Don't You Just Hate It When…

I'd Rather Be Sailing!

Further to my last post related to white vans travelling on the British motorways and dual carriageways at speeds of often in excess of 100MPH and what I can only assume is a separate speed restriction for them, which allows them to travel at these much faster speeds…

For sins I must have committed in my earlier life, I frequently drive up to London from the south coast and during the journey, I’m constantly being overtaken by white vans flashing past, sometimes close to twice my regulated speed. Although, far from being a goodie-goodie, I travel at, or around the regulated speed nowadays, simply because I don’t want another speeding fine, points on my licence and over £200 piled onto my insurance at renewal, by what I suspected as a cartel arrangement unilaterally introduced by the less than compassionate insurance companies covetously capitalising on those who surreptitiously get caught speeding, in an effortless way to provide a boost to their revenue.

I digress…

I’ll come back to the real reason for this post.

As I have mentioned in previous posts, I have only recently returned to the UK after some ten years away, providing me with a appropriate platform from which to notice that which most have grown with over the years and either not noticed the changes or are not bothered by it.

Nevertheless, of the many changes that have systematically materialised during my absence, most represent a huge decline in deference, many are simply appalling and unforgivable, and many I am speechless of how they could possibly have been allowed to deteriorate so badly.

Anyway that aside, for now I just want to share with you all a recent event, which I found really quite amazing, despite it confirming my suspicions. These white vans I refer to are generally unmarked, quite new, often seen discarding cigarette butts, wrappers and other debris from one side or the other whilst travelling at high speeds.  On the motorway, driving south recently, two white vans sped past, one following the other quite closely, at the usual 100MPH plus in the fast lane. I was travelling at 70MPH in the centre lane as they roared off into the distance ahead.

Suddenly, I could see a police car in my rear-view mirror approaching from behind and travelling at an even grater speed. I thought then, ah ha, so the white van doesn’t actually have a separate speed limit after all, perhaps there is a little justified retribution in place for these speeding maniacs, as the full livery police car zoomed past with lights flashing and siren blaring. But to my complete astonishment came two white Mercedes sprinter vans together following the police car about six car lengths behind and travelling at the same speed. The second van appeared to be full of building workers, predictably flicking cigarette butts out as they sped off into the distance ahead as another white van roared passed close on the tail of the other two, and the police car.

This really was astounding. Perhaps the white van brigade are actually invulnerable after all. Does anybody know the answer to this conundrum?

…Don’t you just hate it when, there appears to be one set of law’s for one and another for others?

I know I have been out of the UK for a number of years but have the speed restrictions change to new categories? Because it seems that there is a new speed limit especially for large white vans.

Almost every large white van passes me on the road whilst I’m rigorously sticking to or close to the signed speed limit, dreading the thought of getting another speeding ticket. These white vans pass me going in excess of 30mph faster than me and they really don’t seem be at all bothered about the possibility of getting caught. So I can only assume that they have special speed regulations.

Anyway, as a little annotation to my last post, where I explained about my experience with a speeding fine… Well, last week my car insurance came up for renewal and to my surprise, instead of reducing with a year’s no-claim bonus, it had increased by some £200.00. When I queried it, I was told it was because I declared that I had picked up a speeding fine. So not only did I get a £60.00 fine and three points on my licence, my insurance also increased by over £200.00. Truly, where is the justification in that? Other than a way for the insurance company to create a new charge!

Don’t you just hate it when capitalisation snowballs?

Don’t you just hate it?

The way that the authorities have sited their revenue builder speed cameras in some of the most ridiculous places? Or are they ridiculous? Not really if you are the official responsible for creating the optimum income! I have only been back in this, my beloved Britain, for a short time. Well okay, it used to be my beloved Britain.

The point I want to make,is that I’m so damn nervous about speeding because of the stiff fines, despite the fact that I have never been caught speeding before in my life.

I don’t mean that I have never speeded- far from it! But now I stick pretty much to the speed limit. Unfortunately, I’m one of these guys who people find either irritating or annoying or perhaps both, because there really are very few countries I have not been. I have actually spent much more time out of the UK than in it. I have spent time in most of the world’s so called third world countries- African countries, the Middle East and Far East Asia to name but a few, as well as the most of the more Western countries.

