Campaigns

You will remember there are three issues that I am campaigning to improve
1) Smoking outside Sandwell Hospital
2) No 16 bus driver
3) Clinic in the Tanhouse Community Centre

I am able to report some progress but there remains a lot to do.

1) Smoking, it was a good idea to involve PALS in this complaint. Since I first contacted them they have been very pro active in following it up and in communicating with me. It seems the current position is that a quote is being sought to clean up the entrances. A technical meeting of directors is being held in January to discuss the problem and my suggestions are tabled for discussion. New banners have appeared at the out patients entrance giving advice on help available to stop smoking. This does not seem to have worked because the other day in the snow I saw a lady with her husband in a wheel chair under the No Smoking sign, he was smoking and she had a lit ciggy in both hands. The misses gave me the don’t even think about signs took the car park ticket and left me to get the car.
2) No16 bus, West Mids Travel eventually got back to me on this issue. Although I had crossed the Ts and dotted the Is they wanted to check they had the facts right. It appears that the drivers are not required by law to make sure you are seated safely it is courtesy on their part to see that you are. This policy if it is true is totally potty and I wonder if it was challenged in law it would stand up I think not. They are however going to pass the complaint to the driver’s manager for a full investigation. More on this I’m sure.
3) Our clinic, this seems to have gone really quiet. A small positive piece in one of the freebie papers and I am advised a report in the PCT communications newsletter which is nothing new. The concerns remain about delays and likely scrapping of the project. They were supposed to notify me of date & time of board meeting but of course this has not happened. The even bigger worry is why if all the other hurdles are jumped we should have to go to another lengthy consultation process when it is our community who have been demanding this. I do intend to attend the board meeting. Much more on this I’m sure the greased snake (PCT) continues to wriggle. If there is one group of NHS bodies that need reform its PCTs.

Happy Christmas & such

A very Happy Christmas to all my regular readers.
Not very original that is it but sincerely meant.
I think perhaps I ought to review a few of the campaigns I’m working on seeing as it’s almost the end of the year.

Clinic, this is not looking good at this time. The PCT are playing their usual game of perhaps, maybe, never. They were supposed to let me know the date time and venue of the board meeting when our clinic was to be discussed but true to form no info yet. We were told the meeting was end of January but I’m hearing 11th of January is more likely. The questions remain, why does it need to be discussed behind closed doors? Why will they not release artist’s drawings to the press and why are they coy over date and time? The action group are discussing tactics.

Smoking at Sandwell Hospital. PALS got back to me to assure me they are trying to move this complaint forward. They have apparently had other complaints. I gave them some practical suggestions on how this might be tackled. 1) New larger posters around all entrances.
2) The Sandwell stop smoking banners displayed inside the hospital with leaflets on help available.
3) The areas need to be manned from time to time handing out the leaflets. If these fail then policing of the areas with some form of penalty applied. I think 1 & 2 will be enough but why the chief exec would not even consider such basic approaches is a mystery to me. If PALS approach does not work then its letters to Chair of trust and the strategic health authority.

West Midlands Travel. Surprise surprise these folks have not yet acknowledged my complaint. I’m sure this will run on for awhile. I’m not sure but I think a criminal offence was committed here so maybe if they do not action it satisfactorily I might have to bring in the cops. With other problems I have witnessed on No16 route maybe the franchise for this company needs to be reviewed.

What was it Churchill said “the way that evil can prosper is for good men to do nothing”? For us it is not evil as such just incompetence. I don’t intend to sit back and do nothing.

