Catblogger

As a man who was born during WWII I am grateful for the men and women of my father's generation for doing their bit and poking the cold steel up the Gemans.  My problem at the moment is the celebration of the 65th aniversary of the landings which I understood took place on June 6th 1944.  So please explain why we are celebrating them in October?

Am I thick? Have I missed something important or am I reading the reports wrong?

Here I am getting ready to donate on poppy day and remember also the Anzacs and the rememberance in Australia and New Zealand when I am confused by the celebration of the D Day landings.

Put me right please.

Today I recall the wars we were involved in and those we have to justify.  I recall the fear of Cyprus, the stories of Palestine, the debacle of Egyptand the Suez canal, the tragedy of Korea, Malaya. the Mau Mau, Vietnam and the Balkans not to mention the stupid Falklands war where we nearly deployed Nuclear Weapons and of late the illegal intrusion into Iraq.  I question the wisdom of expecting a solution in Afghanistan. 

It all boils down to what is a 'just war' and considering Aristotle's explanation.  If we as a nation agree with our rulers that the war we are about to embark on is a 'just'  war, that is one that we cannot avoid waging because not to do so would destroy our way of life and hurt our people, then we should be taking part. 

I am convinced that the war against Herr Hitler was a just war and to celebrate winning is a good thing to do but I would not want to be confused  - did we land in October or June?  Or are we celebrating a particular phase of the war? 

I cannot see us celebrating the Afghan war unless it is the day we pull out with the job done or having realised that there is no winning decided that we have had enough.

And that brings me to my gripe about the BNP - they have no right to use icons from WWII to justify their fascist position nor to call on british people to identify with our religion to justify their position in society.  At a time when we are remembering the great fight against fascism their input into our consienceness is unwelcome.  Their claims detract from the D Day celebrations however confusing they may be.

I listen to the radio, work on my computer, read the newspapers and read books and sometimes I listen to music on tape and CD.  I have a television monitor on which I watch video reels and DVD movies.  I have no ariel connected to the monitro neither do I want one. 

This situation came about when I moved into a flat in Sheerness and discovered that I could not get a proper signal - I got bored and gave up trying. 

That was when the threatening letters arrived.  The aggresive nature of the letters; the unrelenting harrassment and the constant reminder that the property was unlicensed and therefore subject to a fine of up to £1000.00 etc only made me angry.  I wrote to them explaining that I do not recieve TV signals and even telephoned their office when a letter threatening court action arrived.

I became even more angry when the operator on the other end of the telephone began to read me the letter of the law without listening properly to what I had to say.   I was treated like a criminal.

The letters and the threats of court action dogged me for nearly three years with me telling them I do not use TV and them telling me it was a crime not to have a license.   I sent them christmas greetings, wrote sarcastic letters and explained that:
 
They were welcome to sue me if they could prove I was watching TV sans license.
That they would need a warrant to enter my place to inspect it.
For which they needed proof.
That as I was not recieving TV  signals there would be no proof.
Ergo I didn't need a license.

I also explained how they could make the enquiry letter more user friendly and continued to resist until at last they agreed to leave me alone for three years. The implication was that I might lapse and be a naughty boy and when I changed addresess the whole thing began again.

I wrote a letter of complaint and was contacted by their customer services department.  I put my case to them explaining that if were to connect to an ariel I would buy a license and explained that I was not actually a customer the whole process was redundant.

Year five and I have not had any letters from them.

I also explained that as I was into recycling I would recycle any further letters - put them into my blue bin unopened. 

I Thought that before I begin complaining again I need to cheer you up with a picture of our greatest national icon and introduce you to Ratty the Ship's Rat and talisman of Island Artists - we are aware that its live counterpart was  the carrier of the plague flea that ravaged Britain from time to time. 

So, it is a plague on the house of Tesco!

My cat showed consumer resistance to the products I had to use as an alternative to the one we have been using for the last few years - result I was out of pocket.  So on behalf of Sophie the cat I trooped down the Tesco customer service department and did me bit with the complaint.  I was fobbed off with a hurried discount before it became obvious that I was yet another disgruntled customer.  My request that the previous successful product be reinstated was ignored.

I have had no further reply from the company so I have sent a letter to the local store and another to the head office.  One was directly to the manager and the other had to be sent to customer service(Groceries). 

I bought a bag of cat litter from Aldi which is being used but again it is not the same quality. 

I will not bore you with the details but merely explain that I am beginning to realise that Tesco's do not want you to talk to them.  I will keep you posted as to progress.   Maybe I can keep this going for a couple of years as I did with the TV licensing people (I do not watch TV - do not recieve TV signals - ergo do not need a license)  But that is a different story.

