Christmas is coming.

Unless you live on another planet you cannot possibly have missed this fact - the big stores are all playing Christmas music, lots of advertisements on TV seem to feature food or gifts for Christmas, lights are appearing on houses and the usual claptrap about Winterval etc. are being trotted out in all sorts of places.
There will no doubt be lots of conjecture about whether people of other religious persuasions than Christian find the whole thing of Christmas offensive. The reality I believe is that most people take advantage of the holiday whether it is religious in some way or not and to be frank I don't think they are bothered.
The other thing that amazes me is that we are supposed to be in a double dip recession but if you go into any of the local supermarkets people seem to be spending money as if it was going to disappear completely and stocking up for a siege - the shops are only shut for one or possibly two days and to be frank there will be a range of shops open in Caldmore on Christmas day and you could even get a hair cut if you wanted.
Anyway in case I don't post again a merry Christmas and happy and healthy new year to all my readers (yes both of you).

Mad or what?

I can not believe the madness that has been happening the past few days and while much has and will be written I have to say that as usual the police can do nothing right. If they stand off they are criticised for being weak - if they go in with batons drawn they are accused of being brutal.
I will also be watching with interested to see how tough we are with those who are caught - perhaps they will get two weeks holidays instead of one!

What a load of...........!

Well things have been a bit slow here recently and I am not sure if anybody really reads this blog but I thought a news item I saw needed a comment especially as it seems to me it is bureaucracy gone mad.
I was reading about a guy who had purchased a registration number for his car from DVLA and they have now told him they have withdrawn it and he can no longer drive using this number plate.
The registration was BO11 LUX which I found quite amusing but apparently it seems no one at the DVLA had realised is made a rude word! What a load of BO11 LUX is all I can say and let's be honest who in this current day and age would really find this offensive as that seems to be the logic of the DVLA.

A tale of two deaths

Interesting news day today with the death of two famous figures one of who will be sadly missed while the other will not.
One of Britain's best know boxers Sir Henry Cooper has died and while I am not a fan of boxing I always felt he was a gentleman. He will I am sure be sadly missed.
We have also heard that Osama  Bin Laden has been killed and while most of us will not be bothered by this I just wonder if we will now see an upsurge of terrorism. It seemed to me that after 9/11 he was fairly low key but now who knows what his supporters might do.

You couldn't make it up!

I have just been reading last nights Express and Star and came across an article that Butlin's have banned 'bumping' on the Dodgem car rides at their sites. A you can imagine it is the result of fears about people suffering whiplash or other injury and suing Butlin's.
I suspect it will not be long before this spreads to other fairgrounds - what a load of wimps we are becoming. The dodgems will never be the same and it will prevent me venting my pent up anger at the appalling state of driving on our roads - but don't start me on that one.

It's a fair cop!

I have noted with interest the stories over the last few days about the reduction in police officers that we can expect as the recession continues to bite. It is I believe a sad fact of life that they are just some of many who will be part of cutbacks and reductions but at what cost?
It is true to say that many organisations are expecting workers to do more with less as workforces dwindle through all sorts of reasons and then wonder why when stress levels go up and people start being off work with stress related illness. Perhaps the reductions in staff are a sort of false economy when this happens.
It seems to me that there is little hope for those people who are seeking work when all we seem to hear is job cuts - perhaps a radical solution needs to be found to address some of the issues of unemployment - how about working a three day week and having a four day weekend - sounds good to me!

Incredible blog!

Thanks to Brownhills Bob for posting about a brave young man who has been diagnosed with a brain tumour.
I read this and was amazed by the story and look forward to reading further updates in the next few days.
You can read the story here.

New site for Hill Top School

I was checking out the old West Bromwich photo's site and came across a comment from Hill Top Kid about a new site for pupils and teachers of Hill Top Secondary Modern School and Hill Top High School in West Bromwich.
As a former pupil I thought it would be good to check this out and have put a link to it on my site. I have also added a link to the West Bromwich photo's site as people reading this blog might be interested in checking them both out.

Bad Weather or Bad Drivers?

I have been appalled the past couple of days at the absolutely abysmal level of driving ability I have witnessed on out roads. I suppose too I would have to say there has been a great deal of stupidity.
Here are some of the things I have seen:-

People who have only cleared a small area on their front windscreen - how can you see to drive if your side windows are covered in snow and ice? Isn't this dangerous driving or at the very least driving without due care?

People who do not clear the snow from their lights - what is the point of having them on if no one can see them because they are covered with snow?

People who are frightened of driving in the snow and as a consequence drive at around two miles an hour - this is partly responsible for some of the hold ups, especially on roads that have been well gritted and are reasonably normal, and  could lead other drivers to take risks overtaking them out of sheer frustration.