*Off on a ranting tangent*
These ‘third world’ countries- which might surprise a lot of people- include the cheating authorities of Spain, who not only comply with near to none of the EU regulations, they have the audacity to claim a third world status, with all their new airports and motorways stretching from and to every conceivable destination across width and breadth of their vast Iberian country. With most everything state paid for, it’s new, everywhere you go! All paid for by the recurring £63 billion plus they rake out of the EU coffers every year, which ironically is around the same figure as the UK’s net contribution to the EU every year. I wonder how that can be?

However, the reason for incorporating my little rant in this post, was simply to express my experience and declare my observations elsewhere in the world including Australia which has to be the worst country for rules and restrictions of all kinds, which is rather ironic in itself, given the foundation the population was raised from; I have found no other country, outside of the US perhaps, that actually has such a large number of spy cameras per hundred metres as the UK. And having spent many years in the country, I feel I must add; not even Spain! But there, why should they need to waste money on spy cameras to raise revenue, when funds come in such an abundance to them so readily and regularly? Plus the fact that they have to do near nothing for to qualify for it, other than simply claim third world status! Perhaps the UK should swallow it’s traditional pride and do the same sooner, as opposed to the inevitable later!
*End of tangent*

Back to my real gripe of this post, I recently received a speeding fine through the mail. It claimed I was doing 43 miles per hour in a thirty limit. To give you a picture of the road, it is a vast dual carriageway, approximately two or three miles long, out of town, with only the occasional vehicle and about as busy mid-morning as the nearby beach on a bitter winter day! About a half-mile from the end of the vast dual carriageway they have strategically sited one of their revenue provider cameras. This camera has, according to locals, caught just about every driver who passes it. The road is clearly and understandably a 40mph area. But everybody knows, including the police, that they would not earn near so much if they were to change the limit. This makes me think, if my memory serves me well, there always used to be, about every fifty to eighty metre,s a small speed limit sign, letting us all know that we were actually in a 30 or 40 mph speed zone. Would the removal of these little licence savers be anything to do with assisting the authorities in revenue building from the easy-prey motorist? They not only impose around £200 per year road fund tax, they have to deceive us with their cunning little tricks to get even more money! So now I am extra careful, after not so proudly sporting three, new, never before acquired speeding points on my driver licence. I observe the speed limit, camouflaged or not, with a very keen eye, and drive dead on the limit all the time.

But does it stop there? No! Don’t you just hate it when a frustrated driver drives so close behind you he’s almost pushing you along? You can see the driver in you rear view mirror, growling agitatedly and making unpleasant gestures, because they don’t like the speed you are going, and can’t get past. Eventually, the road will open up and they will roar past at high revs, waving their fist and yelling at you, calling you a wanker, with hand gestures for emphasis. I couldn’t help it- I wasn’t deliberately trying to piss them off (this time), but having never had a speeding ticket- or worse, three points on my licence and a sixty pound fine- this came as somewhat of a unforgettable blow to me, and has subsequently made me a paranoid driver.

As the outraged driver speeds away into the distance, I have a little smile to my self, knowing that they’re not only going to pass that camera, or another revenue builder sooner or later, but that they are also very much out of touch with today’s politically correct terminology. You don’t say “wanker” anymore. The correct term is “owner operator”.

I don’t intend to get caught again. Apart from endeavouring to keep to the speed limits, I bought a terrific ebook that explains quite well how to twist things to get out of a fine or prosecution if you should get caught speeding. It makes interesting reading. If anybody would like a copy, just leave me a comment requesting one, and I’ll send it on to you free.

Obviously the guy who speeds and doesn’t know his terminology must already have a copy.

Don’t you just hate it?

Below are two links, both news articles from UK’s BBC newsroom today the 23rd July 2010. Each provides interesting reading and some quite significant facts that conspicuously interlink the two in such a way they could actually have formed just one article.

