No telly
Several people have said that if you fill in the questionnaire at
www.tvlicensing.co.uk/noTV
you will get an email confirmation and two months later the plague of rude and
demanding letters will begin.
The
must watch TV gene somehow passed me by, maybe because I had my fill of it when very young. My father bought a Philips
set in 1950, 110 guineas including aerial installation. A mahogany cased thing
with a screen that hid behind the cabinet doors when not in use. BBC1 only which
may explain why I have yet to watch a single episode of Coronation Street.
I didn't have access to TV from 1965 to 1972. Was without again from 1984 until 1991 and again from 2001 to 2006 which
probably explains why I am useless if the pub quiz questions turn to old TV
programmes. Pub Quiz? I suspect I will never go to one again.
I do not recall being chased to buy a licence until the early 2000s when I perhaps
foolishly let an inspector come in to see for himself that there was no TV in
the house despite the two TV aerials on the roof. That’s because when I moved to
the present address there was no Channel 4 reception at all. Locals said that
was the norm so I put up a big aerial which could just about see Crystal Palace.
It later transpired that the Woolwich transmitter was broken and no one had
bothered to report it. It was me who eventually did so and I still have the thank you
letter sent to me after the transmitter was fixed.
Following the inspection I had two years untroubled by the Licence Gestapo and then
the stream of letters started all over again.
There is no need to let any TV licence snooper into your house and I wouldn’t do
so again. Best is to tell them to bugger off and leave you alone.
Victoria Way, Charlton
So how do I know that
Victoria
Road was renamed Victoria Way at some time between December 1919 and the beginning of 1931?
Because my grandmother went to visit an old neighbour after spending 12 years in Burma and left a note about it.
No scrap of paper was ever thrown away, not only old ration books survive but
postcards that are even older. Remarkable when you think about it.
Why did Gladys Knight pack her ration cards in a trunk when emigrating to Burma where she
moved around several towns. Bassein and Rangoon are on record. Then she packed
them again when her husband’s ill health forced the family back to London. She lived
across the river in both Victoria Dock Road and nearby Ripley Road and was bombed twice during the
war after which she was temporarily in Ealing and then East Ham. Two scraps of paper survived the lot.
That is not all. The battered handleless-by-design saucepan pictured shows
signs of being used over an open fire. It is engraved with the words E.P.M & Co.Rangoon.
Who in their right mind would pack it up for shipping to the UK
and not think of purchasing a much better one back in Blighty - and then her
daughter keeps it in a kitchen cupboard for another ninety years?
The boycott list
The
boycott list is getting rather long. Marks & Spencer, McCain’s potato products, Warburton’s
bread, Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, Yorkshire tea, Gregg’s, Uncle Ben’s (†), Cooperative retail, Argos and now Sainsbury’s.
In most cases I have forgotten why I am not supposed to patronise them. A bit academic
anyway as all but one are places I don’t use or products I don’t buy, but Sainsbury’s?
That’s a bit difficult being the only supermarket within easy walking distance.
Whatever possessed them to add that second paragraph to a perfectly OK opening statement?
A Ratneresque request to take your custom elsewhere,
surely a bit of thought could have avoided any controversy?
Despite once being assaulted by a black member of staff while shopping in
Sainsbury’s I spent another £19 there yesterday afternoon. I really must do
something with the £126 accumulated on the Nectar Card too
So it looks like Sainsbury’s don’t treat their staff equally and accuses some customers of being racist. How much are these PR idiots paid?
I have some Uncle Ben’s in my cupboard but its says Best by 2nd July 2013. Do you think it will be OK?