Bus drivers grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Well, West Mids Travel being the chief source of my present frustration. Warning this is likely to become a bit of a rant. The wife and I went into Birmingham on Sunday to meet up with some mates for a coffee and seasonal chat. We took the No16 bus from Hamstead terminus. You would think that seeing an old bloke having difficulty getting on and using a walking stick would register in the brain of the driver to take a little care. Not so this knuckle head. I think he might have sadist macho tendencies. As soon as I was on the bus he started to move off throwing me against the stairwell bulkhead. Although I shouted he ignored me and carried on until he was required to stop to pick up other passengers. I then managed to get to my seat but now in some pain. The rest of the journey was; how can I put it? Eventful. He drove as if it was a formula 1 instead of a double decked bus taking islands far to fast and breaking hard. I had to hold onto my seat. The final humiliation was when he drove past our selected stop. When he finally stopped I was about to remonstrate with him but my tame rockwiller (the misses) stomped off and set about him verbally. I felt quite sorry for the bloke because he protested that they (West Mids Travel) did not stop there any longer. He ignored all the other complaints against his driving. Folks could not get on or off his bus whilst we held court over our journey. He was correct about stopping places but WM Travel has not notified customers of the new arrangements. We had a long walk to get to our destination which was not good for me. Apparently Diamond buses do stop there and we used their service on the way back. What a difference, polite driver who waited for us, waited until I was comfortably seated before moving of fand drove carefully all the way back. I have written to WMT about their driver because he is in need of some serious re-training before he either badly injures or maybe kills someone. They also need a company wide training package in customer care. His actions spoiled my day and left me in considerable pain in the late afternoon.
My advice to local residents “Go Diamond” we will be using this service again.

Smoking at Sandwell Hospital again

I had to go to the hospital yesterday for my regular poison fix. I was feeling a lot better, that is until I got to the main entrance to check in for my treatment. The smokers were there puffing away and ignoring the signs. They smoke in packs it’s a sort of mating ritual. I had had enough. There was a small group at one entrance a lady on her own not far away. Big brave Bob chose the lady, well easiest route I thought. The conversation went something like this.
BBCB excuse me Ma but this is a no smoking area would you please put your cigarette out.
Smoker (S) uh ya what
BBCB would you please put out your cigarette this is a no smoking area I have to go to the hospital for treatment and I do not want to breath your second-hand smoke.
By now the small group had moved off and were looking at the heavens for divine guidance.
S do you buy these she said pointing to her lit cigarette.
BBCB No Ma and I do not want to breath your second hand smoke.
S then mind your own business.
Clearly I was getting nowhere. She did however move away from the door so that we could enter without further conflict.
I complained at reception who said it’s not our job and it’s not securities either go around the corner to PALS.
Which of course I did once I had reported in to the ward to get my drugs.
I gave them my details and they assured me it would be followed up. Apparently they have a lot of complaints but if they had more something might get done.
I will wait with great interest to see what does happen.
Mr Adler if you think Bob the Black Country Brummie was going to go away with a pat on the head you are so wrong.
On the way out there was another group puffing away. My minder the misses whispered “don’t even think about it”

Councillor switches on Christmas lights.

I know it’s not the town centre or town hall but our lights are just as important to us. Since my kids were little we have always had a small but tasteful display of Christmas lights around our house. The grandkids have done the honours of officially switching them on but now they are both teenagers they were not interested this year. We needed to find a local celebrity to do the honours. I wouldn’t call our local councillor a celebrity exactly but he did help us to put up the lights so I felt he was the right person to do the switch on honours. I hope you like the display. Seems in a way to contradict the climate change argument but I do my bit for eleven and a half months a year so I’m going to enjoy Christmas. And thank you David a) for getting the lights on the tree and b) for doing the honours. This year they are the best lights in the road. My friend Barry used to do a tasteful display and we are missing his contribution.
American granddaughter who when I told her her cousins would not switch on our lights this year suggested I ask “that bloke with the big necklace”. She had met our Lord Mayor on her last visit couldn’t remember what we called him but remembered he went around starting walks and switching on lights. Nice one lola.

Apologies for the poor quality of picture 1 I have no idea what went wrong.

