Today, I had 'one of those days'.
On 'one of those days', pretty much nothing goes well. For example, on 'one of those days', you buy the wrong type of train ticket so that you get stranded in London for an extra hour and half. On 'one of those days', your train from Stafford to Stoke is canceled because of vandalism on the line. And on 'one of those days' you get to Stoke by replacement bus service just as your train to Kidsgrove is leaving the platform.
At times like this, I think it's entirely reasonable to give up at this stage and get a taxi home - £11.50 well spent.
However, I am not here to grumble about the service I received or the inconvenience to which I was put.
Buying the wrong ticket was largely my fault, although a little extra advice at the station could have helped me avoid it. I certainly don't blame the train company for vandalism on the line caused by a few idiots and I think, on the whole, that arranging a replacement bus in 40 minutes is pretty good going. Equally, the timing of the Kidsgrove train is one of those things too. I do think a few staff on the station to help address any issues would have been useful but there you go. And I'm going to try to claim the taxi fayer back so I may well not have anything to moan about there, either.
What does rather make my blood boil is that one particular idiot at Stafford decided that the best way to deal with an unforeseeable train delay was to moan and bully platform staff to try to get his own taxi from Stafford to Stoke paid for by the train company. Moderately more annoying is the fact that it seems to have worked.
I was taught by my parents that nice boys are polite to other people. I also think that when a member of the platform staff is clearly having a bad day for reasons well out of his control, it wouldn't really hurt to cut him a bit of slack and let him do his job which was, as far as I can see, to try to help us out.
It is therefore pretty annoying to find that the Station Manager not only puts up with but also panders to aggression from one passenger out of twenty or so ultimately resulting in him getting special treatment above and beyond that received by more reasonable passengers.
Unfortunately, the logical lesson from this approach is that we should all turn into pillocks and harangue and berate any member of staff we can find whenever we are slightly inconvenienced. It is not entirely unlike giving in to kidnappers or paying ransoms, although I do admit that it may be a slightly less serious case!
I, however, will not be swayed. Despite having 'one of those days', I arrived home pretty relaxed and generally at one with the world because I decided to go with the flow and let events take their course. I was also feeling a little self satisfied because on the announcement that our replacement coach was awaiting us to whisk us to Stoke, I took a moment to thank the platform bloke for his help and he seemed pretty grateful for my effort. The end result of this will hopefully be that my heart attack will come just that little bit later (not unlike my train!) than that of the ignorant arse already mentioned.
So in times of crisis, chill out and be nice to harassed people - let's all spread a little joy in the world! :)
Monday 22 June 2009
Monday 8 June 2009
Election Fever - update
Well, it turns out there was good news and bad news.
* Good news: West Midlands didn't elect a BNP MEP.
* Bad news: The North West and North East did - arse!
* Good news: West Midlands didn't elect a BNP MEP.
* Bad news: The North West and North East did - arse!
Sunday 7 June 2009
Election Fever - A Plague on Both Your Houses
Well, sitting here and listening to the results of the European election, I find myself musing on why it is that I'm nervous of getting a few BNP MEPs in. And, if that happens, there's at least a chance that the electorate of Stoke could have played a part.
Are the people of Stoke particularly right-wing, particularly racist or particularly stupid? Not, I think, any more than in other areas. OK, I'll acknowledge that Oswald Mosley's blackshirts did particularly well locally back in the thirties, which isn't a great thing to have on your scorecard. But we are also, as discussed earlier, renouned for our friendly disposition which must count in our favour.
Far more important, I think, is 20, 30 or even 40 years of industrial and economic decline, during which the very industry that is the reason for the development of Stoke-on-Trent pretty much collapsed entirely. This has led to many old certainties being yanked away from the people of the area. Mass unemployment, a move away from skilled jobs and uncertainty in where future security will come from make people very scared. It is in these circumstances that the relatively recent growth of the number of people from black and minority ethnic groups is seen, quite wrongly, as a threat.
