Rantings via Weblog (Click here to go to the Home Page!)

“Coconut Man, Moon Head, and Pea.”

Yes she is shouting out to the two people who wrote the song with her, it's sort of a (not so) private joke!

Coconut Man = Dr Luke (apparently he ate a lot of coconuts and got them delivered to the studio all the time), Moonhead = Claude Kelly (she called him this because he has a big head) and Pea = herself!! (They called her Pea because she has a small head!)

From: James Collett
Sent: 18 March 2011 14:01
To: 'James Collett'
Subject: Surrey car parking charges petition


You may be interested:-

Petition to: abandon its proposals for on-street charges on car parking bays in market towns and large villages throughout Surrey.

http://petitions.surreycc.gov.uk/ParkingCharges/

Rds,

-James.
==
James Collett BSc (Hons)(DUNELM), MSc (WALES)

From: *****
Sent: 18 March 2011 15:24
To: 'James Collett'
Subject: RE: Surrey car parking charges petition

James, why? How are we going to get out of this mess we are in if we don’t even pay parking charges? Why not encourage people to walk/cycle instead?

Regards,

from *****

From: James Collett
Sent: 18 March 2011 16:27
To: *****
Subject: RE: Surrey car parking charges petition

*****,

Thanks for your thoughts. It's good to be challenged, to ensure that one's objection to a change is not just an outraged knee jerk on the Clapham Omnibus.

In Camberley, I have the option to use one of the three multi-storey car parks if I have significant business to do in town. The high street currently allows 30 minutes of free parking if I can find a space, which is just right for a visit to the ATM or to deposit a cheque or for a dash into Sainsbury's to buy some milk and bread.

We should of course be encouraged to walk or cycle, and indeed I sometimes do just that. For me it's quite convenient because I live so close to the town centre; it's a nice, brisk 15 mintes walk. But for some people and circumstances this is just not an option - for example, a mother with two small children who needs to "pop to the shops" or for someone on the way home from work, or when already in the car and travelling onto somewhere else.

The inconvenience of having to pay for such a short shopping stop will deter me and others, I believe, and it will rob local shops of business. Tesco with its flat, free parking will reign even more supreme.

I also wonder how much it will cost to tool up and maintain the technology for such a policy. And I wonder how revenue positive it would actually be.

I should like to see wastage and inefficiency in the NHS reduced and I would bet that such a drive would be much more easily achieved, cost effective and financially beneficial in terms of raw numbers, given the size of the NHS budget, than installing thousands of parking meters in Surrey. Mr Osborne has already announced that he will be cutting my household's gross annual income by £3500-£4000 in a year or two with his non-means tested withdrawal of child benefit. He's already taking more VAT from me each time I buy almost anything. I think that I and the hordes of other already-squeezed middle-income earners will be helping out quite a bit there, all in it together so to speak.

I have not even touched upon the analysis of street car parking charges as effectively yet another unfair tax, hitting low earners proportionally more than high eaners.

All in all, this motion strikes me as a bridge too far.

Rds,

-James.

Thanks James, fair comments.

Regards,

from *****

Complaint type:Television
Location:England
Channel:BBC1
Programme title:Outcasts (Drama) (TV)
Transmission date:13/03/2011

Complaint summary:the apparent abandonment of a sci-fi show with potential

Full complaint:-

Sirs,

I am given to understand that this show was effectively abandoned after only four episodes, judging by its relegation to a dead slot on Sunday night, which caused me to miss its transmission incidentally.

This is the sort of nonsense that drives corporate, ratings-frenzy outfits like Fox TV in the USA - and which repeatedly disappoints and enrages fans of short-lived yet potentially excellent dramas. If you've stumped up the investment to build a first season of this show then at least stick with it and let it develop and gather an audience, rather than piss off the loyal audience that you do have. That's a suggestion, by the way.

Are you going to do the same to this show as you did to Defying Gravity and Survivors? - i.e. build up a bunch of ideas, characters and story arc possibilities only to leave them all dangling without resolution? The BBC is not about ratings. It's not about commercials. It is about quality shows that appeal to more than just the common denominator of Strictly Come X Factor on Ice. Or am I wrong?

-James Collett.

Receive a reply:Yes
Contacted us before:Yes
Complaint related to previous contact:No
Title:Mr
First name:James
Surname:Collett
Under 13:No

Mate: ''Shite I've left my keys in your car, back in a sec.''
Billy: ''It's all right I'll get 'em.''
Mate: ''Cheers mate, mine's a Stella, I'm just going to get my keys.''

Mate:I'm going home to a lovely tea tonight
Billy: Oh, what you having?
Mate: I'll have a pint please Billy, cheers.

Mate: I've left me tabs in your car Billy
Billy: I'll get them.
Mate: Cheers Billy, I'll have a pint, now give me your keys and I'll fetch me tabs.

I'm really dejected of frank of this internet page. I have never seen so fatal articles, absolutely debilitate of outdated!