Round up of the week

A funny old week really. I had a lot of pain and great difficulty walking for a good part of the week. I found myself driving the misses and waiting for her whilst she ran the errands or did the shopping. This gave me the opportunity to observe folks going about their business. The usual mix of bad manners and traffic offences at the Scot Arms. I was parked up there one morning just over the red line indicating a loading area. Along comes traffic warden who insists that despite my displaying my blue badge I can’t park there. At this point he disappears and negotiates with white van man behind to move his vehicle back to give me room to park legally. He then guides me back to a correct parking position. I thank him and off he rides on his little motor bike. Talking of motor bikes the worst piece of dangerous driving was a youth driving a mini moke in the dark with no lights, no crash helet and on the pavement past my house. When I yelled at him he accelerated left the pavement and sped off. I’d tell the local cops if I thought they’d do anything about it.
Another piece of pure piggish behaviour was a young man who drove past me in a shopping arcade car park, opened his window and spit out his gum.
I had to wait while my wife delivered some papers to Sandwell Hospital and guess what folks? the smokers are still there puffing away surrounded by No Smoking signs. My letter to the Chief Exec was a total waste of time. I wonder what the legal position is because they are failing to provide a safe environment for patients to receive their treatment.

Great Barr & Newton Forum

I went along to our local resident’s forum the other day. The usual mix of concerned residents and a few Councillors. I had a couple of issues I wanted to air and of course the man from the PCT came along to give an up date on our clinic. I won’t bore you with the agenda because that is what it is, important but a little boring, the clinic is still a hot chestnut for me and many others.
The usual standard rhetoric from the man from PCT about supporting our area then the possible get out clauses. The next key stage is January meeting of the PCT board. I have asked for date time and venue for this because someone from the action group needs to be there. I have I think mentioned before dealing with our PCT is like handling a greased snake. I have many concerns that the plug will be pulled on the project due to funding. My concerns were heightened when I could not get them to release the artists drawings to the local freebie newspaper with an accurate story. The reasons given for not doing it did not stack up for me. During a discussion on car parking at the clinic a local councillor suggested we should approach the management of a Tesco Express being built about 600yds away for use of their car park. This tells me just how much this Cllr. is out of touch. Some wag suggested if we did not get our clinic we should march on Tesco. I was forced to mention that I thought if this project did not happen there would be a riot with a march on PCT headquarters and stopping the traffic in the High St. When I relayed this fact to my wife she said did I mention lying down in the road because if I did the man from the PCT as probably gone back to his office to hire a steam roller.

Smoking at Sandwell hospital

Reply from chief exec above:-
Bobs comments.
I do wish our civil servants would not give such willy nilly responses to what are serious complaints. This letter says to me sorry old mate we know about this problem but we don’t ever intend to do anything about it. I don’t think this response is adequate in any way. In view of my experiences at the hospital a few days ago and the recent reports and concerns about Basildon and other hospitals I am concerned that other more serious poor practises might be revealed.
What to do about it though is another matter. A second letter now seems pointless. Going up the tree might be the only option.
To see the image larger double click the image.

Getting behind or making excuses

I guess you noticed my posts have been a bit sporadic lately. Having a couple of days at the pleasure of our local hospital trust and this week being packed with fun activities like meeting with consultant and chemo. Life’s a little thwart at the moment. Never mind and no ahhhs please. I mentioned in an earlier post how the entrance to the hospital seemed to have improved with no fag ends or smokers on one visit. I’m afraid I can’t report the improvement as being maintained. The fag ends are back at both entrances and smokers puffing away like there’s no tomorrow. Best couple of examples I saw whilst I was checking in were the guy who was leaning against the wall between two No Smoking notices. I counted the notices in the area at seven. Another was a young Muslim man in a wheel chair who got his wife draped in scarf to push him outside to the same spot for a ciggy.
Having made enquiries of staff I know other complaints have been made so I wonder what it will take for hospital security staff to fulfil their duty and do something about it. The chief executive appears to have ignored my letter so perhaps it is time for letter number two a little harsher perhaps or a complaint to the Health Authority. I am not scheduled for a return to the hospital for three weeks so who knows there may still be time.