People who get stuck and then stick the car in first gear and hit the accelerator pedal causing their wheels to spin - second gear and low revs is far better, remember the tortoise and the hare (slow and steady wins the race).

People walking in the road to avoid falling on footpaths - what happens if a car hits a patch of ice and loses control? I would rather risk falling on the footpath than being hit by a car!!

People walking in the road and pushing babies in buggies - words fail me.

What a Payne!

Image via Wikipedia

I have just been out looking for Fagin and Bill Sykes and Bullseye after reading the latest letter in the Express and Star from Ian Payne. I do wonder does he live in  a different world to me?
While it may be that Walsall is not perfect it is not the terrible place that Ian Payne would have us believe in his latest letter to the local press. He writes almost as if Walsall matched the London of Oliver Twist with all it warts and associated bad things.
If he thinks the place is so bad he could always depart for that wonderful place called Lichfield that he seems to think is far better or he could of course go even further where he would be out of range of our local papers.

Rag and bone men

Image via Wikipedia

I was quite pleased to read in last nights Express and Star that there have been calls for action against what must surely be a modern day plague - yes you have it the local scrap man. I think that some day we either get the same on four times or four different ones and they also come round on a Sunday.

I have to be honest I did say to someone the other day that I would like to go outside and stick the rag man's trumpet somewhere so that it couldn't be played.

I do wonder sometimes where all the scrap comes from - I've never seen an empty scrap lorry!

Bloody weather

Well here we are another bank holiday with lots of rain - we had planned to go to Bala today and have a ride on the Bala Lake Railway. We still went and as we drove we kept hoping the weather would brighten up but it rained and rained - we did have a ride on the train and then went on to Llangollen where the sun came out.

I don't know if you realise but in the old days the bank holiday would have been last weekend when the sun was shining gloriously. Pity the flaming government altered the way it worked.

A month of boredom

Well the inevitable is happening - the country is going to the polls on 6th May as very widely predicted and expected by most of us.

I have noticed in conversation at work that already people are fed up with the blanket coverage being given to the election and of course we will have to suffer a month of this. I had thought of writing to my local evening newspaper and asking them if they could declare one day a week election free to give us a little respite. I suspect the proverbial snowball in hell would have a better chance of success thought.

I have no doubt there will be much said again about the apathy of the voters but perhaps if there was a way to register a non vote because we were unhappy with all the mainstream parties we might get a bigger turn out. As it stands the only was to do this is vote for a fringe party or ruin the ballot paper - perhaps a party proposing this idea would get my vote and lots of other peoples and who knows the turnout might soar.

Nanny McPhee - the Big Bang

I have been out this evening to the cinema to see Nanny McPhee - little c big P, and had a most enjoyable evening.

Nanny McPhee was again played by Emma Thompson and came across as the antithesis of Mary Poppins yet again. Maggie Smith and Sam Kelly played two quite eccentric characters with Maggie's shopkeeper putting treacle in draws in her shop (Not in jars or tins) and Sam's character trying to disarm an unexploded bomb.

Some quite delightful moments involving a baby elephant and a crow that had severe wind and a synchronised swimming routine with the most unlikely swimmers made this an excellent treat for families of all ages.

if I were awarding stars for good family entertainment it would get 5.

Water, Water nowhere.

Wow two posts in one day I will have to be careful!

I was tempted to quote the Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge and say that there was "water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink!" but it would be very far from the truth having just read an article in the paper from a couple of days ago.

It appears from the article that Wolverhampton have a fountain that is not working and that there are a number of safety issues that need to be addressed - the latest being the need for a hand rail to prevent people slipping on wet ground around the fountain!

It started me thinking about the wonderful fountain in Walsall Town Centre which I think I have only seen working twice in the whole time it has been there - on the first occasion I made the comment that I could pee faster and on the second there was foam everywhere because someone had emptied a bottle of bubble bath into the water and it was what the bear in the Cresta pop advert would have called 'Frothy Man'.

I am not sure why this fountain doesn't work but have some recollection of health and safety being in there somewhere - did I hear Legionnaires disease mentioned at some point.

Now here's a question for the burghers of Walsall Council - Will the fountain ever work again or will it end up like the horse that stood for a very short time by the baths and go off into storage never to be seen again? Answers on a post card perhaps??

What is going on?

I can't believe the latest incident to occur over at Barr Beacon where some low life has nicked part of the roof off the memorial.

As the place is not accessible to traffic at night you either have to think this happened in broad daylight or there must have been a lot of comings and goings under cover of darkness to get the stuff away.

I don't suppose the thieves will very get caught or that they will feel any remorse over what they have done but we can always hope that they might and that they will get more than a slap on the wrist. Mind you I won't hold my breathe.

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!!