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News and Comment September 2011

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30 September (Part 1) - Earthquake hits Bexley

It is fortunate that no one has ever asked what this website is here for because there could be no simple answer. There must be a dozen contributory reasons but a personal one has always been the sense of mischievous delight that comes from entering “Bexley council” into Google and seeing the words “dishonest, incompetent, vindictive” right under Bexley council’s own entry. The position occasionally bobs around for a day, Google’s algorithms are hard to fathom, but it is generally as shown below.

What has always been a mystery is why typing in “Bexley council” produced a good result but “Bexley” alone didn’t. “Bexley” was lucky to get Bonkers on to Google Page 4. But that problem is now solved, a “Bexley” search now generally puts Bonkers above Bexley NHS, Bexley Adult College, Bexley Conservatives (Google Page 7). It still bobs around a bit, today is different from yesterday, but Google now makes its contribution to Bexley council’s world-wide reputation whatever the search criterion.

Google fooled me earlier this week. It sent me an Alert to the fact that Bexley council was cutting the pay for its top executives. The council’s grant had been slashed and it needed to cut costs and was keen to set a good example to residents it said.


• Several director positions have been eliminated.
• Director salaries have been reduced in many instances.
• Staff has been reduced in the Service and Parks and Recreation departments.


But it turned out to be Bexley, Ohio.

There is another Bexley in New Zealand. It was wrecked by last September’s earthquake. I have a very distant (in genealogy terms) relative who lives there. She emails about twice a week to tell me how the town is recovering. Basically it isn’t. It has suffered after shocks and new quakes every day and no one has had a decent night’s sleep for a year. Sewer systems have been raised above house level and in one part of town almost 90% of the houses have been ear-marked for demolition. Vindictive, anti-democratic Bexley council could do with a good shake too.
Bexley on Google Bexley on GoogleI promised something relatively frivolous for the end of the month and there it is. Normal service will resume next week with something about mayor Ray Sams.

 

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