Smoking at Sandwell hospital II

You will remember (I hope) I wrote an open letter to the chief exec of the hospital trust concerning the above. My minder and I had to go to outpatients this morning and I have to report that not a fag end or smoker was seen at this entrance either going in or coming out. Could my letter have worked? I have not yet had a reply but I’ll settle for the entrances kept like this.

Local politics & such

I haven’t blogged much over the past few days because a) my minder (the misses) keeps finding me “little” jobs around the house and b) our local Labour councillor asked me to help him design a newsletter. I was flattered by the request and very happy to do it. He and his wife have helped the misses and me on several occasions over the last few months without being asked. He is also a leading member of TAG Tanhouse Action Group which is lobbying for our clinic. I couldn’t do much worse than the bland effort put out recently by the Liberals I thought. Although I say so myself I’m pretty good at these things. It is something I can do well and am not prevented by my physical limitations from doing.
I was given a free rein in terms of design. Dave outlined what he wanted to say and a rough idea of layout and then left it to me. I have to say Dave is delighted with the design and so am I. It covers more on the front page than the last two Liberal efforts put together. I will perhaps publish the front page at a time I am sure no political advantage will be given away. The content is reminiscent of “Election Specials” put out by a now deceased ex councillor who could make a something and nothing story sound like he was saving the world. Well our ward anyway. This one contains none of the usual swipe at the opposition or any outrageous claims. In fact in a piece on the clinic, councillor colleagues are thanked for their support. I coined the quote “Keeping his promises, no outrageous claims and no knocking the opposition” at the finish of the leaflet. It’s full of surprises like that and those of you who get a copy I hope you enjoy it.
I referred to the bland nature of recent Liberal efforts and I suppose they lack the input of the ex councillor I mentioned. Newton as always been the battle of the leaflets. Martyn Smith realised this some 30yrs ago when he started his quarterly newsletters. Residents thought somebody was actually working for them. Labour never engaged with this process and as for the Tories we get one very poor quality leaflet just before an election. They spend most of the leaflet complaining about THE PUBLIC in West Brom and little else. It will be interesting to see if this starts a leaflet war so to speak. Will the Liberals raise their game? Will the Tories actually print one? Will Labour match the quarterly output of the Liberals? I ought to offer my services to the other two parties. I would of course have to make a small charge for Liberals and a much larger fee to the Tories to help pay for my health care and the education of my grandkids if they do come back into power. I might have to learn to talk propa. You know plumb in the gob.
Casting becomes carsting Sandwell becomes Sarndwell etc. Gi us good ol black cutra any da.
If anyone wants a good quality leaflet/newsletter designed I’m your man. Have computer, have software but can’t travel far.

Round up of the week

I never intended for this blog to become an online diary. "Dear blog went to bed early tonight etc etc." That could get incredibly boring but looking back over this week I have seen some ups and downs. With my disease I suppose just living with it is bad enough particularly at the stage I now find myself. The stress on me and my wife is enormous. She copes very well and we continue to try to live as normal a life as possible. Today for example I am incredibly tired; in fact I can hardly keep my eyes open to write this. With this tiredness comes a feeling of great frustration because I am so capable yet today almost incapable.
I mentioned in my previous post bad driving which seems to have been prevalent during my journeys this week. We are trying to cut down our mileage in line with the latest fad 5 miles per week but walking for me or the bike is not an option.
I have mentioned many times traffic conditions at our major road junction The Scot Arms. The Birmingham side of the Scots is a duel carriageway with three cross over points within about 500 yards of the junction. Going towards Birmingham the first crossover is for traffic coming from Brum side only and is designed to allow buses to turn. The other two allow traffic to turn both ways. Simple enough wouldn’t you think? Thursday I was driving from the direction of Brum on the north bound carriageway and was forced to stop partly blocking the one way cross over. This crossover has two signs on the south bound carriageway instructing “Non entry” I happened to look to my right where a large LDV high sided, long wheel base van was ignoring the sign and attempting a U turn from south bound to north. Because I was waiting for the lights to change it never dawned on me the vehicle was performing an illegal move and I moved up to assist him. It was at this stage the lights changed and I moved off and I realised what he was doing. Yes girls it was a bloke and he gets wanker of the week award. But dur to yours truly for not realising earlier what he was doing. This must be the ultimate in driver idleness because he only needed to drive another two hundred yards to be able to do it legally.
No response yet to my letter to the Chief Exec of Hospital Trust. Watch this space. I have to go to the Hospital on Friday so I’ll see if there is any improvement and report back.
We had a good press from our local freebie newspaper concerning our Clinic campaign. I understand the PCT are putting out a press release which I hope includes some pictures. More on that later I’m sure. The Tahouse Action Group or TAG was mentioned. Legit or what?