The first, as the title suggests the mortality rate here in Britain today reflects that of the 1920s and 30s:

“The Mortality gap widens”

It contains a report of study that suggests the health inequality gap in Britain is greater now than it was in the post-World War I slump and the Great Depression, and reflects: ‘The 1930s saw Britain – and much of the rest of the world – slide into the largest and most profound depression ever seen. The economy collapsed so much so that at one point a fifth of the workforce was unemployed.’

Although this was long before my time, and I suspect before that of many of you who might take the time to read this…

Don’t you just hate it?

Rather than rewrite the article here, you much follow the link and read it for yourself. But to add my cynicism and comment on this topic, I personally feel a logical reason is profoundly apparent. It comes down to the “poor” or the “lower class”, perceiving themselves to be (or, as I see it, conceiving themselves to be) ‘underprivileged’. Even with more money- as is often the case- I see it quite clearly as being very much of their own making, fundamentally because they simply do not know how to live, or more considerably, how to manage or spend their money. And nowadays, this money for the so-called “lower class” is often provided free for them by others. Those others, I consider, are in reality the less fortunate, as they actually have to work for the money (as a casing point my last post reveals).

I see that the self-proclaimed “lower class” (who were ironically, once questionably referred to as the working class), more often than not, have more liquid cash than the so-called middle class, but simply manage it so very badly. Along with their inherent vulgarity, they clearly substitute need with greed. Constantly stuffing themselves with trash food like greasy fish and chips, processed meats, ready made meals etc., while actually making no allowance for the health benefiting consumption of vegetables, salads or fruit (much of which, until quite recently, was home grown by the shrewd, traditionally conservative-minded people of our society, from whatever class, making a big contribution to a household budget). These same people do, nevertheless, seem to have sufficient money to own all the latest gadgetry, yet appear to consider they have a more difficult and oppressed life than the their so-called “better off” fellow countrymen.

Don’t you just hate it?

The other significant BBC new article is this:

‘“Eating less meat may be the key to keeping a healthy weight”

A European study of almost 400,000 adults found that eating meat was linked with weight gain, even in people taking in the same number of calories. The strongest association was found with processed meat, such as sausages and ham, the Imperial College London team reported.’

Don’t you just hate it?

Don’t you just hate it when the sun comes out in the UK?

A little intro, to get things in context…

Do you happen to be an everyday, considerate, respectable kind of person, who works a a regular nine to five job and pays your taxes? And do you find that, even when you have a tight handle on your finances, there are barely enough funds to meet your commitments?

You are perhaps married, have a mortgage, with a family to bring up and to provide an education for. You live frugally; save all year to take a holiday for week or two in Cornwall, the Lake District or perhaps somewhere cheaper like Great Yarmouth. Then you’re broke once more, and the cycle starts all over again.

You may be from middle class background, which- through natural pride and dignity- you are wearily endeavouring to uphold, in these financially difficult times. In this case, you might have a boarding school and university education, and a better job, but the story’s just the same. You’ll likely have a more substantial house, which costs considerably more to upkeep. The mortgage repayment will be significantly more. Because you don’t want your children to have any less of an education than you had, that too will cost more. You still have to put money aside for a rainy day and your annual holiday, which may involve a plane journey destination, because that’s what’s expected of you.

This hamster-wheel syndrome doesn’t change much from one type of background- or “class”- to another.

So, what I am getting at here?

When the sun comes out in the UK a noticeable phenomenon develops.  The flies, wasps and all the other bugs that seem not to have a worthwhile function in this world, come out in their droves. And something else, similarly unsavoury, also comes out in droves…

When the sun comes out in the UK, it seems to have a dramatic effect on common sense, judgement, reasoning, behaviour, dignity and ethics. There is a sudden upsurge in people- more or less- doing things you just would not expect humans to do- at least not in the developed world. It also seems to draw out all those who would otherwise be at home glued to their settee in front of the television, no matter what was showing.

This, itself, is something that’s always bewildered me- why do big companies bother wasting their money putting sophisticated ads, and indeed, expensive, complicated products on television? They should know that there is only about one percent of the television viewing public capable of understanding them, or relating to them.

Anyway this particular rant is not about incomprehensible advertising decisions. I want to talk about those same masses, all leaving their bug ridden sofas and television to invade the beaches and parks, bringing with them all the their creature comforts.

