Leeches.

Engage grumpy mode

I have decided not watch the news anymore as I get so angry and frustrated at the stories they run and the attitude they take.
The sad story of the two teenagers killed at a level crossing is a case in point. Despite the lights continuing to flash and the hooter still going and a sign saying ‘If warning continues to sound another train is coming’ these two still decided to cross the line.
Somehow this has become everyone else’s fault except theirs.
While I have every sympathy with the parents no-one has not given any thought to the train driver or the other railway staff who had to clear up after the accident, nor has anyone thought about the emergency services who deal with the aftermath of events like this.
They are not stomping about demanding compensation or criminal proceedings against Network Rail they just got on with the job.
The demanning of level crossings started in the 1960’s following the Beeching Report instigated by the Tory Governments of Macmillan and Douglas-Home and shamefully continued by the Wilson Government. These are the people who are ultimately responsible and if any blame is to be apportioned or compensation paid it is by those who made that original decision.

I see that some frustrated, dried up bint has complained about bus drivers, taxi drivers and tradesmen calling her ‘love’. Is that any worse than those people calling me ‘mate’ I ask. Well no its not.
We have our shopping delivered and Mrs Grumpy tells me that the cheery “ morning love” when he delivers is not a problem and helps to make a dreary day a bit more bearable.

So get a life love and find something worthwhile to complain about.

I also have no doubt that some leech of a lawyer is trying to get her to sue Brighton Bus Company for ‘hurt feelings’ or some other such nonsense.
Talking of leech lawyers I see that between them they have managed to rip taxpayers off by several million pounds in compensation paid to prisoners on what I see as totally spurious complaints.

You commit a crime, you go to prison, you lose most of your rights, live with it.

These are just further examples of the transplantation of appalling American values and principals where everyone is ready to sue anyone and everyone at the drop of a hat and at the slightest provocation.

Disclaimer, the above is probably unfair to leeches just in case any leech lawyer is reading this.

Old Dogs.

An old German Shepherd starts chasing rabbits and before long, discovers that he's lost. Wandering about, he notices a panther heading rapidly in his direction with the intention of having lunch.

The old German Shepherd thinks, "Oh, oh! I'm in deep shit now!"

Noticing some bones on the ground close by, he immediately settles down to chew on the bones with his back to the approaching cat. Just as the panther is about to leap, the old German Shepherd exclaims loudly,

"Boy, that was one delicious panther! I wonder, if there are any more around here?"

Hearing this, the young panther halts his attack in mid-strike, a look of terror comes over him and he slinks away into the trees.

"Whew!," says the panther, "That was close! That old German Shepherd nearly had me!"

Meanwhile, a squirrel who had been watching the whole scene from a nearby tree, figures he can put this knowledge to good use and trade it for protection from the panther. So, off he goes.

The squirrel soon catches up with the panther, spills the beans and strikes a deal for himself with the panther.

The young panther is furious at being made a fool of and says, "Here, squirrel, hop on my back and see what's going to happen to that conniving canine!"

Now, the old German Shepherd sees the panther coming with the squirrel on his back and thinks, "What am I going to do now?," but instead of running, the dog sits down with his back to his attackers, pretending he hasn't seen them yet, and just when they get close enough to hear, the old German Shepherd says...

"Where's that squirrel? I sent him off an hour ago to bring me another panther!"
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Moral of this story...


Don't mess with the old dogs... Age and skill will always overcome youth and treachery!
Bull Shit and brilliance only come with age and experience.

The Golden Rivet

Especially for Chris Wells.

In naval folklore there is a tale that every ship is built containing a single, commemorative "golden rivet"— an idea doubtless adapted from the golden spike that was temporarily driven at the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The rivet's location is allegedly different for each ship and undisclosed, known only to the crew. Of course no such thing exists: gold is too malleable to use for a rivet. Like many urban legends, the "golden rivet" is perpetuated for the amusement of "old salts" at the expense of the gullible.