Smoking at Sandwell Hospital

I have commented many times in my “Bulletin on the railings” series on the disgusting habit by smokers at my local hospital. Despite notices to the contrary smokers continue to bloke the main entrances puffing away in complete oblivion. Last week was the worst ever with about ten around the main entrance blocking my escape and the car park pay machine. I’ve had enough. The following is an open letter to the Chief Executive of the trust asking for some action. Let’s see if the power of the web can get something done.

"John Adler Chief Executive.
Sandwell & West Birmingham NHS Hospital Trust.

Sandwell Hospital.
Dear Mr. Adler,
Because of a serious illness I have to attend Sandwell Hospital has an out patient on a regular basis. I am pleased with the treatment I have received over the last two years.
There is however an issue that needs to be brought to your attention. At both entrances to the hospital there are notices advising people that they are no smoking areas and you have supplied a smoker’s cabin where smoking is allowed. I have to advise you that these notices are being ignored. Because the pay machines for the car park are situated near the main doors it is impossible to avoid breathing in second hand cigarette smoke. Because of the blatant disregard of others it is time I feel for further measures to be taken against these smokers. I have no objection to them ruining their health and putting at risk any treatment they may be getting but I do not want my health to be put further at risk by their behaviour.
I propose to make this an open letter to you and publish it along with your reply on my web site at http://midtids.blogspot.com
Something needs to be done and urgently.
Yours sincerely,"
BBCB

Busy week end

Although I was not feeling 100% we decided to continue with our plans for the week end. Saturday evening we went along with some friends to Hamstead annual fireworks display at Tanhouse Community Centre. This is one of the best value for money events throughout the year and attracts a good crowd. Nice display of fireworks and the kids having a great time. Because of the amount of time I would have been required to stand and the fact I was in some pain we decided to take the wheel chair. My friend who accompanied us is wheel chair bound permanently these days and his wife is very good at manipulating him. The misses is a delicate lady and inexperienced at pushing a chair so it was going to be fun. The first problem was drivers who left their cars parked across the pavement so that a wheel chair could not get passed. The worst piece of parking though was from a large BMW who parked across the wheel chair cross over point which was at the road junction. Only one car with a blue badge was allowed to park inside the perimeter and I wonder why? Before the display started I needed the loo and decided I would propel myself to the toilet inside the centre. There is a ramp for chairs but I have to say I could not propel myself up the ramp it was too steep, despite me “having a run at it” A couple of kids decided to help, despite me telling them I wanted to do it myself they pushed me up the last bit. Getting into the loo in a chair is not possible without a lot of manipulation. Using a chair in a crowd can be a harassing experience because people do not look where they are going. The entrance ramp needs to be re-designed because I don’t believe a chair user was consulted on this design. Finally for the inconsiderate drivers who had parked illegally, when they are caught they should be sentenced to spend a week in a wheel chair they would soon become more considerate. Grrrrrrrrrrrr
I’m thinking of producing some “Polite Notices” telling them about their inconsideration and warning them that their parking will be reported. Now should I be polite or down right rude?
Interesting footnote there were plenty of cops at the event enjoying the show but non on the approach roads making sure drivers parked correctly. Ummmmmm
Perhaps Ch. Supt. Dugmore you would like to look into this?
Sunday morning the misses and I attended the memorial service at the war memorial in Dartmouth Park. What a splendid turnout and a very emotional service. I can’t remember seeing that many for a long time there must have been 2000 people there of all ages.

