Blue Babe has gone

Friday was a momentous day!   I changed my car!

Blue Babe had been with me for 17 years and 5 months,136,000 plus miles.   Before him, I used to change the car every three years, but I fell in love with Blue Babe.   Already I am missing his pop-up headlights and his great tilt and slide sunroof which I always have open at this time of year.

But the time had come.   I have spent a lot on Blue Babe in the last couple of years, and now the exhaust needed replacing and there are some strange noises emanating from beneath the bonnet.   Also I’m off to Durham in a week’s time, which will take six hours, and I was nervous about whether Blue Babe would stand up to it.   I think he probably would have done.   And even now I think I probably made a mistake in getting rid of him.   It troubles me to think of him standing outside all by himself at the dealer’s place waiting to be scrapped.

Talking of scrapped, I didn’t get the Government scrappage allowance because I didn’t buy new.   Can’t bear to think of losing so much value the instant a new car is put on the road.

I do  -  I think  -  like my new-to-me car.   Couldn’t get a blue one.   It is dark grey  -  cosmic grey!

But I am still heartbroken at losing Blue Babe.

Good British men lost their lives on D-Day – they don’t deserve to be dismissed by “Generale de Gaulle” Sarkozy

Sorry I didn’t write about the D-Day celebrations in France during the weekend, but I was busy having my own little celebration, as the RNLI have been kind enough to award me their Silver Badge, and I was at the presentation ceremony in Cambridge.

I am very glad that the Prince of Wales was, in the end, invited to go to France to attend the D-Day celebrations, but the disgraceful lead up to the invitation is no credit to anyone.   Two heads of state were there, the US President and the French President, but the speaker on behalf of Britain wasn’t a head of state, it was the Prime Minister.   (Although I’m sure Brown thinks he’s much more important anyway.)     And as has been pointed out, the Queen is the only one of them who actually served in World War II. 

I don’t suppose we shall ever know whether it really was that Gordon Brown couldn’t bear the thought of being upstaged by the Queen.   (Remember Blair hijacking the Queen’s walkabout?)   Or whether Sarkozy wanted to prance about as Obama’s new best friend.   (Well that didn’t work!)   Or one of those things that just happens.

What we do know, though, is that the French government described the event to mark the 65th anniversary of the D-Day landings as being a French/US celebration.  

How could they?   The troops taking part in the landings crossed from Britain.   They had all, of whatever nationality, trained and prepared in Britain.   The ships that took them across the Channel were Royal Navy warships.   The aircraft which gave overhead protection were from the RAF.   Landings took place on five beaches:-  on two beaches US troops were landed;  on two beaches British troops were landed;  on one beach Canadian troops were landed.   So three out of five beaches, (60%), were NOT American troops.      There were roughly the same number of British casualties from those landings as there were US casualties.   Many good men of all three nationalities lost their lives in those first days after 6th June 1944, and many of those were British.   They don’t deserve to be dismissed in this way as though they were never really there.

It’s always been an American trait to re-write history to pretend that they alone won all the victories of World War II  -  I’m sure you know that they captured the Enigma machine!!!!    Now it seems the French government is saying the same thing.

At least in 1944 the French people were glad enough to welcome their British liberators.   It seems Sarkozy is taking on the same attitudes now that de Gaulle did then!

Judge’s Jury didn’t find winners

Delighted at the very poor votes being achieved right across the country by the Jury Team.

The leader, who used to be Chief Executive of the Conservative Party, e-mailed to invite me to join.   I replied that unlike him I had always been a member of the Conservative Party, and would always remain a member of the Conservative Party.

When the election campaign started, I was the lucky recipient of a couple of Jury Team e-mails.   I “unsubscribed” from the first, but still got the second.

Perhaps now he will realize that a “party” of “independents” is a contradiction in terms.

Never mind Labour, it’s a bad night for Nick

It’s being a terrible night for Nick Robinson on the BBC1 European elections programme.

The panel of talking heads started on Wales, before the results came in, and David Dimbleby said there was a rumour that the Conservatives had topped the poll in Wales.   Mark Francois agreed.  Quick as a flash Nick was in there, “We have no evidence that the Conservatives have topped the poll”.       A few minutes later, er, we did top the poll in Wales.

Then Mark Francois started talking about what these figures would mean if transferred across to a general election.   It’s all just too much for poor old Nick  -  with a ghastly grin he rushed in again, “but of course they won’t be.   These are European elections with a very low poll.”

The way things are going, if we’ve got another year of this, I’m really worried about the effects on Nick’s health!

The instructions are in the box

I was talking today to a lady I know who has reached the grand old age of 93.   She can only walk a few steps, using a stick.   She is profoundly deaf, and has very little sight, needing to use a special low vision aid meaning she reads just a word at a time.   She is an extremely intelligent, well-educated lady, who had a high-flying career, and served as a local councillor and school governor.   But despite the restriction in what she can now do, she remains very cheerful, and fortunately has friends who visit her.

Because of her disabilities, she decided she needed a special telephone with large buttons, with flashing lights to signify a call, and with enhanced sound.   So, she ordered one from BT.   It came in the post, in a box.   It needed to be set up, and she needed to know how it worked.  

Guess what  -  the instructions were in a little booklet in very small type.   She couldn’t read them.

So the ‘phone stayed in its box, unused, until one day the kindly burglar alarm engineer came along to service the alarm.   He discovered what had happened, set up the phone for her, and explained how it worked.

It’s not just BT who do these things.   There are lots of other companies.   But wouldn’t you think that if they are selling a specially adapted telephone for people who have little sight and are deaf, it might occur to them that they wouldn’t be able to read small print?

Who’s paying for the scrappage scheme?

I’m getting heartily sick of the constant TV and radio adverts from car companies offering discounts on new cars and saying “thanks to the Government’s scrappage scheme”.

Let’s just remember whose money is being used for this scheme.   It’s yours and mine.   Have to say again  -  the Government does not have money.   They use ours.