Most often the myth is used as a practical joke or snipe hunt played on junior sailors, exploiting their naivete and natural curiosity with their new surroundings. The prank consists of informing a new sailor of the existence of the "golden rivet" and encouraging him to look for it. After scouring the entire ship without success, it eventually dawns on the junior that he has been the butt of a joke.

In a crueller version of the gag, a senior sailor calls attention to the rivet somewhere in the deck plating, then as the junior bends over to look at it, he is given a kick in the backside. Sometimes the snipe hunt is dispensed with altogether, with the senior sailor merely pointing to a spot on the deck and inviting the junior examine it. When pointed out to female guests (especially attractive ones), the point is simply to get the target to bend over.

In the same way that sending an aprentice for a rubber hammer or striped paint
the "golden rivet" gag can be seen as a fairly harmless form of initiation.

Other steel structures said to contain a golden rivet include the Forth Rail Bridge and the Empire State Building.


Another version of "The Golden Rivet" tells of a highly dubious practice involving young recruits and the ship's cook. The recruit would be told of the existence of a golden rivet which, he would be told, was always the last rivet to be fitted into the ship. This rivet could be seen if the lad leaned out through the galley porthole. As soon as he did so, the ship's cook would lower the porthole cover, pull down the unfortunate boy's trousers and violate him.

There is no evidence that this practice was real but the story of "showing someone the Golden Rivet" remains a traditional naval myth among mariners.

Expected resignation happens, again.

I expect a lot of drivel will be posted about Ian Drivers resignation from the Labour Group on TDC and most of it will be just that, drivel. There will also be the usual speculation, rumour and sly innuendo from the usual selection of anonymous posters who troll through blogs looking to make trouble where none exists.
The cause of the resignation was over whether or not TDC should spend £20,000 on floral displays throughout Thanet. Ian Driver thought the money would be better spent elsewhere, he didn’t say where though!
In terms of TDC’s total budget of about £22.5 million, 20 grand is a paltry sum to spend making the area look a bit more appealing to residents and visitors alike.
The fact is that we are a tourist area and are in competition with other seaside towns that spend money on floral displays and decorations, to compete we have to provide a similar offering.
There is also a school of thought that thinks the events and floral displays budget is a waste and Town Councils should fund those things as they want them. The problem with that is that the residents of the various towns will have to fund it from an increased Town precept having already paid part of their Council Tax to TDC for such things. That is double taxation and it is not part of Labour’s remit to tax folks twice for the same thing.
This year’s budget for events and floral displays is coming from something called The New Homes bonus. This is a sum paid to all Councils to match the amount raised from the Council Tax from new houses built in the District. So if there are 10 new homes built in a District and that raises £1000 in additional tax the Government will match that with £1000. Rather worryingly the Gazette referred to it is a grant for housing, its not. It can be spent as the local authority sees fit as it isn’t ring fenced.
As Clive Hart said in the press The Labour Group spent over an hour discussing changes to this years budget and although small they seek to relieve the burden on Thanet residents and to provide some small help and assistance to hard pressed shopkeepers, some entertainment to residents and visitors alike and to keep hope alive in the coming year. Hopefully next years budget will be an exercise spreading what little money is available across the whole Island in a fair and equitable manner to reinvigorate the whole area and not just small enclaves covering Councillors pet projects.

I have written before about my contempt for journalists on national papers and their inability to get even the simplest fact right or if they havn’t got any facts just make it up.
Reproduced below are some examples from todays papers to illustrate what I mean.

Daily Mirror,
Mark Hughes has been lured back into management by QPR - with a massive £30million transfer kitty.

The Sun,
QPR expect to name Mark Hughes as their new boss within 24 hours - after promising him a £20million January kitty.

Daily Star,
QPR are on the brink of making Mark Hughes their new boss - and are set to hand him an £8million transfer kitty.

Daily Mail,
Mark Hughes is being offered a £20million transfer kitty by Tony Fernandes to keep QPR in the Premier League.