Customer service

In days of old when I had a propa job with a salary, exes and perks I used to run an engineering business which was part of a large group. To keep supply and demand in the correct proportions it was necessary at times to sub contract a lot of work. This was usually done by specialist companies with highly skilled workforce. I would visit these suppliers regularly to keep up to date with what was happening within the sector and because our competitors used these same suppliers to understand what the market was like. It only took the loss of a couple of skilled workers to change the picture in some cases. The company could go from a reliable quality supplier to a lame duck in a very short period of time. I could tell almost as soon as I set foot inside the factory what was going on. They also knew me well and I almost always got a warm welcome. A valued customer who they looked after. Nowadays I see this same change in stores that I use regularly. We have a small office supplies store at the Scot Arms usually they are very helpful and go out of their way to look after their customers. The misses and I recently went into the store at the same time but for different items when we came out we both commented how unhelpful they were. I thought very little of this, dismissing it has having a bad day until another friend quite without prompting made a similar observation. I wonder what is going on here? As anyone else had a similar experience with this company. Locals will know the shop so I need not name here.

Lateral thinking

I have been critical of our MP Tom Watson on occasion but last week he really excelled himself. Our local Tories have continually sniped about our cultural centre in West Brom THE PUBLIC but without any real practical alternatives being offered. At one stage they wanted to turn it into a bowling alley. The thinking I suppose from them is whenever they moan about THE PUBLIC will always get the majority view against it. As you all know I don’t hold this view. Tom came up with a brilliant idea which he is going to put before Parliament. The plan is to permanently house the Staffordshire Hoard at THE PUBLIC for display. He also criticised the Arts Council for abandoning the project. Well done Tom this is exactly the kind of out of the box thinking we need and sets Labour apart from the Tories who have not changed and never will. Let’s have more Mr. Tom.
West Brom is the southern most town in Staffordshire and a perfect place for the treasure. I just love the idea. Sandwell needs a cultural/arts centre the idea of a bowling alley is a load of balls.

My friend Barry & such

When you get to my age the natural scheme of things is that your family and friends start popping off to wherever their after life chooses. Recently a friend of mine of many years and neighbour left this mortal toil. With my own mortality challenged I perhaps feel this death more than most. He helped me to cut the grass which sets our little part of Hamstead apart from the rest and he indeed was a good neighbour. I think now I will have to contact my local councillor to get the council to start cutting it again but this saddens me because of the reasons we started to cut it in the first place.
His departure though caused me to reminisce about life when we moved to our homes over forty years ago. The houses we bought were just basically shells they contained a toilet, bath, wash basin and a kitchen sink and that was about it. Nothing like today where they come with fully fitted kitchens, bedrooms and the like. We had a choice of colours though: buttercup or off white. In reality they were the same colour. Our gardens were not landscaped, just one step removed from the building site. Like the wife and I, he and his wife came from the slums of B’ham so moving to a new house with “all mod cons” in those days we were envied by our parents. Buying your own home though was not without problems and we had to work extremely hard to turn our houses into homes fit to bring up our families.
In those days there was no maternity leave when your wife got pregnant she was forced to give up her job with no prospect of ever getting it back. Paternity leave was something invented by new labour. I had to have a couple of days holiday when my kids came along. Family allowance was 5 shillings (25p) a week for the second child only. All these things have been introduced by Labour over the last few years. No redundancy pay or statuary sick pay. If you lost your job or got sick, tough. I don’t bemoan the deal our young people get these days but I do think our government should remember where us oldies are coming from. Both parties have treated us badly over the years but listening to Cameron and Co over the week end I think we are likely to do worse under his lot than sticking with Gordon.
We knuckled down turned our shells into decent homes and raised our kids to a very high standard. I for one do not want to go back to the “Born to Rule” philosophy of the Tories. So come on Gordon let’s see some real pensioner friendly policies. We do vote and we deserve a better share of our nation’s wealth than we have been getting.