So I had a reply from Tesco that said "Thank you for yourr feedback" and went on to say that they were always happy to get feedback from their customers in order to offere a better service.  Being somewhat cynical about their altruism I replied that as I was in fact making a complaint and would like an answer to my query. 

I used the alternative products - first the so-called lightweight clay which was unmanageable and heavy and followed that with a clumping product.  I will spare you the details but imagine a small flat filled with the aroma of cat pee, dust and bits scattered on the floor.  Problem: cleaning said dirt-box.  Again I will spare you the details but it is enough to say that I spend more time cleaning than actually doing the task.

So I tried the supposed alternative that seems better - a paper based product. The consumer resistance is noticable - Sophie pees and poos on the paper placed under the pan and scrapes disdainfully at the litter.

Sorry to force you to endure the details but I am annoyed by Tescos apparant stupidity in withdrawing what is a popular and useful product that actually works well. Idiots!

I am now thinking of completely abandoning Tescos and going elsewhere for my grocery shopping - like the changing of the gaurd I will be ringing the changes 

Sophie Puss - contemplating her navel.

For several years I have burbled along doing my weekly shop at my local Tesco store using it as a convenient one stop shop on my way home from work on  a Friday night.  A man of habit getting most of my fruit and veges and other groceries there as well as a selection of meat and fish.  I like a glass or two of red wine at the weekend so Tesco's wine racks were attacked as well.  So for a while all was well except that gradually I became aware of the insiduous increase in the Tesco brands that replaced the brand names that were my favorites.

I came to terms with the changes and showed mild annoyance at the 2 for 1 deals on products where to buy one was good but two meant waste.  I liked to buy my meat from the meat counter but the prices of meat when sky high and so I resorted to the packaged stuff which was cheaper.  As I shopped for dairy products, tea and coffee I began to be aware of brand names disappearing in favor of Tesco's own and that disturbed me.   The cost of a cheap bottle of wine rose by a pound and that annoyed me.

But the thing that gave me a wake up call against the company was when my local branch discontinued a most excellent cat litter product that  not only absorbed smells but was light and easy to dispense and dispose of, they replaced it with an inferior product.  I went to the customer service desk to complain as any grumpy old man would to discover the stock reply that it was a head office decision. 

To date I have had no reply to my emails and was fobbed off with a customer feedback card which was not what I wanted. .

Result: I am now becoming aware of the way Tesco's operates and will no longer let them control what I do as a customer.

Niggles:  The way they follow my buying patterns and offer me extra points on what I buy as if there is a camera looking over my shoulder.  The way Tesco's own brands are taking over the shelves.  The 2 for 1 and 4 for 3 deals that could be otherwise offered as genuine discounts.  The quality of the out of season produce - like the vegetables sold they are bland and uninteresting to taste - rot quickly and lead to waste.  The steady increase in cheap non-grocery goods many of which are so shoddy as to give no value for money.

Loyalty to Tesco's is loyalty to their high profits and the opression of the primary producer - not loyalty to the customer. 

Rant over. 

Getting grumpy am I and maybe for a reason. Although I sometimes agree with the idea of Identity Cards I am disturbed by the latest reports of High street retailers (Boots perhaps) being given the means to take the data and send it on. That is people who can possibly be put in the tempting situation to sell the information, falsify information after the bio-data is collected and act as a channel for government department bumbling.

I am suspicious of the terminology used in the report in The Times that suggests the pilot scheme is voluntary, and by insinuation, a voluntary system nationally when the only logical way is to insist that an ID card is a compulsory measure from the very launching. The Times articles seems to favor the scheme but as an added sting points out that it is now costing some 5.3 billion pounds which seems an awful lot of money to trust to a bunch of chemists' assistants in a retail store.

The further sting is that the cost to you and I, the poor punter, as rumors will have it is set at £60.00.

Now, I have two passports being a dual citizen, both of which I have paid for and intend to renew. The reason is because I want tor travel overseas and need them.

I do not watch television so I do not buy a TV license because I do not need one.

Logically unless there is a reason for me to need an ID card why should I purchase one if they are currently voluntary? I have a passport and a driver's license with my mugshot on both so why do I need an ID card. I know who I am.

If the government want us to comply willingly then the only logical way is to issue the ID cards for free - after all I do not pay for the one I have to wear at the school where I work.