Daily Express,
Mark Hughes has told QPR he needs £30million to pull them clear of relegation and chase an ambitious list of targets headed by Darren Bent and Didier Drogba.

The Times,
Mark Hughes sounded a note of caution last night over his seemingly imminent appointment as Queens Park Rangers manager, spelling out the need to be persuaded of the club's ambitions when discussions resume today.

The Daily Telegraph,
Mark Hughes, who is expected to be announced as the new manager of Queens Park Rangers today, is planning a raft of signings including the exciting young Brazilian striker Henrique.

The Guardian,
Mark Hughes is set to take over as Queens Park Rangers and has been promised significant funds by the club's owner, Tony Fernandes, to strengthen his squad this month, with the England forward Darren Bent a principal target.

The Independent didn’t even bother with the story.

I can only imagine the effect these varying stories have on the staff at QPR and the fans and if these so called journalists cant even get the facts right on a relatively minor story hidden away on the sports pages what confidence can we have that the reporting of major news stories is any more accurate?

And I wont even go near the disgusting daily revelations at the Levenson enquiry !!

Prejudice and Bigotry.

Comments on the previous post, the current rows in football and the Stephen Lawrence trial have set me thinking about prejudice and bigotry generally. Particularly the reference to the comments made by Dianne Abbot. While her comment is quite true about divide and conquer as it has long been accepted that if you divide various factions the group that stays together will ultimately win following the unity is strength principal.
Prejudice and bigotry along with intolerance take many forms and most people will have suffered to a greater or lesser extent, for example remarks about someone’s weight can be just as hurtful as a remark about their race or sexuality. Equally a remark about Tourettes aimed at a political opponent may not hurt the recipient but will be offensive to sufferers and their relations. In todays world we have to be so careful about what we say and to who we say it as it may be taken the wrong way.
Racism is not the preserve of white people against black it takes many forms, apart from the N word in relation to black people we have many other derogatory terms for the French, Germans, Spanish, Portugese, Italians, Irish, Welsh, Scots, Asians and any other group who do not conform to our rigid view of ‘normal’. Equally other cultures have the same attitude to other cultures. My son lives in West Ealing and a walk along the Uxbridge Road demonstrates how one culture shuns others, there are clearly defined sections for the various national shops selling a variety of goods from their home countries. Personally my wife and I love it, a whole variety of different foods and clothes to try and enjoy. These folks also choose to live together in clusters, groups, enclaves or ghetto’s depending on your point of view.
Before anyone starts jumping up and down and starts complaining about foreigners coming here and refusing to live as we do let us look at Brits abroad, if you go to a lot of countries you will find expats living in the same area, opening shops and bars selling British goods, not bothering to learn even the basics of the language. A lot of these people have emigrated saying that the country is not ours anymore with all the foreigners living here now. They in fact are no better than those they seek to criticize.

The purpose of all this is to encourage everyone to try and live their lives in a less judgmental and more tolerant way accepting that everyone is different and that we should be tolerant and celebrate those differences rather than thinking that our narrow definition of normal is the only way.
I can do no better than paraphrase Martin Luther King who said : ‘I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character’.
‘By the content of their character.’
‘I have a dream that my children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by their race, colour, creed, religion, sexuality, illness or appearance but by the content of their character’.
It is a great shame that, nearly half a century later, people like Abbott and Cameron still seem to fail to understand this simplest of statements.

I have been watching the furore surrounding John Worrows defection to the Independents with interest and not a little bemusement. Clearly he has the Tories rattled judging by the wild, irrational and frantic reaction on some of the blog posts. Possibly he is right and the local Tory Party is still languishing in the 50’s and 60’s where intolerance was rife. I looked for some examples of this and learnt that Payim Tamiz was frequently referred to as The Foreigner. ( You remember him, Tory candidate who thinks all Thanet girls are ‘slags’ )  I then notice that the well known Independent/Tory Bert Macastree was moved from a reasonably safe seat to a no win seat in Cliftonville, Bert is of course of Afro Caribbean descent. And now we have the row about homophobic comments made by a Conservative Councillor.

