Katie Hopkins on Mrs. Thatcher
Katie Hopkins was on BBC Breakfast this morning, talking about the High Street. I didn’t agree with everything she said, but as she talked a fair bit of sense, I checked her blog out. I particularly liked this piece about Mrs. Thatcher, although she did miss out any mention of Denis, who after my lunch in 1981, I always believed was the mentor behind the power.
Improving the High Street
I have two High Streets close to me, Upper Street at the Angel in Islington and the Kingsland Road in Dalston.
I would use them more, but the trouble with both of them, is that they are just too cluttered to navigate easily.
At the Angel the problem is chuggers, who always want to stop me. I just make sure, I don’t give to the charities they promote. On the Kingsland Road it’s the endless boards put up to block the pavements by the various money and pound shops.
I’m sure more people would go to the various High Streets in this country, if it was easier to walk between the places you want to go. Because of this, when I go to either the Angel or the Kingsland Road, I usually go to visit a specific place like Waitrose or the station and usually plan my walking route carefully, so I avoid the main road.
It is also interesting to compare the centre of Liverpool, with say Oxford Street. The former is pedestrianised and it is a joy to walk around with no traffic, whereas the second is a nightmare and no wonder it’s such a dump, with just a few good shops, like John Lewis, Selfridges and M & S, standing out from the dross.
I can’t remember the last time, I bought anything in Oxford Street, except at those stores!
Yesterday, Oxford Street had been blocked off and effectively pedestrianised and it was so much better.
An RF Bus and the Wombles
The only obstruction was this RF or Regal Four bus and the Wombles.
I didn’t actually buy anything though.
On the subject of buses, which are very important in getting people to the shops, at The Angel, they have two big lay-bys on either side of the road, which accommodate the bus stops. So if I’m going to say Waitrose, it’s just get off the 38, 56 or 73 bus, walk across the road on a light-controlled crossing and then I’ve just a few metres from the shop. Going home, I don’t even have to cross the road and just walk down a few steps to the bus stop. The system works well and could probably be implemented in many places. But then they’ve lost a few car parking spaces. But then how many normal unselfish people drive in Islington?
They could certainly improve the bus access and walking routes on the Kingsland Road, which would probably improve the interchange between the two Dalston stations.
The problem in both these High Streets, is that they can be improved, but usually the motorist is the one to be inconvenienced. I should say, that in both places, there are car parks, close to the High Streets.
IKEA’s Non-Delivery Service – Part 2
I posted this about a delivery, I’m expecting from IKEA on the 15th November.
Today, I received an e-mail from them telling me that they had unilaterally put back the delivery to the 17th of December. It is not convenient, and I have e-mailed them to say that it isn’t.
I have a feeling this is a saga that will run and run.
Note that I originally placed the order on the 7th of November and they said then that the product will be delivered on the 17th of November.
IKEA’s Non-Delivery Service
Tomorrow, I’m expecting a delivery from IKEA.
But I doubt, I’ll get it, as after speaking to DHL this morning, it would appear that the earliest day I can get it is December 8th. So I’ll probably cancel!
A few months ago, I did get two or three successful deliveries, but the last two have had to be cancelled, as the delivery dates offered were just not convenient and bore no relation to what was originally offered on the web site.
At the moment, I can’t put all my clothes away, as I don’t have a wardrobe in my bedroom. Unfortunately, the fittings were delivered last time, so do I have no chance, but to wait until the eighth? Let’s face it, it’s only a frame that costs £50. I doubt though, it would have fitted in the back of my Jaguar.
As I was expecting the delivery tomorrow, I arranged my schedule around it. Now, I’ll have to rearrange everything again!
Cheap Booze at Asda
There were reports yesterday that Asda are now selling Budweiser at fifty pence a bottle.
No wonder many peoples’idea of a good time is to get bladdered.
It means I have another reason not to shop at Asda.
In my view, there should e a minimum price for a unit of alcohol. I doubt it would affect me at all, so perhaps I’m being selfish. But on the other hand, I don’t want the psrtners, parents and friends of heavy drinkers, to go through all the heartache of the death of a loved one I’ve been through. And my wife was only a very moderate drinker and my son didn’t drink!
Tracing an IKEA Refund
In mid-September, I ordered some things using their web site from IKEA. Because they couldn’t deliver at a time convenient to me, I cancelled the order. I’ve done this in the past and usually, I get an e-mail within a few days.
But this time I haven’t, so whilst I was waiting for the football to start, I gave them a call. I did have to wait quite a time for it to get answered, but I’ve had worse delays.
