May 2013

Posted on May 5, 2013 by Mick's Muses

Spring has Sprung and the grass has riz.

What a difference a few days of gentle warmth makes to the English countryside. In the past 24 hours, leaves on a multitude of trees, particularly Horse Chestnuts have burst into life laying a bright green mantle of freshness across the skyline, with other varieties of tree looking as if they will follow suit during the next week. Soon the Somerset countryside will have returned to the full lush green canopy of trees and fields so loved by visitors and holiday makers to this part of the world.

The winter hopefully now past, rates amongst the more bitterest and prolonged winters I can recall. Constant icy eastern winds cutting both man and beast to the quick as the insidious tendrils of cold crept into every outdoor nook and cranny.

I for one have never been a winter lover although it does have its moments.Seasonal springtime flowers like daffodils and tulips and even the grass lay dormant for weeks on end. Mother Nature does however have ways of catching up on lost time often at the cost of brow ridden sweat to gardeners trying to keep up with natures sudden spurt of growth. I still think the extra effort is rewarded by an enhanced feeling of well being which we all find so satisfying.

So far this year I have not had the opportunity to go mackerel fishing off Chesil Beach on the Dorset coast. Mackerel normally start to run along this part of the coast about Easter and no live bait is required, just imitation feathers on the end of the line. On a good day it can be difficult to carry the weight of mackerel that are caught and when this happens, we normally distribute our catch amongst friends in our village.

The cliffs of the entire stretch of Dorset’s Jurassic  coast have been subject to sudden collapse in recent weeks due to abnormally high rainfall last year allowing vast amounts of water to penetrate the rocks. Constant warnings by the Coastguard are in place and believe me, if the Coastguard issue a warning, they mean it. Nature asks no questions of right or wrong when sections of a cliff face collapse, it just happens carrying and burying all or anyone before it.

Recently my wife and I with a group of friends went for a pub lunch at the Lime Kiln Inn which is located on A372 about halfway between the A303 junction and the small town of Langport. This popular inn enjoys a high vantage point with an extensive vista across the beautiful Somerset countryside. Although it is not possible to book tables in advance except for parties of about 10 or more, we have never been disappointed at finding a table even on busy days. The Lime Kiln is only about 10 minutes drive from my home and enjoys a well deserved local reputation for good reasonably priced food. The Lime Kiln has always managed to produce quite a large and varied menu catering for all tastes and over the years I have never come away with my appetite unsatisfied. Like most patrons I have always left with a feeling of “That was a damn good meal”. If anyone is in the area, I can certainly recommend a visit.

http://www.thelimekilninn.co.uk/

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February 2013

Posted on February 1, 2013 by Mick's Muses

With compliements ©National Trust Images/Don Bishop

So far 2013 has been a bit tumultuous weather wise with its mixture of rain, snow and flooding. However it is still the middle of winter and to be expected to some degree. I cannot help but feel the country closes down all to easily during adverse weather conditions with schools, trains and other transport rapidly grinding to a halt. In many countries where snow is an expected norm they simply carry on. It will be interesting to see if a recent court judgement making airlines liable for sizeable financial compensation for delays due to adverse weather will have an effect in reducing airport flight cancellations.

Parts of the Somerset Levels near where I live have now been under water for many months. To the farmers that own the land this could mean complete financial ruin. There is often a misconception that farmers are all wealthy but for the vast majority this would be untrue. Whether they be livestock or arable farmers, it takes a special breed of person to often borrow large sums of money to buy a farm and then work all hours of the day, and often the night, and then gamble the elements will prove favourable to their crops or livestock during the forthcoming year. If a farmer makes a profit he will pay tax on it. However if they makes a loss instead, there is no form of recompense on their loss.

Whatever our occupations, most people would not be happy in being told their pay was to be drastically reduced but that is the situation many farmers face on a year by year basis. Why do they do it? Well most farmers will tell you it’s a way of life that’s in the blood and they enjoy being in charge of their own business. It’s fortunate for the majority of us there are such people for without them the alternative would be mass starvation. Perhaps the Government should consider creating a special award for farmers in recognition of their services.

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January 2013

Posted on January 1, 2013 by Mick's Muses

I suppose as a new year dawns upon us, many may wonder what the next twelve months hold in store. It will come as no surprise to most sane people, particularly as we are still here, that the end of the world did not occur on 21st December despite predictions of doom mongers about the Mayan calendar. I have lost count of how many such false predictions I have heard during my lifetime. I sometimes feel sorry for those who follow such false prophets and have sold everything only to learn the obvious truth the following day.

The weather is likely to be a common theme having started the previous year with dire predictions of drought only to exit the year with one of the wettest on record. Scenes of flooding once a random event have now become a daily news event. I do feel sorry for those whose homes are affected, some on more than one occasion. The personal trauma of such events can be long lasting. I have read of one public house landlord who was flooded twelve time in twelve weeks and has now reached the point where he can no longer continue business.