I have no ill will towards Brian Goodwin and wish him well in his fight against his illness but the fact remains that he DID post comments that can only be interpreted in one way and that is homophobic, and that kind of language has no place in a modern, progressive political party. I also note that no mention has been made of his remarks about “ having a load of mogs on the Council now” , whatever ‘mogs ‘ are it doesn’t sound very complimentary when speaking about your own colleagues does it now?

To remove any doubt I have reproduced below a screenshot of the Facebook conversation, I have blanked out the name of the Conservative Councillor he was talking to, to avoid embarrassing this particular person as they didn’t seem to respond to the remarks posted.

Twas the season of spending all your wonga

Well that’s it for another year,,,thankfully and we can all get back to what passes for   normal although the whole country has come to a stand for the week until after New Years Eve has passed. Another awful American ‘tradition’,  the holidays taken between Christmas and New Year. Of course “ when oi were a boy”  only Christmas Day and Boxing Day were days off and News Years Day was a normal working day. It was first made a national Bank Holiday in 1974.

 I say the country has come to a stand, that is not quite correct as most shops were open on Boxing day, indeed some opened as early as 5 am for something known as ‘the sales’ quite what that means I am not sure as stores had been heavily discounting for weeks in the run up to Christmas in a hopeful attempt to part hard pressed shoppers from their cash. I must confess that I watched some TV adverts rather incredously as potential must have presents were being advertised at ‘only £299’ or some other stupid amount that equates to more than a weeks income for most folks in Thanet. The pressure on parents at this time of year is immense to buy their offspring the latest Xtube PS 490 gizmo as the insinuation given in some of the adverts is that all their mates will have it and they will be the odd one out. Long gone are the days when kids were happy with a hoop and a tangerine and if they were lucky a wooden toy that gave you splinters or some lead soldiers that allegedly gave us all lead poisoning!

People say that I am wrong or out of date for harking back to the ‘good old days’ but life was definitely better then, we didn’t have the constant commercial pressures we have now to acquire the latest, biggest, fastest most expensive gadget or game, people were happier with their lot and didn’t aspire to own possessions they could not afford or quite frequently didn’t need.

Ironically as I write this Star Trek is on the telly and I am prompted to think that if my Grandad was to be suddenly transported into this century it would be much the same as me being transported into the 24^th century although in the 24^th century the overwhelming desire for possessions has been eliminated. I can imagine the wonder he would feel at being able to communicate with anywhere in the world at the push of a button, send emails instead of letters and telephones smaller than the size of a packet of cigarettes that fit in your pocket. Imagine the feeling that he would have at being able to do your weekly shop from your front room, be able to buy anything at the click of a mouse button, of course he would think a mouse is something small and furry.

So there you have it, hundreds of pounds wasted on food that will never get eaten, even more hundreds of pounds spent on the latest electronic toy that will be out of date come your childs birthday, all for a couple of days relaxing without the worry of will you still have a job to go to on January 3^rd, will I get through the winter without catching some exotic flu, will my car pass its MOT, will I break down in the bad weather, will the central heating pack up at the first sign of snow, will I be able to afford the January bills, will Charlton Athletic actually get promoted this year?

Happy New Year to you all.

R.I.P. Manston Airport.

Today’s sad announcement that Flybe are to cease operations from next March will come as an unwelcome Christmas gift to the employees at Manston. Couple this with the rumored breakdown of talks to link with Schiphol Airport and you have a recipe for potential closure.  Flybe spokesman Niall Duffy has posted on Michael Child's blog
"It is fair to say that Manston is one of the airports with the smaller catchment areas in the United Kingdom, and you have Gatwick not too far away.
We tried different routes and the numbers simply weren't there. It's impossible to sustain routes without the passengers. Manston is in the wrong place for a sustainable airport. All the airlines know it, hence none of them are there. Bugger all to do with TDC.