The noticeable phenomenon that I specifically refer to is, the masses of overweight and otherwise slobbish people who monopolise the parks and beaches during the summer sunshine months. The worst of that is, as the sun goes down, they proceed flood all the town paths and even the roads on their way to the bars and fast food joints- or the car parks for those leaving for home early. They emerge almost simultaneously, like an oil slick of giant cooked lobsters and crayfish, blocking traffic and squeezing in everywhere, with their greasy, sweaty, sun-cream logged, uncovered flabby bodies.

I refer to those otherwise full time stay at home benefit scrounging blobs, living off the hand out they have so cleverly manipulated (or perhaps I should be kind and say benefit dependants)! Those who tuck themselves away for the winter, often doing their undeclared little jobs on the side to keep them more comfortably in cigarettes and booze, during the cold winter months, while they sit on thier new leather lounge suite, watching their 46 inch plasma TV and playing on their latest computer and all singing all dancing iPhone, and other electronic gadgetry that only these kind of people can afford to buy. Those same people who have the latest model of BMW sitting outside on the roadside, waiting to transport them to the supermarket every weekend to collect and bring home two heaped trolleys of cigarettes, booze and expensive ready made meals, providing their needs of three meals per day for each family member. Never having to consider the purchase of raw materials to make and cook their own more healthy food. Never passing a thought for what they might save by doing so or perhaps putting some money aside for a rainy day. No, not these people, and they don’t have a grain of remorse abut it!

They clearly feel they are right to assume the benefit of a Robin Hood approach! But why should they need to concern themselves? They don’t have to pay any of the things that those who go out to work have to pay for, yet they commonly receive the equivalent of the standard take-home pay (or more) than the average working person. Plus they don’t have to pay community tax like everyone else. They regularly wreck the houses they are given to live in, because their ethics don’t stretch to that of it not being there property and thus, more care being taken!

They are given money to pay for absolutely all their living expenses, including their rent, heating etc. It’s all provided relentlessly, every month without fail, from an incredibly dependable sauce. Sadly there could be just one inconvenience for them though; they may have to take the giro to the bank or post office to cash it. This of course depends on what arrangement they have set up with their benefit provider or indeed as often the case and not surprisingly, no bank will give them an account, for obvious reasons.

As I understand it, even that is now generally taken care of for them all. Assuming they can get a bank account, they have their money paid directly to their bank account by their weekly or monthly payment from one kind of government or local council funded benefit or another. The sad thing is that all those billions of pounds of funds that are made available each and every month, to those unscrupulous layabout good-for-nothings are directly funded, not by those who dispassionately hand out the funds!

No, the funds are unjustly proved by those who work for their living, pay their taxes and support their family. Those who frugally plan their spending, those who are careful about how and what they spend, often becoming unpopular situation with their children and spouses from having to maintain such restrictions, because of their need to be frugal. If they save to have extra things, they have a two or three year old model car, which they keep in either in a garage or off the road, on a purpose-made parking space or driveway. It’s only due to the decency and ethics of these very same people, this grossly inequitable phenomenon and in my mind unforgivable situation is able to exist!

The irony here is to get where those unethical types are today, and live in relative carefree luxury as they do, their approach was to hold strike action to effectively achieve a life of living off the state (though I see it as living off those decent people with ethics, who are willing to work in an attempt to provide a better living for themselves the actions of the unethical working masses). From the late eighties and nineties, with their strikes and tunnel vision, ultimately resulted in the inevitable demolition and absolute downfall of all substantial British industry. Once we were world leader in shipbuilding, steelworks, car industry navigation electronic and many other industries. But no more. Who has it right in today’s Britain?

Have the standards really dropped so badly in our country, that it is considered sociable to invade the streets of the towns in a state near undress? I was in a restaurant recently and two of these delightful overweight creatures came in, sweaty bodies, no shirts on and badly sunburned. The staff looked on in disgust, but, clearly reluctantly, they served them, straight-faced and unenthusiastic. Thankfully they were not there long, because, appropriate to their state of dress and ethics, they gulped their food so quickly that their teeth had no work to do. There had to be a law past to stop people smoking inside public places- does it mean to halt this sad decline into slobbishness, a law will have to be made to retain a little respectability?