Full of Life Festival II

I understand there were 900 of these events taking place up and down the country. I need to thank Sandwell Council and our PCT for funding it again this year. THE PUBLIC is a perfect venue for this type of event.
I want to thank all those folks who came along on our stall for a chat. Special thanks to Fat Prophet a fellow blogger it was great to meet him face to face so to speak, His picture on his blog does not do him justice. A regular commenter Margaret also came to say hello although I know her well from local forums and such.
The event was a little disappointing this year with a lot less attending than last year. The three stalls I am associated with had a steady stream of punters though. It’s always difficult at these shows to judge the reaction to your offering I suppose we need to wait and see if any new members turn up.
Our film “The meeting” (script by you know who) was a big disappointment. The sound did not come over well, was interrupted by the PA system announcing other activities and some people walked out. A disappointing audience we never managed a titter from them all the way through. The film which is an irreverent look at local politics. Concerns a local party representing older people two weeks before the local elections. The characters are larger than life in a setting similar to the Vicar of Dibley parish council meetings. We had a lot of fun rehearsing and filming it and thought it very funny. Looks like we have a lot of work to do. I suppose though from an amateur group new to this we did not do so bad. Last year we did a similar thing but with a much better response.
The misses was not feeling so good in the afternoon and has since been diagnosed with Swine Flu. Oh what a palaver getting Tamiflu. It brings the poor health facilities in our area to the fore. I had to travel to Oldbury to pick up the drugs for her. I’m delighted to say she is now on the mend but I just wonder how many people she infected during Thursday’s event. She did not know she was sick or would not have attended. My grandson is refusing to visit her because “he does not like pigs” I wish I had kept all the funny things the kids have said.

Full of Life Festival

October 1st is United Nations International Day for Older People. We celebrate this in Sandwell with an event at THE PUBLIC in West Brom called Full of Life Festival. This is a free event sponsored by Sandwell Council and our Primary Care Trust. Last years event attracted 800 visitors. Anyone over fifty is especially welcome but younger people also attend with a choirs from one of the local schools it is a truly cross generation event.
Bob the Black Country Brummie will be there along with my editor in chief. So if you happen to be around West Brom on Thursday look us up we’ll be delighted to see you.

West Brom

I had to go into West Brom a couple of times last week and on one occasion I sat in the car on the High St for about twenty minutes waiting for my wife who was shopping in M&S for less. I know I could park in Astle Centre car park but when you can park on the High St. for free why pay?
West Brom is quite a cosmopolitan town with a lot of colourful characters. I was parked by the betting shop which appears to be the busiest place in the town! Well certainly in the late afternoon it is. An amusement arcade is a couple of shops away and that seemed to be doing a lot of business. I mention all this because on the face of it nothing much different to any other High St. I suppose. It is the behaviour of the residents that changed things for me. We have a fair mix of Afro Caribbean blacks, Asians and white European. Difficult without asking them their ethnic origins but they all seem have similar bad habits. I was shocked to see how many people still smoked and stubbed out their cigies on the pavement. With the amount of propaganda these days about the dangers of smoking you would think they would know better. The other habit which I found most offensive was spitting. I suspect that some of it was chewing gum judging by the whit blobs stuck to the pavement but a lot of it was just spittle. Not only is this distasteful but I suspect unhealthy for others especially as we are facing a flu pandemic. I was quite frankly ashamed of my fellow citizens. The Victor Meldrew in me was getting near the surface when the wife arrived. Which is perhaps for the better. Could we perhaps have the wardens patrol the High St on a Friday afternoon? That ought to net a few quid in on the spot fines.
The High St. is a pig sty and needs clearing up.