In these difficult circumstances, what we need is neither a shift to the far right nor ineffective local government by the major parties.
Desperate times call for inspiring leadership and clear direction, as has clearly been seen in other UK cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle/Gateshead. However, the governance of Stoke-on-Trent has failed singularly to meet the demands placed upon it in almost every respect. Local councillors seem to be remote from their electorate and highly insular.
It pains me greatly to say that our friends of the far right seem to have worked out that being seen to help 'local people' with 'local issues' is a great way to appeal to voters. Whilst labour, conservative and a good chunk of independent councillors are swanning around, attending lunches and generally screwing the City, BNP types are raising issues that matter to local people and getting results. Things such as broken fences, speed bumps and other such things do matter to real people.
I also fear that mainstream politicians are scared of addressing the race issue. I have no qualms whatsoever about stating boldly and clearly that the increasing diversity in our City brings great benefits to us all. I am also clear that the way to bring new prosperity to the area is not to turn in on ourselves, but to establish a clear and positive vision for the City and to go for it with all that we've got.
Our politicians fail us when they refuse to expose the policies of the extremists for what they are: ineffective (actually disasterous) as well as racist in the extreme.
I hope, possibly in vain, that all our politicians will learn something from the recent elections, political turmoil and failure to deliver. I hope that they will step up to the challenges ahead of us, genuinely engage with residents of the City (or 'voters', if that helps to focus minds) through practical problem solving and also make sure that a vision for the City that is both optimistic and realistic, is developed and implemented to drive us to a future that is very much brighter than the present.
Are the people of Stoke particularly right-wing, particularly racist or particularly stupid? Not, I think, any more than in other areas. OK, I'll acknowledge that Oswald Mosley's blackshirts did particularly well locally back in the thirties, which isn't a great thing to have on your scorecard. But we are also, as discussed earlier, renouned for our friendly disposition which must count in our favour.
Far more important, I think, is 20, 30 or even 40 years of industrial and economic decline, during which the very industry that is the reason for the development of Stoke-on-Trent pretty much collapsed entirely. This has led to many old certainties being yanked away from the people of the area. Mass unemployment, a move away from skilled jobs and uncertainty in where future security will come from make people very scared. It is in these circumstances that the relatively recent growth of the number of people from black and minority ethnic groups is seen, quite wrongly, as a threat.
In these difficult circumstances, what we need is neither a shift to the far right nor ineffective local government by the major parties.
Desperate times call for inspiring leadership and clear direction, as has clearly been seen in other UK cities such as Manchester, Leeds and Newcastle/Gateshead. However, the governance of Stoke-on-Trent has failed singularly to meet the demands placed upon it in almost every respect. Local councillors seem to be remote from their electorate and highly insular.
It pains me greatly to say that our friends of the far right seem to have worked out that being seen to help 'local people' with 'local issues' is a great way to appeal to voters. Whilst labour, conservative and a good chunk of independent councillors are swanning around, attending lunches and generally screwing the City, BNP types are raising issues that matter to local people and getting results. Things such as broken fences, speed bumps and other such things do matter to real people.
I also fear that mainstream politicians are scared of addressing the race issue. I have no qualms whatsoever about stating boldly and clearly that the increasing diversity in our City brings great benefits to us all. I am also clear that the way to bring new prosperity to the area is not to turn in on ourselves, but to establish a clear and positive vision for the City and to go for it with all that we've got.
Our politicians fail us when they refuse to expose the policies of the extremists for what they are: ineffective (actually disasterous) as well as racist in the extreme.
I hope, possibly in vain, that all our politicians will learn something from the recent elections, political turmoil and failure to deliver. I hope that they will step up to the challenges ahead of us, genuinely engage with residents of the City (or 'voters', if that helps to focus minds) through practical problem solving and also make sure that a vision for the City that is both optimistic and realistic, is developed and implemented to drive us to a future that is very much brighter than the present.
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