To conclude, perhaps we should consider a balance of what the end result might be in the event of a reversed situation- if we were to assume today, that the “ethical” retaliated, and took the same or a similar approach to that of the reprehensible “unethical”. For reasons briefly discussed above, they would undoubtedly paralyse the country, leaving nobody to provide for the masses of benefit scrounging. It would certainly be sad that they had not put something away for a rainy day, would you not agree?

Wouldn’t they just hate it?

Tesco, the largest chain of supermarkets in the UK, sprang up quite rapidly in the eighties, and served to enhance the standards in terms of advanced efficiency, staff training and refinement. Overpowering all other supermarkets, Tesco took no time at all to quickly become the largest of all UK supermarkets, and to have sizable representation in other counties around the world.

I had the pleasure only a couple of years ago, when in Thailand, to be able to stock up with recognisable provisions at their superstore, before I set off on the long Indian ocean crossing to South Africa. This was quite a treat- with the exception of Singapore, this was really the only place I’d been able to source Western style provisions, since leaving Australia a year previously.

However, Tesco’s once-impeccable standards seem to be long gone. The strict policies implemented then, contrast starkly with today’s somewhat abysmal standards. Perhaps this is due to the enormity of their current size and demand- I see it as a monumental task, managing and keeping so many stores supplied, in so many diverse locations. Nevertheless, I remember a beautiful time, not so long ago- a time when shelves were never refilled or restocked during the day, yet when one would be hard pushed to find an empty shelf where an item had run out; a time when supermarket employees were ever-available to assist, and when supermarket shopping, all-in-all, was a suitably pleasant experience.

Tesco had it so well organised back then.

Alas, this is not quite the case today. Often, one is unable to get near the food displays, due to as many as three or four huge loading trolleys preventing you from getting within reaching distance, with not a staff member to be seen. It is also commonplace nowadays, to find a big void or an empty carton, where the product you sought had once been.

Then there are, of course, those other frustrations, for which the company can’t be blamed. Take, for example, that person, who blocks the isle with their loaded trolley, whilst enthusiastically and long-windedly chatting away to a long-lost friend. This particular type of ‘supermarket idiot’ invariably makes at least one appearance, in any given shopping trip. I wonder- is it that they are eluded by the powers of observation, or simply that they lack any consideration or respect for others?

Whatever the reasoning behind their idiocy- don’t you just hate it?

However, there is something riles me very much more than that. Don’t you just hate it when you’re standing at the deli counter, waiting for your turn to be served, and detect a sudden, stale, sweaty smell, that’s neither strong cheese, nor Parma ham. You turn in the direction of the stench, part curious and part horrified as to its source… You are faced with the sweating epitome of slobbishness. An absent shirt showcases more rolls than the bakery, and baggy jeans ride low enough to display pubic hair and the crease of a backside. I swear, if he were to move suddenly- or perhaps cough- they, like the missing shirt, would also be off his flabby body.

Needless to say, your appetite for a cheese sandwich is quashed.

Is this the way things are going there in the 21^st century – no consideration or decorum?  I can’t be alone with these thoughts, can I?

Don’t you just hate it?

Don’t you just hate it when…

Driving along an empty road, you approach a pedestrian crossing, one of those pelican crossings, whereby the traffic lights are operated by pedestrians, wanting to cross the road…

There’s no traffic, only you, approaching from a distance of some fifty or sixty meters back. The pedestrian presses the button, then looks, notices that they can cross anyway, and do so. Of course, by the time you reach the crossing, the light has turned red, thus forcing to stop and sit there, wasting your time and your fuel, waiting for it to go green. All because an inconsiderate- or perhaps more appropriately, stupid- pedestrian has nonchalantly and unnecessarily pressed the bottom when the road is quite clear and free for them to cross, as they would have done, had there been no pedestrian crossing at all.

As if there are not enough obsticles and traffic lights to hamper drivers, causing greater congestion and additional pollution in our towns.

Perhaps there should be a test for pedestrians, as there is for drivers… Or maybe a basic IQ test would suffice?

Don’t you just hate it?