Category: Comment

Too Little, Too Late


I am pleased to see that finally the council is doing something positive about the dire state of Waterlooville centre. But, I fear it is too little, too late.

I also believe the council is being, somewhat, disingenuous, blaming the pandemic for the current state of Waterlooville Town centre.

Waterlooville has been slowly decomposing since the main road was diverted, and the centre was pedestrianised.

Yes, the pandemic has not helped, and yes, the current economic difficulties are compounding the issues. Long before the pandemic, traders were complaining about the cost of leasing the shop units. Costs that due to falling footfall they could not afford to renew.

I would like to know what the council is doing to mitigate the high tenancy costs.

The Havant Borough Council planning authorities have been gung ho on taking business away from the town centre. Following the out-off town shopping model that they have also applied to Havant itself. Both Havant and Waterlooville have been subdivided. Large stores on one side of the highway whilst the smaller shops left in town struggle to keep going.

Making monies available to assist potential businesses to get a foothold will be a fruitless exercise without custom.

The recent change of car parking charges will help, but again, I fear it is too late. Especially now that Wilkos has gone bust.

Yes, you can now park for up to three hours but Wilkos was prime reason for many folks to park there.

Havant Borough Council, you need to do more.

Some Of My Favourite Films


What are your top ten favorite movies?

Choose your top ten movies ! An almost impossible task. Like music, your enjoyment of a film is affected by your mood at the time. So here goes, here are my “current” favourites ….

  • Gunga Din
  • Dirty Harry
  • Arsenic and Old Lace
  • Zulu
  • North by North West
  • Bullitt
  • The Man Who Would Be King
  • The French Connection
  • True Grit (John Wayne version)
  • The Italian Job (Michael Caine version)

My list is not definitive. Nor is it in any particular order. Ask me again tomorrow, and I’ll probably choose some different films. Even as I look back I’m thinking I should have included more recent releases.

Where are the Star Wars and Pink Panther series !!! I missed out Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles and many more that have given me great pleasure over the years.

Note that I have selected the original versions of True Grit and The Italian Job. These are in my eyes classic movies, and the remakes don’t do them justice. They are not a shadow of the originals.

What Is The Point ?


BBC News – William Gladstone’s family to apologise for slavery links https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-66558156

I don’t get it, I really don’t understand the need for apologies.

What good does it do ?

Apologising will not undo the inhumanity, the indignities, and the stress endured in the past. The same is also true of the tearing down of statues.

Slavery, by any measure, is wrong. It was wrong then, and it is wrong now. However, it was a different time then. People were educated differently, living by different standards.

Apologies by those that were not involved, made to those who were also not involved.

All we can hope to do is learn from our past. Make sure that such things never happen again.

Just as a footnote, you don’t hear much of an outcry about the Barbary Pirates that used to raid many countries, including the British Isles and as far north as Iceland. Many folks were taken along the Cornish, Devonish and Dorset coastlines, taking people to be sold in the Barbary slave markets. Are their ancestors going to apologise ?

Y’know ?


What is a word you feel that too many people use?

I feel, y’know, the word y’know, is the word that is, y’know, used too often.

My feeling is, y’know, that many people have a low grasp of, y’know, the English language. Or perhaps, they are, y’know, just too lazy to compose proper sentences

Admiration Unlimited


What profession do you admire most and why?

My admiration is for all members of the emergency services whoever they may be and regardless of which branch they belong to.

So here below, in no particular order, are the folks that I admire the most.

  • RNLI – Predominantly volunteers. They go out to sea in all weathers, putting their lives at risk to rescue seafarers in danger.
  • Police – Out there, dealing with the low lives and scum, dealing with drink/drug drivers, dealing with the drunks that pour out of the pubs and clubs every night. So often, they are unfairly criticised for doing their jobs.
  • Ambulance / Paramedics – Tending to us in our hours of need. Attending many harrowing scenes on our roads and highways, often the carnage resulting from the misuse of drugs and alcohol. The trauma of what they witness must stay with them for a long long time.
  • Fire Service – Another of our services where they put their lives at risk to rescue us. Whether it be from fire or as is so often the carnage of a road accident. Again they have to deal with the things that we would not want to witness.
  • Nurses / Doctors – And once the police, the paramedics and the fire service have done their bit it’s the turn of the folks in A and E. They work so hard to maintain the lives of those brought before them

All of these folks are not paid enough to put up with the abuse and physical violence that they encounter whilst just doing their jobs.

Whether it be vocal or physical abuse in A&E. Bricks and bottles thrown at fire and ambulance crews or spitting and fisticuffs suffered by the police.

They all do an amazing job for very little in the way of gratitude or respect.

Ladies and gentlemen, I salute you.

One Small Change


What change, big or small, would you like your blog to make in the world?