Some people seem to think insurance is the answer but I can also understand the alternate point of view of the insurance companies. The companies are private businesses and no business is going to accept what is in effect, a guaranteed loss making bet. Certainly a drastic rethink on where to build new homes needs to take place. Seeing pictures of some of the newer properties that have flooded, it does make one wonder what flood prevention planning goes into these developments. If there is a unforeseen natural route for water to take, Mother Nature will certainly find it.

The Government is on the verge of breaking the long held policy of not building new homes on farmland and open countryside. Some cite the logic that it is the only way to meet the housing shortage. Apart from the terrible effect of forever destroying more of our scarce countryside, I believe the logic is flawed. It has long been established that building new roads quickly attracts even more traffic. Likewise ever building more and more new homes is likely to attract more and more people who in turn will require even more homes.

Being born immediately after the war, I was one of that initial surge of post-war baby boomers. It also means I am now edging towards mankind’s proverbial three score years and ten. I think for all that time, I have heard politicians from all political parties promising jam tomorrow in return for hard work today. I am still waiting for tomorrow to arrive. I was not born a cynic, but a combination of life’s hard knocks and eternal vacuous political promises makes me look any politician hard in the eye and seriously question them.

Personally I cannot help but feel there is now no political party that is fit for purpose although I do believe there are good people in the main political parties being held back by what has now become the old guard. A sort of dead-man’s shoes barrier. There is no doubt in my mind that many professional politicians not only in the UK but throughout the world are so cosseted and isolated from the realities of life, they quickly forget about real people and their very real problems as they play their political games. For many it is a reassuring comfortable well paid job for life regardless of whether they are in power or in opposition.

Europe is a good case in point. Starting out as a promise of a golden economic market place for all its members, which I and most people supported. It quickly degenerated into a power struggle as European politicians strive to create in effect, a United States of Europe despite denials. Something which people in most countries in Europe have not been allowed to vote on by fearful politicians waving their magic wands, to ensure this massive populace never gets the chance to decide their own futures on the way the EU is developing.

Instead of the short lived economic miracle, all that can be heard is various European governments preaching a daily diatribe of real austerity. I can only translate this once again as the eternal jam tomorrow promise. It should be clear to everyone except blinkered politicians, that situations like this cannot continue without real social damage and there is a real danger just like the Arab Spring, people will collectively say enough is enough with pursuant social unrest. Something I would not like to see but the potential of which I can see in the making.

This year will also see the mid-term point for what I believe is an exceptionally weak coalition government. In some ways, the halfway point of  a governments life is not dissimilar to the mid-life crisis some people experience. It is the point where realisation sets in that not only is the clock still ticking, but also that each swing of the pendulum is bringing the end of its life ever closer. That realisation is usually followed by greater awareness of how unpopular a government may be, often followed by an ever growing panic they may not get elected next time. I suspect there are those in the government who will become ever more fearful they will not get re-elected at all, forever losing all trappings of power and influence they may have once held. It is at such times cracks in the thin veneer of unity can no longer be papered over. I would not at all be surprised to see such divisions in the Government during the forthcoming year.

Immigration also has the potential to become something of a powder keg in the next twelve months.  2013 sees the lifting of settlement restrictions placed on some of  Europe’s newer and poorer member states come to an end. This means there will be millions of more people free to travel and settle wherever they like within Europe. No doubt with its generous welfare provisions, many people will be attracted to the UK. The question is whether the UK can absorb the influx of even greater numbers?

I abhor those those try to make race, religion or ethnicity an issue, but I think there is a case for questioning the affordability of large numbers of potential immigrants. A sudden influx of large numbers undoubtedly causes problems for housing, schooling, health care and so on. It could be like having someone knock on your front door asking for help and no matter how charitable you are, it’s seeing the queue stretching down your garden path and out of sight down the road makes one realise the potential enormity of the problem. This problem may not materialise but on the other hand it may. What then? I certainly do not have the answer but then I did not create the problem. The only people with answers are the politicians who created the problem in the first place. As we know, the only answer they ever have is jam tomorrow.

I for one would never pretend to forecast what the next twelve months will hold but I think some of what I have mentioned will be issues we will be hearing a lot more about.

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Happy Christmas Folks

Posted on December 18, 2012 by Mick's Muses

A Happy Christmas and Merry New Year to all my readers.

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Walthamstow – A brief return visit

Posted on December 2, 2012 by Mick's Muses
Hoe Street

Compliements of Google Maps

Each December my wife and I make the journey from Somerset to North-East London where I used to live. Our destination is Chingford Mount Cemetery to tend my mothers grave but often on our return journey we travel to an excellent Chinese supermarket called See Woo just south of the Blackwall Tunnel to top up on necessary supplies. Our journey is a distance of some 360 miles for the round trip travelling around both the northern and southern stretches of the M25 motorway. Although this distance is more than enough for anyone to drive in one day, fortunately the majority of the journey is via motorways or good standard dual-carriageway which helps make the journey more tolerable.