They told me that the refund was on its way and would I check with my bank.
It was on my John Lewis Partnership card and I couldn’t find it. But have you ever tried to find a trabsaction on the Partnership Card website. Compared to something like Nationwide or PayPal and I suspect many others, it’s a load of old cobblers.
- Recent transactions doesn’t seem to include any payments you have made.
- You can’t look at a specific time period, like the last three months, as you can on many credit card web sites.
- You can’t select just payments in. This meant a couple of months ago, I paid the bill twice.
At least though, I’d accessed the web site recently. I think if you don’t in 60 days, you need to get a new password, through the post.
I wouldn’t keep the card, but I think it gives me extra benefits when I shop in John Lewis or Waitrose. One of those extra benefits was that I could use the QuickCheck method of shopping, but no stores near me have it and I prefer to use the delivery option. So the reasons for keeping it are quickly getting reduced to the one that I like to have both a Visa and a Mastercard. Especially as my Visa is useless on-line, as it has that awful Verified by Visa security system.
News on the Health Lottery
I don’t play any lottery, but I am not in favour of Richard Desmond’s Health Lottery.
So I just wanted to see what others thought and typed Health Lottery into Google News.
So what did I find?
There are a lot of articles about hospices worried that they will lose money. There was this piece from the Yorkshire Post for example. And quite a few more too, in the same vein!
This article in the trade magazine, The Grocer, wasn’t very optimistic about sales for their readers. Good!
The only positive articles I can find are in rags, like the Daily Star and the Daily Express, papers which are owned by Richard Desmond.
But this is balanced by articles in more serious papers.
Let’s hope that the good people of the UK soon realise the real purpose of this lottery, which is a money-making scheme for its owner.
I shall be following this story with interest.
I’m also boycotting shops that sell the tickets for the Health Lottery. As that includes W H Smith, Sainsburys, Morrisons, Tesco and Asda, I now can only do my grocery shopping at Waitrose or Marks and Spencer. I could include the Co-Op, but they don’t have a decent shop near me.
W H Smith on BBC Breakfast
I was pleased that many of the viewers to BBC Breakfast had similar views to me this morning about W H Smith. Especially, about their dishing out all sorts of bits if unwanted paper. I don’t like their involvement with The Health Lottery either.
Wot No Spidermap!
In common with many others, I like the bus spidermaps that London uses.
They effectively solve the problem of when you are out of your normal area and need to get someone you know. Often a point on a map will be well-known to you, so you just get the bus that goes there. In East London, there are also well-known points like the Angel, Aldwych, Bow Church, Clapton Pond and Walthamshow Central, where bus routes tend to cross. With the spder maps, which list every stop in a vague geographic way, it is easy to locate the place where your local route crosses one from the place you are.
But there is no spider map for Stratford City, despite it having an impressive bus station.
Stratford City Bus Station
I was told that it was coming and to look on the Internet. All that was there was this piece of designer tosh, that is very useful, if you know the bus you want, but useless if like me, you don’t know your way home. It doesn’t even have the detailed list of places where the buses go, which is common to all spider maps.
So in the end I came home by train.
A Disappointing Trip to Eastfield
The Waitrose at Westfield Stratford City is the only place I’ve found the delicious Genius gluten-free fruit bread.
As I needed one or two other things and also a prescription dispensed, I took the train to Stratford and walked to the centre.
But I didn’t get anything I wanted, except for the drugs.
- Waitrose were out of the gluten-free fruit bread and also the normal Genius bread as well.
- Marks didn’t have any gluten-free bread either, but they did have three gluten-free ham sandwiches. So at least they must be stocking them now!
So I left a few minutes after I got there and returned home.
I think though, I can recommend the Boots pharmacy there. I got everything I wanted without waiting, as obviously, the store isn’t the place where people would normally go for their prescriptions. It’s lovely to shop without queues.
One thing that annoys me about the centre, is that to get between the main entrance and Marks at the front and Waitrose and John Lewis at the back, means that I have to run the gauntlet of a crowded corridor and lot of shops with the exception of Starbucks and PC World, I never have visited and never will. It would be much better if the two end escalators were round the other way and I could walk across at first floor level, descending as required. There is also no direct link between John Lewis and Waitrose inside the store, which puts me off visiting both on the same visit. I should say I don’t buy much in Waitrose on most days, as I’m only getting my supper. For a big shop I go to Waitrose in Islington and get them to do the carrying.
The Anonymous Widower 