All this will no doubt come as a welcome Christmas gift to those whose sole objective has been to close the airport while masquerading as No Night Flight campaigners.

 This may well throw into doubt the need for a consultation exercise on any night flying and I have no doubt that the new Cabinet will be approaching the Airport seeking an urgent meeting to discuss the future.

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  Moving on to other matters with Christmas rapidly approaching I thought I better go and do some festive type shopping. Having heard so much about dire times and folks cutting back I was somewhat surprised to have to drive around Sainsbury’s car park twice before I spotted someone leaving and quickly nipped into the only vacant space I could see. As I was only going to get some chives and milk I didn’t think I would be that long, how wrong can you be! Some 40 minutes later I dragged myself back to the car bruised and battered with my enthusiasm for present buying rapidly diminishing. Not wanting to subject myself to the rigors of fighting my way through Westwood Cross I made my way into Ramsgate to make my purchase. I was going to go and see Michael Child but thought better of it as I wouldn’t be buying an actual book as my Wife is an avid Kindle fan! Readers will be happy to know that I did in fact buy the present and card I set out to buy, of course this would not have been necessary had my original present for my wife been delivered in plain wrapping that I paid extra for so that she would be surprised on Christmas Day when she actually got the present she wanted. The surprise was somewhat ruined when the parcel arrived while I was out and the contents were written all over the packaging!

Incidentally I have had a great Christmas present already, thanks to the wonders of the interweb thingy I am now back in touch with two very old mates that I worked with at Butlins back in the 60’s. We will be having a reunion in the New Year and mebe revisiting some of our old haunts. Maybe some of my older readers will remember the 49 Club or the Jaguar Club, sadly both gone now.

As it’s the season of goodwill and extra grandchildren minding I think I shall refrain my blogging for a few days, hostilities will be resumed after Christmas.

Unless of course there is anything in tomorrows paper that demands comment!!

Tis the season of peace and goodwill to all men except on Simon Moores blogsite.

Following the defection of Cllr John Worrow to the Independants there has been an eruption of bile and vitriol from the direction of Simon Moores on his blog. I could be charitable and put this down to disappointment at losing his Cabinet post and saddness at the Tories losing overall control at TDC, or I could say that it is in fact the true nature of Thanet Tories coming out at last.
Having sat opposite and watched the way they operate in one guise or another more or less continiously since 1979 I think I am qualified to say what their true nature is.
More so than most Tories they seem to think that they are somehow born to rule and the ' we know best ' attitude prevails, this is particularly true of those Tories with an academic or senior management background. It is this superior, supercillious  attitude that particularly gets under the skin of the local proletariat. Despite their alleged higher intellect and ability to see things that other mere mortals miss they have failed to see what was happening under their noses. Cllr Worrow is not the only disaffected Tory and I know that several were quite uneasy about the autocratic manner in which Bob Bayford and co ruled Thanet.
And so to the current situation, reading his blog it seems that Simon Moores either has a crystal ball or a bugging device that anticipates future events. For the record IF Clive Hart was even thinking of offerering John Worrow a Cabinet post he would certainally have to get the Labour Groups approval, no such conversation has taken place, 
also for the record , Tuesdays Labour Group meeting was to discuss the proposed changes to the budget to be presented to Council, and not the offer of a position to any individual Cllr.  In particular parking was discussed and proposals will be put forward at the right time. Some of the figures being bandied about vary wildly and give no confidence in their accuracy. A full and in depth reveiw will be needed with carefully costed proposals that will be fully questioned and scrutinised in depth, unlike the processes that have been followed in the past, Cabinet have been presented with something and just agreed it. The evidence of this is blatantly clear in the reluctance of the Tory Members of Scrutiny Committee to have things investigated in greater depth. Scrutiny Committee also requested additional support to enable it to do its job with greater efficiency. In line with the paranoia that reigned it seemed likely that this request was going to be shunted to one side in case a better resourced Scrutiny found something flawed in a Cabinet proposal.