For a change we decided to vary our route a little from Chingford Mount to Woolwich to allow a brief visit down memory lane. Our little diversion was a straight line to the Crooked Billet, Chingford Road, Hoe Street and Leyton High Road to Leyton Town Hall before re-joining the East Cross route to Blackwall Tunnel.

Being a considerable number of years since we travelled this route, we fully anticipated seeing changes from what we used to know.

Apart from the road layout at the Crooked Billet, what was more noticeable was the standard of drivers or more accurately the lack of it. Now living in an area unused to traffic problems, it does seem that drivers in London seem to adopt a far more aggressive driving style performing the most discourteous of manoeuvres simply to gain a meaningless extra inch of advantage in a queue. I sometimes wonder if what some of these people undertaking what they might consider a “good days” driving would ever realise that a short time earlier and also later that day, I would be driving for some hours on end at a speed off at least 70mph and not crawling they way they are used to? I suppose it’s all a matter of perception. I also cannot help but wonder if some rude drivers ever realised I used to drive emergency vehicles and did, ( and still could), perform some driving manoeuvres they could only dream about.

In the main, the part of our journey from the Crooked Billet to the Bell junction at Forest Road did look more or less as I recall it. The old bus garage which was originally a tram depot had however undergone some transformation. The large garage with it’s rows of London Transport red buses were now replaced with housing and the former offices also appeared to have been converted to housing. It did however all appear to have been tastefully done.

Familiar shops in Hoe Street have certainly changed but given the nature of the retail industry, shop types and facades will always be in a constant state of flux. One of my favourite shops which was double fronted and sold items of electronic equipment had also unfortunately gone. I did note a complete new range of buildings from Browns Road to that well known haunt of the Rose and Crown public house. It was good to see this place was at least still flourishing.

Rounding the bend in Hoe Street by the old Granada cinema did however take me completely by surprise. As the vista towards Hoe Street Station came into view, staring me in the face was the uncompleted concrete profile of what appears to be a high rise block of flats or offices in creation, thrusting upwards above the rooftops. My once so familiar skyline  now completely dominated by what I consider a hideous blot on the landscape. When driving it is not possible to completely absorb everything one sees as concentration on the road and traffic clearly take first priority. It did seem as we drove past this building site that this construction was actually sitting atop of the railway bridge but I could be mistaken about that. When one no longer lives in an area it’s always wise to avoid disparaging remarks out of respects for those that still live there. I cannot help however but think that this construction however high it may finally be will visually do little for the future of Walthamstow.

Although it was sad to see the Granada still boarded up, at least the horrible fly posters that always seem to adorn empty buildings have been removed, for now anyway. I was also surprised to see the large open piazza area at the top of the High Street. The last time I saw Google maps this area was all behind hoardings which I fully expected to see. I know there has been much local controversy about this site but it certainly looks much improved at the moment. However as the site is so large and so empty  save for a few seats and flower tubs around the perimeter, I have the feeling this might only be a temporary arrangement. All of this does however is beg the question of why was the prosperous and modern arcade that once stood on this site demolished in the first place? It was an arcade well used by thousands and which enhanced both visually and commercially this great shopping area.

Most of the remainder of Hoe Street to the Bakers Arms appeared unchanged but again it was sad to see the public house which gave this area it’s name was now a betting shop. As I was waiting at the traffic lights at the Bakers arms I could not help but notice a wide concrete column with a white globe on top standing on the small island where the public toilets had once been. I cannot help but think if there was one public amenity so much used by everybody as well as sometimes being desperately required, why so many public conveniences have been removed across London. Their removal served no practical purposes and literally have inconvenienced many. I sometimes wonder if the toilets are still there underground with some sort of lid being placed over the entrances?

Leyton Baths which I knew so well have now disappeared and again by Leyton Green, growing overnight like a concrete mushroom appears to be another high rise block being built in Capworth Street. How nice it would have been for planners to have learned high rise building and suburban areas simply do not mix.

It was nice to see the old area again even if briefly, but such visits are always tinged with mixed emotions. Change is always an on-going process, most of what I saw was well done. Why on earth do planners have to spoil what is good with a few developments that quite frankly, appear so damn awful?

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Police Commissioner Who? – The people nobody wanted

Posted on November 16, 2012 by Mick's Muses

Possibly the most appalling election ever foisted on British public is finally over. A strange new beast in the form of Police and Crime Commissioners who nobody wanted, have now been imposed on the public with possibly the smallest slice of the electoral vote in history.

