Month: December 2010

Get Juggernauts Off Residential Roads


Before we go any further I don’t really want to get them off the roads completely. There is a place for them but it certainly isn’t delivering to our local Tesco Express.

To be precise, the WATERLOOVILLE LAVENDER ROAD EXPRESS.

Lavender Road is a residential road leading off Frendstaple Road. It is the main access to a number of private homes, an old folks home and the local doctors surgery as well as being the address for the aforementioned Tesco store which has a car park capable of taking nearly 20 vehicles.

This road is regularly compromised by the parking up of  articulated lorries which are waiting their turn to deliver goods to the store.  They are usually waiting because there is already an articulated lorry offloading.

Any vehicle parked in this spot would be causing a hazard but an articulated lorry is well over 40 feet long. If a car was parked in this spot you do have some chance of seeing around it and even some visibility through the windows. An articulated lorry doesn’t give you any visibility through the vehicle, it is significantly wider than a car and also higher.

  1. Quite often lorries parked here do so facing the wrong way. That is to say it is parked on the right hand side of the road, facing the oncoming traffic who, if they are turning left  into Lavender Road, cannot see if there is anything coming towards them until they are already exposed.
    I guess the direction they are facing doesn’t really matter since the obstruction is the same either way.
  2. The folks who were lucky enough to have safely made it into the car park and now wish to leave cannot see round the back end of the trailer (or front) to see those vehicles that are also playing Russian Roulette and about to make the dash along the far side of the trailer.
  3. At peak times in the morning i.e. during the school run this road at its junction with Frendstaple Road becomes very busy. With an articulated lorry parked just short of the junction to say this road becomes congested is an understatement

If there hasn’t already been an accident caused by these trucks I will be very surprised.

The current weather / road conditions has exacerbated the situation.  I was witness to latest milk delivery when the truck driver was struggling to turn his vehicle around so that he could reverse up to the Tesco loading dock. Needless to say his 40ft trailer did not want to go where he wanted it to go as it skated from side to side on the ice. During his many attempts access to the doctor’s surgery, the old folks home and a number of private houses was completely blocked.

Come on Tesco. This is dangerous. Its time for you to rethink the delivery options to your local stores before you cause the death of one of your customers.

The Cameron Government is Being Misled


I’m glad that I am not the only one saying this. You would think that the Ministry Of Defence would take an unbiased view at what this country needs. But once again it seems as if our armed forces are doing what they do best which is bicker amongst themselves. They are all jostling to make sure that get the biggest slices of the ever shrinking cake that is the Defence Budget. And he that shouts loudest and longest gets the biggest slice. Never mind if it makes tactical or logistical sense.

And so here we are about to expose Britain once again to the possibility of military action, just like dropping your trousers, bending over and inviting all comers to take a swing with their hobnail boots.

Ever since the announcement that the Harriers were to be retired (scrapped) the press has been full of voices saying this is a mistake. And the latest has exposed the truth of it. The RAF once again trumpeting their ability to provide air cover for Great Britain’s assets.

Prime Minister David Cameron was today warned he was a ‘victim of bad and biased briefing’ in his decision to scrap Harrier jump jets.

“In a letter to the prime minister, Lord Alan West hints heavy lobbying by RAF chiefs during the defence review led to the wrong call being made.
He urges Mr Cameron to ‘take a last look’ at his decision to axe the navy’s Harriers and keep hold of the air force’s Tornado jets.”

This is exactly the foolhardy actions that made us the sitting target that the Argentine military thought we were and led to the Falklands conflict.

The RAF had lobbied hard and sold misled the then government on the premise that the RAF could provide whatever air support was necessary. They were proven wrong then and if the government proceeds along the path they are on now we will find ourselves at the mercy of some tin pot military action the other side of the planet. And once again we will have to commit unnatural acts to get ourselves out of the mire.

And don’t think that our “friends” will help us out. They didn’t back then and they won’t the next time either. Due to all the politicking that goes on around the planet, they were unable to openly support us as they might step on somebody else toes. A someone who isn’t quite as friendly with us.

So come on Cameron, don’t let the RAF pull the wool over your eyes. Keep the Harriers and put some money into keeping a carrier fleet that is able to fly planes as well as helicopters.

Its All The Fault Of The Police


Here we go again  !!!

A student ends up in hospital and its all the polices fault or so says his mother who wasn’t actually with him when he received his injury.

Who’s to say that he didn’t receive his injury from something thrown by one of his fellow protesters ?

Whilst I sympathise with him regarding his injury at the same time I find myself exasperated. Surely, given the recent media coverage of recent protests, is there anyone who doesn’t understand the risks of being involved in such an event.

Anyone who attends one of these protests, after what has previously occurred over last couple of weeks,  surely does so at their own risk.

He may well be  one of the majority of peaceful protesters but once again I say they are culpable if they don’t stop the anarchic minority from causing mayhem. It  is unfair to automatically blaim the police every time someone gets hurt.

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Students Go Too Far


OK so you disagree with the fee hikes and peaceful protests are your right but you don’t have the right to scare innocent people, you don’t have the right to damage private property and you certainly don’t have the right to attack the police.

