Cottonopolis..

ROAD CHARGING
What's all this nonsense about road charging? Okay, I thought we had dealt with this stupidity already on this blog but obviously the powers that be don't read these pages, so here we go again. Manchester does not need road charging in any shape or form. There is no congestion in Manchester or on the roads of Greater Manchester or on the routes into and out of this metropolis.
BLOCKED ARTERIES
What we do have however, is a growing number of blocked arteries. These are caused by bad planning, bad road signing and deliberate attempts to slow the traffic flow by the different local councils. One of the things that annoys me and other motorists in this city is the number of no right or no left turn signs.
BITTER COST
No amount of arguing, ranting and raving or just plain and simple shouting about the bitter cost of road charging will make a haporth of difference because the powers that be have already decided what they want and what is best for us. Yes it always comes down to that in the end doesn't it? Us and them! You see, while everybody else is out there debating the pros and cons of road charging, they (the powers that be) have already introduced it.
PARKING WARS
You see, what they've done is they've made it so difficult for anybody to park in the city centre. If you can find a space you have to pay and if you overstay you get a ticket. And then all the nearby places like Hulme where the motorist could park and walk to the city centre they've gone and made it residents parking only. Fair enough, the local residents need somewhere to park of course they do, but what about all those vacant lots, surely some of them could be made into car parks.
DRIVING ROUND
Sometimes it seems like the streets are really congested, but if you travel by bike like I often do, you will know that the traffic is directed into congestion corridors. What I mean by this is that there are many alternative routes in this city that are unused. I can cycle right across the city centre in the evening rush hour using the empty back streets and hardly meet a moving car at all. In fact I've noticed the same vehicles going round the same circuit time and again either looking for somewhere to park or trying to pick up their son/daughter/wife/etc. from the shops, just driving round and round wasting fuel, time and energy at great cost to us all.
THINK AGAIN!
The message to the faceless powers that be, must be, Think again! Firstly if they did introduce a charge to enter or leave the city at different times of day it would be the very people who live and work here who would have to pay extra for the privilege, how mad is that? Secondly, all the other big conurbations in this country have already rejected the idea as unworkable. Thirdly, in the case of Cottonopolis I believe it would be very wrong to introduce a road charge, after all what happened to Free Trade?
RAPID TRANSIT
Anyway, before a road charge could be made all the alternatives should be looked at. In Manchester and throughout the area we have hundreds of miles of disused and or dismantled railway tracks. The local A-Z map used to say: reserved for rapid transit in the year 2000. The latest editions don't and the year 2000 has long since come and gone. What we still have though are unused routes that could be made into dedicated bus ways etc.
BUSES
Don't you just hate buses? We shouldn't but we do because they are too expensive, they don't go where we need them to, they take stupid congestion corridor routes etc. If we are serious about alternatives to private car ownership then we need to get the buses sorted. The first thing we need to do is de-privatise the blooming buses. It makes sense doesn't it? They (the powers that be) don't want us to have private cars but they are happy for us to pay top dollar to line the pockets of the private bus companies. How mad do they think we are?
SOLUTION
The future is free, or so they tell me. You see what really happens is, it's free to get in but you have to pay to get out. And that is exactly what road charging is like. In short it's a swizz! But there is a solution, of course there is. If we did introduce road charging in five years time and get a shed full of money from the government for being a guinea pig, would this amount be enough to de-privatise the bus companies and if not, well, it really isn't enough, is it? The solution is make the buses free for everyone! You think that's mad? It would be mad not to!
MORE MAD ROAD MAD LINKS
Clink-this-link If you want to read more of my road mad stories.
Clink-the-link to The future is free?
Clink-the-link What I said about the mad roads in June 2007.
Clink-the-link to my July 17th 2007 posting
Clink-the-link to my bit for July 24th 2007.
Clink-the-link On the Buses..
Clink-the-link Madchester.. Congestion What?
Clink-the-link London, Electric Vehicles!
Clink-the-link Bus De-regulation!
Clink-the-link Fifty-five minute ride..

Split Knee Loons!

SHOPPING
Don't you just hate shopping? I'm talking about all that city centre stuff, being dragged around from store to store looking for the latest trend. That's Jack's idea of shopping, he just knows what he wants and doesn't stop till he gets it. My idea of shopping is to find a bargain but Jack, he just wants the latest thing regardless of price.
SUNGLASSES
While I was waiting for Jack to reappear up the escalator in one store I had a look at the sunglasses on the bargain counter. I finally found a pair that were big enough to fit over my distance glasses when Jack arrived and informed me that the ones I had chosen were for girls. I hurridly put them back on the shelf.
FASHION
You know the old saying 'What goes around, comes around' well, in the fashion stakes that is really true. We were in one place on Saturday looking for Jack's 'must have' jeans when I spotted the latest trend 'Loons' and in all different colours. If you're anywhere near as old as I am you'll remember them from the early 1970's. They had a special stitching on the knee and we used to call them 'Split Knee Loons' and some of them came in two colours one shade above the knee and another below the knee. Not to be confused with 'two tones' and 'two tone tonic strides'. Which of course were something quite different.
HARRINGTON JACKETS
The Harrington Jacket is one of those items that keeps on making the rounds. They keep on cropping up in different places and sometimes it seems like they've never been out of fashion. Even when they couldn't be found on the high street, you could always get one from the Army and Navy stores and these days of course there's loads of sites on the internet that sell them. But what I want to know is what the original name for the Harrington jacket was? You see, In England we call them Harrington's after a character in an American tv soap (Peyton Place) who used to wear one.
HARRINGTON UPDATE
Okay, that was quick, Baracuta G9 is the real/original name of the Harrington Jacket and guess what? It dates right back to 1938 which makes this year its seventieth aniversary. Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra both wore the Baracuta Jacket in Hollywood films. I've been told that the Baracuta company is still in business in Britain and that they are producing a seventieth aniversary G9 jacket. So there!
PICTURES? CLINK-THE-LINK
www.baracuta-g9.com
MORE NEXT TIME..