If ever there was a case of politicians failing to listen to what the electorate do not want, the PCC elections have proved just that.

In the lowest electoral turnout ever, the British public have clearly voted with their feet to express their collective displeasure at what will probably prove a contentious and possibly nonsensical new level of interference now injected into the police hierarchy.

The new Police Commissioners are supposed to set policy and budgets in police forces which in the main, have more than adequately done well enough on their own in the past. One of the problems with setting policy is most of the new commissioners are from political parties which is likely to lead to a wide difference in policy being set in each police area. Chief Constables may well have different ideas and all this election has done is set the stage for unnecessary confrontation between the two. If such confrontation occurs, ultimately it will probably be the public that probably suffer through effects on policing.

The turnout in the elections averaged between 13% – 20% with those elected only receiving a fraction of this derisory small percentage. There are claims that in some polling stations, no one cast any votes at all. Some will claim that it was apathetic voters failing to turn out but in truth, the majority of voters will not be dissimilar to myself. I am certainly not apathetic and I am quite proud to announce that for the first time ever, I DID NOT VOTE IN THIS ELECTION. I did not vote because I did not want police commissioners, however it is not possible under the electoral system we have to cast a no vote or where a candidate failing to secure a minimum percentage of the vote is not elected at all. Not voting was the only way that I and probably most of the electorate could silently voice our displeasure.

It is going to prove difficult for the new police commissioners to claim they have a mandate from the people to carry out whatever policies they subscribe to. The easiest thing for politicians to now do is admit the entire fiasco has been a big mistake and pass the necessary legislation to revert back to the previously and publically acceptable position. However what government will ever admit it made a mistake?

It now appears this distinctly uneven playing field has been set which as time passes is likely to prove even more unpopular with the public.

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Parkingstein–Son of Frankenstein

Posted on November 10, 2012 by Mick's Muses

Recently during a periodic social telephone call with friends living in East London, I was able to advise them of a forthcoming visit to London affording me of the opportunity to visit them at the same time. I was quite surprised, in fact taken aback to be informed I needed a permit to visit them. It transpired the local authority where they live have been introducing ever-increasing controlled parking zones throughout their borough faster than the spread of the ash tree disease about to ravage our country.

Being the inquisitive sort of person I am, a quick Google search revealed not only details of this visitors parking permit but what also seemingly gave me, the impression of what in due course, could be the start of a blossoming list of implied liberty curtailing measures.

The list included
 

  • Resident parking permits
  • Resident access permits
  • Resident visitor parking permits
  • Business parking permits
  • Business access permits
  • Disable resident parking permits
  • School visitor parking permits
  • Carer parking permits
  • Trade parking permits
  • Courtesy vehicle parking permits

It would be fair to say charges did not apply to all these permits with a mixture of either free, permit allowance or charges applied. However, unless I am reading things wrong, this list does seem to imply that permits will be required to drive through given areas let alone additional permits to park there. It does all seem a bit oppressive. Who knows, perhaps cars with even bigger windscreens will be required in future to display all these permits.

I live in a rural area not well catered for by public transport. My village attracts only two buses per week, other villages get none at all. While all the surrounding market towns do have parking charges in central shopping areas, all the large stores and supermarkets provide large toll free car parks for customers. Without private transport the rural economy would simply cease to exist. This is probably one of the reasons I found this list of permits such an anathema. Any local authority attempting to introduce such controls in rural areas know they would be proverbially hung, drawn and quartered by the electorate, irrespective of political colour thus allowing a deeper wisdom on this subject to prevail.

It was not just this one London borough in isolation introducing what I find oppressive parking controls, most of them seem to be at it in one way or another. I cannot but help feeling all these controls are creating a monster in the land of Parkingstein. I lived in London close to a large street market before I moved to Somerset over 20 years ago, where a degree of controlled parking became necessary. It was all introduced on the basis it would be free to residents, however we all now know the in the world of politics, even pledges mean nothing nowadays as most fee paying university students will testify. The free parking outside my old home now attracts an annual fee of £150 to residents with the original promise of a free scheme forgotten somewhere in the mists of time. Once introduced, parking controls inevitably attract fees in time, and once fees are introduced, the only route for them is to increase in price. Up… and up….. and up.

Taxation of vehicles now accounts for about 7% of the national economy with road fund licences and various forms of fuel taxation raising about £36 billion in 2009. Without this vital economic prop, draconian increases in taxation would be needed elsewhere. Many people, particularly in non-metropolitan areas,  do not use public transport as it either does not effectively exist in some parts of the country, it is too expensive, or it simply is inconvenient in meeting peoples travelling requirements. Without private transport much of the country would grind to a halt both physically and economically.

I always have a simple question I put to any politician be they national or local when they start spouting about the curse of the motor car, Why do you keep biting the hand that feeds you? Few politicians ever attempt a reply.

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