Sophie Puss was born in New Zealand so when I moved back here I brought her with me.  She is a lovable, lively cat now ten years old and enjoys a game with a cheap toy although she is addicted to a catmint mouse bought from the PDSA stand in Queenborough two years ago.  I can put my hand into those sharp claws and teeth and play-fight without getting totally scragged.   My last cat - Toots - was a maniac and all the time she had sharp teeth and sharp claws its was a case of shredded fingers and antiseptic washes followed by sticking plaster dressings and using a chewable object instead.   Sophie is just as active but less ferocious. 

The rumors have it that in the near future we will be able to claim a subsidy for purchasing an electrically powered motor vehicle. Wow! Great idea? First we have to have the infrastructure in place to service them; next we have to realise that if everybody changed over we will have to have extra power supplied to make up for the demand and most importantly the money to pay for the change. Granted we have to find a way of reducing our energy use and pollution to try and conserve finite resources but we also need to take a look at the way we live and ask the question: do we really need the motor car?

Is it possible to channel the proposed electric revolution into a comprehensice transport system that will enable us all to travel at costs we can afford? We are used to travelling at will in cars often as sole occupants on journeys that could be better served by frequent, cheap and efficient public transport.

The knee jerk reaction to the dire situation of the car market by the government is silly. Without thinking the situation through the idea is daft because what is needed is an integrated system that will employ the minds of engineers and systems designers to produce a solution that has not just had money thrown at it.

For a person in my situation an electric car, a new car or even a better car is not a viable proposition - in other words I cannot afford it so it will be on the bus or foot using a rail card or perhaps a bike.

The proposed few thousand pounds for an electric car could be better used making public transport work The car makers can do what other manufacturers have had to do in the past - change to another product.

On a more cheerful note I thought I must talk about the place I live.  Sheppey and Sittingbourne in Kent is considered by some as an area of outstanding mediocraty.  Recently I took a stroll around Sittingbourne which is not the most attractive of towns I have to admit and I was pleasantly surprised at what I found.  I was taking photo's to put on our local writer's group website to show a little of the area's more attractive parts - an exercise to cheer people up who live there. 

The result was a Spring showing that even in the middle of town was pleasant.  Nice pubs and a cheerful looking street and some wonderful displays of daffodils and magnolias; the latter in gardens and the former also in gardens but as additions to public spaces including roadside berms, cemetaries, church yards and our local sports fields.

Sittingbourne can be a treat in spring. 

Now that the Somalian pirates have defied the US forces sent to assist and had the gall to hi-jack an American ship we are likely to see some fireworks. The oops factor has kicked in and these high seas criminals have made a mistake. When I was a boy I used to like the idea of a Pirate movie or playing game with my friends in which we, as pirates, captured ships and took prisoners who were made to walk the plank or captured one of the girls and held her hosstage, although one of them always wanted to be pirate captain. This as you can imagine was a bit of nuisance for us boys as we expecetd the girls to be girls and not tom-boys. Unfortunately this one was a tougher than some of us and got her way - she was also quite pretty and those early stirring unrecognised for what they were encouraged giving way.

The game was fun and although I had some idea that piracy was not all peg legs and parrots that squawked 'pieces of eight' I was happy to play my part. The sword fighting and the silly accents we adopted were all part of it as well as the romantic movie images, and of course the book Treasure Island, the story of Peter Pan and Hook and the popular hero worship of Sir Francis Drake who was little more than a state sponsored pirate if historians have it right. The bloodthirsty appeal of a pirate on the Spanish Main was a great draw for a boy. It was later as an adult that I realised how awful a pirate's life must have been; short, brutal and precarious.

Today we have an expectation of being able to travel wherever we wish within reason by air and sea and to be wise about going to places we consider to be dangerous, as westerners that is, but we do expect to cruise the seas with safety other than for storms and such sea borne hazards. Piracy doesn't come into it.

Except that is for the Somali pirates who are getting bolder. It is time they were reminded that attacking the US, European and Russian ships is a mistake. In 1941 the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and learned that the Paper Tiger had claws and teeth and they got badly mauled. The US was taken by surprise and in 2001 Al Queada attacked the US which created a reaction - the US got annoyed and fought back. That is a difficult fight.

The pirates of Somalia by attacking a US ship have grabbed a Tiger by the tail and the nature of tigers is to turn on their attackers and bite them. Oops! Let us watch the claws and teeth in action - take a lesson from Entebbe and the recent French attack to release a yacht siezed by the pirates, or from the bravery of the passengers inn the aircraft on its way to damage the White House.

When you insult American patroism you take a tiger by the tail and should expect to get bitten on the bum.