If my blog stopped one person and made them smile, that’s job done.

If my blog made one person laugh out loud, that’s job done.

If my blog made one person angry enough to right an injustice however trivial, that’s job done.

If my blog provides something that is of value to my readers, that’s job done.

Curiosity Killed The Cat ?


What are you curious about?

Or maybe not, ask Schrodinger.

But what am I curious about ? As it happens, many things peek my curiosity.

  • Who was my grandfather, my dad’s dad ? The answer is a bit of a genealogical cul-de-sac. Nobody knows. I’m sad that I never spoke to him about it when he was still alive.
  • When watching TV series, especially historically based dramas like Vikings, I often have to check things via Google. For example, did the Vikings truly go to Egypt?
  • I have a wide interest in technology related subjects. My background is mechanical engineering, but the bulk of my working life was spent around computers. I lived through / experienced the birth of the PC and the subsequent physical shrinkage leading us to the pocket devices we carry and take for granted. Although I have been retired for a few years, I still find the technological world fascinating.
  • Travel ! Lots there to be curious about. Whether it be the varying geographies of each country visited, or the people and their culture, or to a large extent the cuisines of those people.
  • Words ! I am an avid reader of crime dramas/thrillers, SciFi, Sword and Sorcery. Fairly often, an author will use a word that I have not come across. Down will go the book while I pick up a dictionary to search out a definition. Kindles are great in this regard as you can just click on the word and look it up on line.

There are many more subjects that cross my curiosity horizon, but I think I’ll leave it there.

Etsy ‘destroying’ sellers by withholding money


I have posted this BBC news item because my granddaughter is one of the Etsy victims. Etsy currently owes her several hundreds of pounds, and she is the sole earner in her household.

BBC News – Etsy accused of ‘destroying’ sellers by withholding money https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-66201042

My granddaughter is running a small baked goods business. How is she supposed to stay in business while she pays up front for the ingredients, packaging, and postal / courier services, but Etsy withholds the money from her customers for 45 days.

Not only do they withhold the money, but when they do release the money, they drip feed the payments in the same order that the original customer orders were made.

Let’s also not forget that Etsy charges a transaction fee of 6.5% per sale. Compared to around 3% as charged by Amazon.

Those cynics amongst us might think that Etsy are in financial difficulties if, as has been reported, they have no good reason for withholding payments and are holding onto sellers money ???

Through their actions, many people are struggling to survive, while presumably Etsy are reaping the benefits of interest earned on those withheld payments.

So Many Things !


What would you change about modern society?

What would I change ? So, so many things.

  • Have people be more considerate. To be more aware of the implications of their own actions and the impacts to other peoples lives.
  • Change the attitudes of our politicians. I’m sure they start their political journey with the best of intentions. But somewhere along the road, they go through a metamorphosis where, regardless of political party, they become self-serving liars. They also go through some kind of memory crisis whereby they forget that they were voted into position by us, the general public. That they are supposed to be our voice in parliament to reflect our wishes.
  • Teach today’s youth some manners and the true meaning of respect. Respect for their elders, their teachers, and the police. Teach them that everyone is entitled to respect until they show themselves unworthy. Teach them that they themselves have to show respect to earn it for themselves. This education should start at home with the parents, who seem to dispense with all responsibilities for how their offspring behave, once they step out of their parental home.
  • Put some proper investment in place for our NHS. With decent wages for our nurses. Surely the recent Covid-19 pandemic has shown us their worth.
  • More investment in our emergency services, get more bodies in place to relieve the workload on those already out there.
  • Put in place better support for our armed forces veterans. It seems like this country bends over backwards to provide support for so-called refugees while our veterans, having served their country, find themselves surplus to requirements.

These are just my initial thoughts with no priority implied by order listed.

It’s Got To Be A Pasty


What’s your go-to comfort food?

Nothing beats the aroma, taste, warmth and belly filling attributes of a good Cornish Pasty.

Not just any pasty will do. Not for me are those supermarket, factory produced pasties. Typically, they disappoint with their flaky pastry case filled with some kind of tasteless slop.

A true pasty has to be made with shortcrust pastry with a chunky “handle” around the perimeter. The filling should comprise chunky, not minced meat and potato, swede, onion. Other veggies are acceptable. The filling should fill the cavity, “floor to ceiling.” So often, the factory versions are just full of air.

Probably the reason the pasty is dear to my heart is that my mum used to regularly make them. The circle of pastry was dinner plate sized, filling added, then folded. So our dinner would be a pasty that filled half the plate, then additional veggies and gravy.

Also, we holidayed for many years in Cornwall. Highlights of those holidays had to be walking around Mevagissey with a freshly baked Cornish Pasty. Usually followed by clotted cream ice cream, but that’s the subject of a whole new post.

Pure heavenly, peppery scrumptiousness. .