I know Clive Hart is commited to a more inclusive administration and if that includes Members of other groups well so be it and Simon Moores and others of his ilk should just shut up and get used to life as opposition Councillors and try and be constructive and refrain from the paranoid rantings aimed at those who have found them out.

A Green and Pleasant Land

I was called twice this morning by different constituents who are having problems getting something done about a broken and dangerous manhole cover in the road. It seems that they have phoned KCC only to be told that it was Southern Water's problem/job so they phoned Southern Water only to be told that it was TDC's problem/job who in turn told them to phone KCC as it is a KCC issue, I bet you can see where this is going already !!
Anyway one phone call from yours truly and someone will attend within 24 hours, It's truly amazing what the word Councillor in front of your name will acheive, it shouldnt be like that but sadly it is. These jobsworths will only respond to someone who can make their life uncomfortable but seem unwilling to serve the majority people who help pay their wages !



Anyway while I was out with my camera I decided to do a Michael Child and take some random photos of the street scene near me and incidently something My Wife has been cracking on about for months.
I have headed this post as a green and pleasant land as it seems that we are surrounded by greenery everywhere I look, gardens, parks, gutters, pavements. Not just a few weeds growing but fully grown flowering plants everywhere you look. I dont know what the plan is maybe its just to let nature reclaim the land and then refuse to do anything about it as its a rare wildlife habitat and cant be disturbed. All these were taken in and around the St James Avenue area of Ramsgate if you have any of your area email them to me at cllr-mike.harrison@thanet.gov.uk and I will post them up.
Let us hope that Paul Carter is proud of his green credentials.

Night Flight Hysteria Begins.

Finally Infratil have submitted The Application. I refer to it as The Application as it has been so long in arriving that it became an event to anticipate.
It has also inevitably started the hysterical reaction that was to be expected, wild and totally unfounded figures have been bandied about already and predictions of the end of the world abound.
The contents of The Application are in line with the Airports Master Plan and the predictions in it.
I should perhaps point out that it is only a plan and contains only predictions not facts.
Accompanying The Application is a report from Bickerdyke Allen outlining what they see as the impact of night flights insofar as noise in concerned.
MORI on behalf of Thanet Council will commence a comprehensive consultation as soon as TDC have got their own independent technical assessment of that report.
This I hope will happen sooner rather than later as this issue has been hanging around for far to long.
You can see The Application HERE.
The results of the consultation will help TDC decide what, if any, night flying is to be allowed from Manston.
I am pleased to see that already some balanced debate seems to be taking place on Herne Bay Matters blog.

For the record my own view is that while most people want to see a successful and developing Airport, that is not at any price and it should be subject to stringent controls.
The consultation will help in deciding what, if any, price is worth paying.

Government making savings at your expense.

I have posted before about the reluctance of Officials of various Government departments to ensure that folks are getting the benefits they are actually entitled to and in most cases have actually paid for but quite by coincidence I have found out about another official scam.

It seems that if your wife has only paid contributions based on the married woman's reduced rate also known as the married woman's stamp or has never worked then she will not receive a pension in her own right. However what the Pension Service advisors don’t tell you is that she can receive a basic state retirement pension of 60% of your entitlement based on your contribution record. She can claim this when you reach your State Pension Age and it doesn’t affect your pension.
I have looked further into this and find that my Wife is entitled to another £5.50 a week pension so a claim letter has gone in today along with a claim for the backdating to my 65th birthday.

With the current national obsession with scroungers and other scoundrels by the wonderful Lib-Con alliance it seems that folks who are quite legitimately entitled to various state benefits will be cheated out of them by a state system that is hell bent on saving money whatever the social cost. There is already a culture of suspicion among those who process various applications and their starting position when applying the rules is that the applicant is on the fiddle and how do we get out of paying them and I fear that this will only get worse.

