Hi Everyone
One of the recurring themes for those of us approaching middle age is that life was so much simpler when we were young than it is today. At our junior school we had nine classes with nine teachers, a headmaster, nearly always a man although nearly all our teachers were women, a secretary, a school caretaker who was scarier than the Headmaster, and a couple of cleaners. Now that same school will probably have a staff of thirty. A planning application took eight weeks and if that period was extended to allow for further consultation it was probably no more than three weeks. This week I saw that someone had bought a listed building to modernise and possibly extend. By definition, a listed building will be usually an old building judged to be of historical importance and rightly there are strict guidelines for what can or cannot be done in order to maintain the integrity of the building. In this instance, it took the owner three and a half years to gain the necessary permission. By any standard that is ridiculous. Now, we almost accept a thirty to sixty minutes wait to speak to someone when we phone a large company or government agency. All that is before we even mention the problems of getting to see a doctor or hospital care. We will obviously not return to a simpler way of life but is legitimate to ask how we got from then to now and what we can do to ensure that bureaucracy does not get any worse.
I cannot remember the Senior Partner ever walking through the front door of the Fruit, Vegetable, Flower, Game, and Lolly shop and I was there for just over twenty years. Whenever she went out she went through the back door which thirty yards later took her to the Junior Partners car. The row of shops started with a grocery shop then the FVFGL shop, followed by a fresh fish shop, another grocery shop, a shoe shop, a mini library and gift shop, and finally a shop selling beer, spirits and soft drinks. This lovely mix of businesses were all well kept and were all lived in by their owners. Now that same row starts with an empty shop then a dog groomers, another empty shop, a Chinese takeaway, another empty shop and finally a sun bed and vaping shop. All have dismal grey aluminum shutters and none of them are lived in. Just one example of thousands of shopping streets in today's Britain, and they called the 1950s the bad old days. Now it pains me to see the sad demise of those shops, and unbelievably, the back of the shops where the Senior Partner escaped to the car is even worse with bins and litter everywhere.
This week I was at the checkout at our local supermarket with my £7 of food. In front of me was a young mum with a trolley full of £107 of food for her family. As we waited we exchanged a few pleasantries. She was a young black lady and I was intrigued to learn more about her background and roots but obviously, I would not invade her privacy. The next day the Queen's longest serving lady in waiting was forced to resign as she apparently asked a black lady at an event at Buckingham Palace where she came from. At first, I thought why cannot you ask someone where they came from until I read the text of the conversation. She repeatedly asked where she was from and even when the black lady explained that she was British born, she still continued her verbal abuse. Sadly another example of intolerence and that some people who should know better that they think that they can say whatever they want. It then occurred to me that I can say whatever Rubbish I like in this blog but I try hard not to offend anyone except Boris, Donald, Putin, and the Senior Partner.
Just a Thought:
Why did the teacher marry the school caretaker? He swept her off her feet.
In a bureaucracy, accomplishment is inversely proportional to the volume of paper used.
Brian
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