the so called entertainers had been and on top of that there were areas of the park that usually had lights that didn't.

The night we went we walked round without and hold up at all and even getting in and out was done with no queues. I have gone in the past when almost any night there would be a queue some distance up Broadway North and even into Arboretum Road.

I know a number of people who worked on the lights and related my thoughts to them and they said it was no good saying anything because no one listened to them, and they doubted whether any notice was taken of the public feedback that was gathered on the gate during the lights.

The lights are gone but hopefully will not be forgotten.

Time for a rant!!

Much has been written in the past few days about the weather and it would seem that some people think it is a really bad winter just because we have three or four cold snowy days - not sure I agree as I don't think it is as bad as some would have us believe.

Anyway all that aside I am fed up of the total idiots who risk both their own lives and everybody else's by their total stupidity. Here is a list of the Things that have raise my ire in the past few days:

* People who do not de-ice their car windows before driving.

* People who de-ice their car windows but only with a peep hole.

* People who only de-ice their front windscreen but not the side or rear.

* People who do not clear the snow off their car lights which means you often can not see their lights.

* Pedestrians who walk in the road instead of on the footpaths - I think the latter is far safer however bad the footpaths are.

* Cyclists who are now riding on the roads instead of the footpaths but have NO LIGHTS!

* Cyclists who while riding on the road TOTALLY IGNORE RED TRAFFIC SIGNALS (I have seen four this morning while taking family members to work)

* Drivers who insist on tail gating the vehicle in front - very dodgy at any time but more so in these conditions.

* Drivers who are terrified of these weather conditions and consequently drive at 2 mph.

* Drivers who have no clue how to drive in this weather - leave your car at home and use the bus!

Well I think that's enough as I am just about to go off and see how many more idiots I can spot on my journey to work!

Duck there's a parking warden about!!

Hi folks, I have been quite for a while now but I really thought I needed to comment on the stupidity of some Civil Enforcement Officers (The parking Mafia). I was quite annoyed to hear they had ticketed people attending the remembrance day parade in Walsall but then last night and article in the local paper made me exclaim 'How bloody stupid can you get'? The missus immediately said 'what's wrong now'? and I told her that a woman had been booked and fined £75 for feeding the ducks in the park.

Now while I reckon this in itself is bad enough the warden then adds insult to injury by saying the child with the woman could feed the ducks because they were too young to prosecute!

Whatever happened to sanity and common sense? The warden reckoned that feeding the ducks was not allowed because it attracted vermin - if that is the case should there not be a total ban regardless of age and isn't there an element of stupidity if fining one but allowing another - either you want to stop the activity or you don't - moving the goalposts doesn't work!!

Parking Mafia

I can not believe the activities of the new civil enforcement officers (traffic wardens) as witnessed both physically today and as read in the Express and Star.

There was a two vehicle accident just outside our office today with a white van going into the back of a car and doing some damage to both vehicles. It appeared the van was not driveable (not sure this is a proper word) so it was pushed up onto the footpath to allow the traffic to flow. It had been there for about 30 minutes when along came a stormtrooper wearing the uniform of a civil enforcement officer and slapped a ticket on the van. It should have been pretty obvious to even a three year old that the van was badly damaged and there was still some debris on the road.

Then tonight my wife was reading the paper and said there was an article about buses belonging to the Black Diamond company being booked for being broken down and in one case being booked while at a bus stop loading and unloading - you couldn't make it up could you?

Swimming Lessons

I mentioned swimming lessons in my previous post when I was talking about the Gala baths in West Bromwich. We had dabbled a little at my Junior School where we had a quite small pool where a length was about as big as a width of a normal pool and I think it might not have been more than 4 foot deep.

I never really took to water (even for washing according to my Mom) so found swimming lessons a little difficult to say the least.

When we went to senior school, Hill Top High, we used to go by bus to the Gala Baths at West Bromwich and on the first visit we were asked if we could swim. There was a bridge over the baths and those who could swim went to the bigger side and those who couldn't went to the smaller side.

I remember the teacher who will remain nameless came along and asked if I could swim - I said 'No sir' and he promptly pushed me in. I dreaded swimming lessons after that and never did learn to swim so his methodology didn't work with me

The Public

I notice that Fat Prophet popped into the Public over in West Bromwich yesterday and thought it was an interesting building with some potential. I get the impression that the Public is a bit like Walsall's art gallery in that some folk love it but the majority absolutely hate it - I always think its an interesting looking building and quite colourful, unlike the drab slab of concrete we have in Walsall.

If I am honest though I can understand some of the ill feeling against a building that has cost an enormous amount of money with it seems no real purpose in a town that lacks certain other amenities such as a swimming pool or a cinema. I could not believe that the Gala Baths where our school used to go to learn to swim is now a car park - I don't remember an outcry like the ones about Tipton or Coseley baths. Now! swimming lessons could well be the subject for another post.

I may have to pay a visit myself to the Public so I can see if Fat Prophet was just wearing some rose tinted glasses.

I think I will have to be careful this is two posts in two days