On the subject of savings is there a danger that the current drive to save money and reduce debt will become such a focus of Ministers that they will not know when to stop. Already we have seen unprecedented financial attacks on Local Government, Education, Aid to Industry, The Arts and many other parts of society. So the danger is that they will become so addicted to cost cutting and saving that like any common drug addict they will eventually self destruct finally achieving their aim of totally disbanding the State machinery by default.

A Tale Of Two Planning Matters

Nothing is guaranteed to irk the ire of Residents and Councillors alike than the obscure and illogical planning laws and the way they are applied. This is the tale of two planning matters and the seemingly illogical outcome.

Case 1.
An individual has somehow managed to get a full size shipping container into his back garden. Not only is this an eyesore for properties that overlook his garden but it is also a handy wall for his kids to kick a football against until late evening. You can imagine the noise and nuisance that this creates with a ball bouncing against an empty metal container. Neighbours are rightly upset about this and have complained to The Council and Ward Councillors. The Council’s Planning Enforcement Officers have been and had a look and said that there is nothing that can be done as it is a ‘Permitted Development’

Case 2.
An individual has erected a pergola in her garden and is growing climbing plants up it to create a pleasant outlook for herself and incidentally her neighbours. For some reason a nearby Resident has complained to the Council about this and following a visit by The Council’s Planning Enforcement Officers this person has been told to remove the offending pergola or face dire consequences and extreme retribution including the dreaded ‘Enforcement Action’


Despite the best efforts of the Ward Councillors it seems that the situation will remain as it is ie one eyesore and source of nuisance is to remain and one pleasant flower covered pergola has to go.
It seems to me that rather than venting their spleen on all and sundry the new Government would be better employed sorting out the many ilogicalities in the planning system that result in mad decisions like this.

Discuss.

Idly flicking through the blogs I don’t seem to be popular boy at the moment with a few people!
Not only do some of the comments display an alarming ignorance of the process that will be followed during the Night Flying Consultation period but some folks seem to think that it is a done deal with me having already made the final decision. Nothing of course could be further from the truth, the final decision on whether to allow the application or allow an amended version will be made at a full Council meeting early next year based on the results of the consultation taking into account ALL the comments.
Some of the comments about me would quite rightly result in me being taken to The Standards Board if I had made them about the individuals making them. I have no problem with people having a different point of view from me about any subject but lets try and keep it civil and adult and not descend into insults.
My thanks to Smeggers for his reasonable attitude despite our differing attitudes, also to Malcom Kirkaldie for his apology.

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Onto less controversial things, we have recently bought a trailer tent and have already had several short breaks away and have been very lucky with the weather so far, we haven’t been quite so lucky with a couple of the sites we have chosen. We are members of The Caravan and Camping Club also this website and before going we always look at any reviews from previous visitors and if possible visit the campsites website. Most of these promise you an idyllic setting with peace and quiet, the reality is sometimes a bit different.
We went to one site that had got reasonable reviews and looked great on the web. We weren’t expecting a 5 star site but something reasonable. How wrong can you be!

Kids still running riot at ½ past 12 in the morning, 4 teenagers in the tent next to us who insisted on talking loudly all through the night, every other tent seemed to have two dogs with them and if one started barking the whole campsite was set off barking, site was on a slope, not normally a problem but when it rained on Thursday morning due to the hard ground we had a river running through our awning, the site advertised a fishing lake but it turned out to be nothing more than a pond. There were 85 pitches but only one shower and two toilet cubicles per sex.
Despite all this and apart from the rain early on Thursday morning we had a nice break and were visited by my Stepdaughter and family who took us out to a smashing pub for dinner.
Even the fact that on the way back my nearside brake calliper decided to seize on and we completed our journey on the back of an AA lorry didn’t dent our enjoyment or enthusiasm and we are planning our next trip only this time it will be to an adult only site that don’t allow dogs !