I know it’s a minority that typically start the violence, throwing missiles at the police, damaging private property, burning workman’s huts and so forth. However, the majority stand by while the minority do these things. That, in my mind, makes you culpable. Shows that you support these violent acts and therefore you have no rights to complain about the police actions.

As a tax payer I have, through my taxes, subsidised your education for the last 40 plus years. I think you have gotten off lightly. This country is broke so its only fair that you pay a reasonable rate for your education. If that means that the fees have to go up so be it.

I attended college way back but it was on a day release basis. Two and a half days each week finishing at 21:00 in the evening. My employer paid for this and I had to work the other two and a half days. I also had to prove my attendance and show satisfactory progress for that funding to continue.

So let me tell you, protesting is all fine and dandy but rioting, vandalism and thuggery is not.

You aren’t winning any friends with your actions.

Hastings Fishing Fleet Flagged


Great news,  the Hastings fishing fleet is to receive a cash boost from the EU.

It is one of six coastal communities whose Fisheries Local Action Group (FLAG) will share a £4.6 million fund set aside to help areas where fishing is a key industry.

The fleet is one of the few using traditional methods in this the age of high-efficiency technology. It is the largest beach based fishing fleet in the country and fishermen have operated from this area, The Stade, for over a thousand years. The fleet has diminished over the years and it would be sad to see it disappear altogether which is why the cash injection is such good news.

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British Government Short Sighted – Again


A few days ago I posted about my disquiet brought about by the governments decommissioning of the Ark Royal and also the imminent scrapping of the Harrier Jump Jet.

Not wishing to say “I told you so” but it appears I’m not the only one to have serious misgivings about our governments decision to axe these wonderful planes.

It seems that just maybe the government is being swayed by the same old song that the RAF sang before about their planes being most able to provide the air cover that we need for the future. They say the Tornados are better suited for use in Afghanistan. This ignores the fact that should a crisis like the Falklands come about the Tornado will be bloody useless.

They cannot get there !!!

Naval commanders who led Britain to victory in the 1980s conflict have sent a strongly-worded letter to Prime Minister David Cameron urging him to revisit his decision to do away with Harrier jump jets.”

So It’s Not Just Me Then !!!

Do You Feel Exposed ? – You Should


Yesterday, Friday December 3rd 2010, HMS Ark Royal slipped through the mists of The Solent and  into history as she headed into Portsmouth to be decommissioned three years early due to swingeing government cuts. Decommissioned is a euphemism for “scrapped”.

If my memory serves me right it was as we were decimating our armed forces that the Argentines decided to reclaim the Falkland Islands as their own. At that time we pulled out all the stops to show that we were not to be messed with.

But, and its a big but, the only way we managed to do anything about the Argentine action was by using a carrier based force. The carriers were then supported by standard Royal Navy ships and co-opted Merchant Navy craft.

With the decommissioning of the Ark we are left with Illustrious to provide us with far distant cover. For the Falklands action we have Invincible and Hermes. Which brings me to another point. Both of those carriers were operating Sea Harrier. The Sea Harrier is also being scrapped.

So I ask, Do you feel exposed ?.
Because behind the emotion of the return of the Ark to Portsmouth I feel an immense disquiet. Successive governments have cut back on funding for our forces. Note I don’t place all the blame on our current government. They are doing the best they can with what they have inherited. But is this the way.
England and the Royal Navy have a fabulous history but we are rapidly becoming a featherweight in international terms.

Ingrid Pitt


Just caught mention of Ingrid Pitt, on the radio this morning, but didn’t catch the context. Took a look on Wikipedia and found out that she died a short while ago, 23rd November.

She was a stalwart of my early cinema visiting years. Being, as I was, a fan of the horror genre. Imagine my surprise, when I read the Wikipedia article, to find the breadth of her career encompassed writing as well as acting.  She also seems to had led a very eventful life which took her all over the world.

Her passing marks the end of an era.

Frozen Weather = Frozen Brains


Despite the snow based chaos that is going on all over this country we, in the Portsmouth area, have managed to get off quite lightly. Not much snow but there is a bit of ice around.

We might not have much snow but we still have more than our quota of idiots on the roads.

Take the praTT in the Audi TT that I was following. At the best of times the visibility from the TT is little better than that of a crash helmet. I’m speaking from experience here, my granddaughter had one for a while and I had cause to drive it. Anyway, this praTT had not bothered to clear any of the snow off the car. The rear screen was totally obscured, as were the side windows. The front screen was partially cleared. Every time he managed to get over 30 mph a great cloud of powdery snow erupted of his bonnet obscuring his vision and diminishing mine at the same time.

Even my neighbour couldn’t be bothered to clear her screens before setting off this morning. Just a little port-hole to peep out of.
And then there are those who obviously feel nice and safe and warm cocooned inside their cars such that they feel they can drive like lunatics. Never mind that the temperatures are still sub-zero and that there is ice on most of the side roads. I lost count of how many idiots came sliding up to junctions with all four wheels locked. Obviously praying that the laws of friction would cut in….SOON.

Why can’t these people take a few minutes to boost their safety and mine too. So what if they are a few minutes late but we would all have a few less grey hairs and suffer a little less stress in our lives.

Update 2/12/2010 Apparently if you drive around without clearing the snow off your car you can be ticketed by the police for dangerous driving. On the basis that when the snow flies off your car it could cause problems for both you and other motorists.