A News Junkie

Isn't it strange how in a matter of days our perspective on world events can change completely. Only a week ago, we were worrying about the renegade state of North Korea and threats to destroy its neighbours and the United States. Given the events of the last few days, this all feels like old news, already consigned to history. No longer is it top of the world news agenda,. overtaken by the tragic events of the last week in Boston, Massachusetts. We live in a world of ever changing events where news is instant and often breaks through social media and on Twitter before it reaches our television screens. I daresay North Korea will be top of the news agenda again very soon, for it is on a continuous loop building up to issuing new and more daring threats. The last few days have seen a battle of good versus evil played out on 24 hour news feeds, more akin the the plot lines of Criminal Minds or Rizolli and Isles and demonstrating that the more powerful and secure country in the world can also be the most vulnerable. It has been a terrifying reminder for many.
I love news, I have to know what is going on and rather than go looking for it, I have it fed to me. E-mail updates, newspapers sent to my Kindle and SMS messages keep me in touch will domestic and world events. I'm a news junkie and in this 24 hour multi-media world, I've adapted well. A curious mind does.
We are probably more informed than we ever have been. There are some things we would perhaps prefer not to know about, but we know more about the world around us than ever before and we are all able to comment on what we see and hear, and for that same world to know. Now that's truly something.

Why Make Things So Difficult...?

I visited my mum in hospital yesterday where she is recovering after being assaulted in Spalding on Monday. She is at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital, a fair drive from where I live. I was pleasantly surprised by the car parking as this is normally notoriously difficult and stressful at any hospital. Instead, I was able to get parked quite close to the entrance without having to hunt for a vacant space.
The hospital is huge. It was my first time there, quite a feat given the number of years I have lived in Lincolnshire. It all seemed quite modern and organised.
However, what did strike me as very odd was the lifts and the extraordinary arrangement in place for calling a lift for a designated floor.

Instead of the traditional method of pressing an up or down button, you have to enter your required floor number on a panel. The panel then tells you which of the four lifts you should go and wait at. This actually resulted in huge queues whilst people waited for a lift for their designated floor. It should be noted that the lift will only stop at the floor requested and no other, as I found out when entering the first available lift.

Once inside the lift, there is no way of selecting the floor you need as it has been pre-programmed to stop at a specific floor from the panel in the foyer. As I had simply entered the lift assuming it would operate in the established fashion, I had to exit again to enter my floor selection and await my designated lift.
How utterly ridiculous! Surely this wins the award for the most pointless and complicated procedure? If I had difficulty understanding how it worked then anyone of elder years stands absolutely no chance. The numbers of people who have travelled up and down only to see the floor they want shoot past, must be in the hundreds if not thousands.
Why make something that should be simple and straightforward to use so unnecessarily complicated? Who's brilliant idea was this and has it won them a bonus or hospital management award? Just exactly what was the rationale for making the process of using a lift so difficult? We'll probably never know, but the lifts at Boston's Pilgrim Hospital most certainly win my 'Most Stupid Idea of the Year' Award.

Spalding, Lincolnshire's own Wild West

I've written before of my fear that Lincolnshire is becoming a lawless county. Indeed, my nearest town of Spalding has deteriorated so much that there is a petition by the local newspaper to rid the town of drugs and anti social behaviour. Many would consider my views about Spalding as rather harsh, but my criticism for the town and the people who police it is reinforced by the fact that my own mother was assaulted on Tuesday last. She had been waiting for a bus at Spalding Bus Station with my father after their regular shopping trip. A young woman was also at the stop yelling and swearing at someone on her mobile phone. Her language was foul and others in the queue had noticed and begun to keep their distance. My mother decided to speak to her and asked her to moderate her language as there were young children in the queue. The woman reacted violently and knocked my mother to the ground. Being nearly 70 years of age and quite frail, she stood no chance and fell to the ground breaking her pelvis. Thankfully there were many in the queue who had witnessed the assault and they held the woman until the police arrived. She has been arrested and she has been charged with assault. My mother is now in Boston's Pilgrim Hospital and it will be some time before she is back home and many months before she is able to walk unaided.

