Just as I had arrived two young ladies, both wearing very mini mini skirts and stilettos, entered ahead of me; I queued behind them to wait my turn to tell the receptionist that I was there. What followed was surreal, the two ladies in question were both Eastern European and I’m not exaggerating when I say that neither spoke fluent English. One of the girls (neither seemed much over twenty) had a toddler in tow and she, apparently, had received a letter telling her to bring the child to the surgery at 3:00 PM that day. The receptionist asked for her name and address and entered them into her PC to find out what her child was there for and who was supposed to be seeing him. This was when things started to get weird; there was nothing on the PC about this lady, her child or even her address. The receptionist then asked to see the letter so she could ascertain why they had no record of this appointment. The lady hadn’t (?) brought the letter with her so it wasn’t possible for the receptionist to find out anything else. All she could tell her was that she didn’t appear to have an appointment at this surgery. It was at this point that the young “lady” went Ape-Shit, shouting and swearing (somehow she knew all those English words) and blaming the receptionist for sending her the letter. Eventual she stormed out of the surgery shouting, saying, I think, that if she were sent another letter she would ignore it; the receptionist, who by this time had also started to lost it, responded by saying next time don’t be so stupid and bring the letter with you…what fun!
After my heroic trek to the surgery, it’s all the way across the other side of the road, I decided to be even more adventurous and walked up the Kingsway to meet Han on her way home from school. On her way home she was planning to go, by herself, to the shops on Watergate Lane so I wanted to meet her be sure she was OK (that’s us over protective Dads for you). I got as far as The Chase before Han and Deb drove passed me (Deb having had the same idea and having driven to Watergate on her way home). Screech of brakes, one handbrake turn and four smoking tyres (Deb you’ve gotta stop watching Ashes to Ashes – You’re not Gene Hunt and you haven’t got a Audi Quattro) later they stopped and waved me over. Bugger, getting into a car is difficult and very painful; It’s like being Paris Hilton trying to get out of a car when she’s not pissed and trying not to flash her pubes to all and sundry…as if!
Anyway, I went to bed around 4:00 AM again, fell asleep in the chair…again, and dropped off until Deb and Nat woke up around 6:00. Grabbed my phone and put the Today Programme on (this is becoming a habit; at this rate I'll know who’s who in the new UK Government if I’m not careful!) to find out what had happened in the world overnight…sod all apparently, alright, yes, a nuclear bomb had exploded in some godforsaken arsehole country somewhere on the other side of the World and yes hundreds of thousands of foreigners had been killed but as none of them were British it obviously wasn’t important…was it?
Talking of politics…and who isn’t? Last nights Question Time; what is it with the UK political system, the labour party in particular, and the idea of Betrayal? One of the panel on last nights programme was Mehdi Hasan Senior Editor (politics) of The New Statesman and all he harked on about was the Lib Dems betrayal (see his article here) of it’s electorate!!! Yes, many people did vote Lib Dem tactically to keep out the Tories but don’t forget many people also, probably, voted Lib Dem in their constituencies to keep out Labour. The bottom line is that we ended up with a hung Parliament and when this situation arises that are only a limited number of options open to those who find themselves elected:
1. Another Immediate Election;
2. The Governing Party tries to remain in power as a minority government;
3. The Largest Single Party (if different form 2. above) attempts to form a minority government, potentially followed by the next largest etc;
4. Two or more of the party's enter into an arrangement to form a coalition government;
5. there isn’t a five!
Surely, if the Lib Dems sincerely believed that the only viable strategy they could follow was to enter into a coalition with the Tories, in order to ensure the stable government our economy so desperately needs NOW, then this cannot constitute a betrayal of it’s electorate. Indeed, the very essence of Lib Dem support for proportional representation is this; that it will 1. be more representative of the views of the electorate as a whole and 2. as a result of this governments are most likely to be coalition governments made up of the parties that occupy the centre ground. This is especially true when you realise that there was no way, regardless of what Gordon Brown might have wished for, that the Parliamentary Labour Party (PLP) were going to ally themselves with the Lib Dems. They were well aware that although no one had won the election they had most certainly lost it; the best they could hope for was to withdraw to the sidelines, lick their wounds, reorganise and let others take the hard decisions. Their cynical (and it was utterly cynical) hope
Betrayal, the same sad old song of the two party first passed the post system; a word loaded with emotions, all negative, designed to shame those who desire change.
Anyway, after the Today programme finished I retuned to Radio Leicester, it was that or Desert Island Discs, to discover that there are plans under way to reopen The Silver Street arcade (about fucking time it should never have been closed you philistines!!!) after how long…10 years…more?
DIGRESSION :- I used to love that place, whenever I used to come into town on a Saturday (before we had the kids when I actually had some money to spend on myself) to do my semi-regular tour of the bookshops, Smiths, Lewis’s (who remembers that Lewis’s had a pretty good bookshop near the Charles Street ground floor entrance - Deb worked there one summer and put the first Gringos book – Guns Across the River [J. D. Sanderson I believe pen name of another of the Piccadilly Cowboys] away for me to make sure I got a copy), Midland Educational (now Waterstones), the second hand book stalls in the market and (is it still there?) Wharf Street South 2nd Bookshop (last time I was there about 15yrs ago I think it had more porn than paperbacks…2nd hand porn and I mean SECOND HAND…Yuck).
Anyway, it would seem that Silver Street arcade is finally getting the facelift it has so long required and should reopen in about 18 months. I just hope it doesn't get filled with nothing but expensive ladies shops, buy which i do mean shoe shops, clothes shops, jewellery shops and sundry
Well of course, this being local radio, the reporter on the scene had to ask members of the public what they thought. The first person they stopped in the street to ask about their recollections (remember it’s been shut for al least ten years) turned out to be a young man of Eastern European (judging by the accent) extraction who did not speak English…where do all these Eastern Europeans come from I asks you? Oh God, I’m turning into that bigoted woman. After that they stopped people who either didn’t have any memories of any kind or were children when it was last open. As for the people who rang in this morning, one old chap said it was a good thing, because it had been shut for WEEKS!!! We have the radio on during the night when I’m at work and it does seem that those people who do ring in, especially the ones that ring in regularly, are all slightly “special” in their own special way!
Below are some photos of Silver Street Arcade in better days, before it went completely to the dogs; as you will see it’s got fantastic potential, just so long as it doesn’t get monopolised by up market shops, selling over priced clothing to ladies who lunch!
Before I forget, I received an email from Dawn this morning, in reply to my email requesting her mobile number, which did not contain her mobile number.
However, at least I know now that her daughter Sam, who gave Han all those smashing clothes, loves galaxy chocolate. So Han now YOU know what YOU can get her to say thank you…don’t YOU!
That evening Nat had the annual Vipers presentation evening at the club. He didn’t win any awards this year (he won most improved player two years ago) but a good time was had by all. Below are some videos Deb took, I couldn’t go because of the stairs there and my crutches, unfortunately she didn’t take any still photos!
And finally; for all you political junkies out there here’s: A Clickable Guide to the New Cabinet
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