There is no doubt my mother had been in the right to confront the woman. No one should have to listen to someone's foul mouthed rants and the presence of children made it all the more appropriate to intervene. What is appalling is that someone would knock an elderly woman to the ground for what was in effect a minor request that frankly any of us would have made.
I'm thankful of all those who willingly provided witness statements and to the police who made my mother as comfortable as possible until the ambulance arrived.
The woman, for whom violence was her first reaction, now faces the prospect of a court appearance and a life labelled with a criminal record. I can only hope that the penalty, though likely to be light, will in some way change this woman's thinking and perhaps encourage her to better control her reactions in the future.

So, has my view of Spalding worsened as a result of my mother's assault? Yes I'm afraid it has. It is a natural reaction to being affected by what I see as a society out of control. Lincolnshire, is and always will be, a lawless county. It is difficult to police at the best of times, given its size and scattered population, but the reduction in government funding and reduced police numbers has allowed for areas such as Spalding to deteriorate to the point of being a 'Wild West' town that people now choose to avoid.
Besides the obvious physical harm caused, there will be more damaging mental harm which will be impossible to completely heal. I've no way of telling if and how my mother will be affected by this, but in some I know, such an experience can cause agoraphobia and paranoia.

It is so sad that Spalding has become the place it is. The warnings have been there for some time, but very little has been done to rid the town of alcohol fuelled violence, theft, drugs and gangs. Those charged with running the town need to wake up and realise the lasting damage that's being done.
Spalding was once the jewel in Lincolnshire's crown. Not any more.

Another opportunity and a dangerous defect

My trip this afternoon to Boston went quite well - in fact better than I thought it would I met a very nice guy called Joseph at Taylor ITEX who discussed with me my plan and the problems I had encountered along the way. He suggested I contact Lincolnshire Credit Union, an outfit I hadn't come across up to now. They are a community bank of sorts who provide loans to those who would find getting them elsewhere impossible. As I need the loan to advance my career, there's a good chance it will be granted. So this afternoon I completed another application form and will add the various other documents required tomorrow. I should have it in the post in time for the weekend and hopefully they can get to work on my application early next week.
So, another try...

Something in the news today that caught my eye is the Citroen recall which affects the C3 Picasso. Now, I wouldn't normally remark about car recalls - as there have in recent times been so many - but this one really is quite ridiculous. It involves the pedal arrangement and the fact that they have had to be moved to right hand drive configuration. Fine you might think. But not when the gubbins the brake pedal is connected to is left on the passenger side and protected by a thin piece of felt. For when the passenger presses his or her foot down , it connects  with the brake and stops the car. This can happen at any speed and without the knowledge of the passenger or driver. Unbelievable but true.
Now I always had great respect for Citroen. They have a fine history of car design and production but I find it incredible that such a fault could have gone unnoticed. Surely someone must have questioned the fact that the brake pedal gubbins was so accessible from the passenger foot well? Or did they just keep it to themselves for fear of appearing to criticise their management. Maybe they thought no one would notice and genuinely believed that no one would press their foot down in that particular spot? We'll never know.
I know only too well what it's like to lose all power in the fast lane of a motorway - that's bad enough but for the brakes to go on for no reason, well that could be disastrous...

Boston

Credit ratings have a firm grip on our lives and what we can or can't do. My credit rating is blown to pieces following a long period of illness when I was unable to pay things I owed. This I of course accept but it has now made any application for funds to assist with my training impossible. So tomorrow, I am off to Boston to see Taylor ITEX. I'd never heard of them before now but apparently they may be able to help with my training and more importantly the funding I need. PCV training is not cheap - I need about £2,500. It's a while since I've been to Boston - I try to avoid it if I can as it has one of the worst road layouts I know and the traffic is often horrendous. It's a worth a try though, they may be able to help. I do though have a feeling they'll just tell me everything I already know. I've already sorted out a training provider - I just need the money loaned to me so I can do the training, take my test and start working to pay back the money I owe. Simple really. My frustration with it all stems mainly from the fact that I'm owed money by the training provider I'm taking legal action against and now my credit card company who owe me £950 in overpayments. If I had the money owed me then I'd be at the wheel of a coach in Peterborough training right now...

As an aside, it is sad to note the demise of a well known local bus and coach operator - Carnell's of Long Sutton. They have gone into voluntary liquidation as a result of soaring fuel and operating costs. It's a real shame to see a local company 'go under'. They have been operating since 1969 and provided school bus services and local passenger services throughout the county. I see that the other major operator in the area have taken over their services and that a number of their drivers have found re-employment. I'm sure Carnell's aren't the first and certainly won't be the last to suffer from the extreme operating conditions imposed by our current government.