Purple (TM)

WE WERE SENT THIS AMAZING PICTURE OF SOME PACKAGING.

The packaging is coloured purple, and there is a small statement:

“The Color PURPLE is a trademark of 3M”

Can this be true? Do they own that film by Speilberg that had Whoopie in it? Do they own rights to Price’s Purple Rain?

Things are getting worse when a company can trademark a colour!

Is using Purple piracy? A copyright infringement? Downright theft?

D+ Stress

I WAS STRUCK BY THIS NOTICE IN A HIGH SCHOOL & TOOK A PHOTOGRAPH USING MY CAMERAPHONE.

Click to enlarge image. It reads:

“Youth Stress Centre

Aromatheraphy Massage
Reiki
Self-Esteem
Relaxation
Reflexology
Stress Management
Anger Management

Appointments available at
Castlemilk Stress Centre
109 Stravanan Road
(above the shops)
Call us on 630 0111

MONDAY’S 6.00-8.30
WEDNESDAY’S 6.30-8.30

Funded by The National Lottery
NHS Greater Glasgow”

Where do I start? I have a problem with children going above shops for a massage.  This did not happen in my day, and I am not convinced it ought to happen today.

If  we overlook the terrible use of the apostrophe, the hours appear to indicate very early morning, before school starts.  On the other hand, perhaps it is meant to be PM  rather than AM or 24 hour clock, it is difficult to know for sure.  As Castlemilk is a very deprived and rough council estate, getting the times correct would be important, especially if one wanted to have less stress.

I do not understand how this can be part of the NHS, and yet receive funding from the National Lottery. I also do not understand how things like Reiki can be available under the auspices of either body when it is not recognised.  The Roman Catholic Church, for example, has outlawed Reiki practices as heretical and blasphemous!

• According to William T. Jarvis, Ph.D., of The National Council Against Health Fraud, there “is no evidence that clinical Reiki’s effects are due to anything other than suggestion” or the placebo effect.

Things are getting worse when school children are receiving early morning or late night hocus pocus to cope with “stress” all paid for by the Lottery and NHS. What will they do when they go to university or college — or later when they get a job? What will they do when they have real stress to deal with?

Would they not be better teaching children how to cope with their own stress, how to manage themselves without visiting a massage parlour in one of the biggest council estate black-spots in western Europe?

Holy Street!

AMAZINGLY, NO ONE WAS HARMED WHEN THE STREET CAVED IN TODAY.

I was walking along Renfield Street, and right at the corner where the old ABC cinema used to be, the road simply collapsed!

It was big enough to drop a full-length family car waiting to turn left onto Renfield Street!  Things are getting worse when roads can suddenly cave in.

In 2007, the road outside the Citizens’ Theatre collapsed as a result of a burst water main, ironically while “The Tempest” was being performed (see Clipped News Article).  Glasgow’s infrastructure was shown to be crumbling and in dire need of investment.  The pot holes cannot be making things any better. Thing sare definitely getting worse when pavements and roads can simply and suddenly cave in without warning!

Tough Baby Change

WE ALL KNOW GLASGOW IS TOUGH.

The city used to have a reputation for gang violence, and in recent times has been known as the “Murder Capital of Europe” due to knife crime.

Nevertheless, I was somewhat surprised to see notices in the baby changing area of a local supermarket’s toilet. Please click on the image to enlarge.

The first one that caught my eye was the notice headed, “Knife and Stab Wounds”.  I thought: how inappropriate above a baby change table in an accessible toilet! Things are getting worse indeed when such notices are so clearly remind us of where we are and how we live.

They seem to be expecting trouble at this store.  Good grief! This, by the way, is the same supermarket that employs “Antisocial Lighting” in the Ladies.

Biting Costs

AT A VISIT TO THE DENTIST, I WAS AMAZED TO SEE THE FOLLOWING NOTICE ON THE WALL:

Click on the picture to the right to enlarge the image taken with my camera-phone.

It reads:

“DUE TO PRESSURE ON OUR
APPOINTMENT LIST THERE WILL NOW
BE A CHARGE FOR PATIENTS WHO
FAIL TO ATTEND THEIR
APPOINTMENTS WITHOUT DUE NOTICE
- THIS WILL BE CHARGED AT £60 PER
HOUR OR PRO RATA”

You may have noticed the bad English, but I spotted the sixty quid per hour penalty rate. This is serious money — does that include check-ups? what about cleaning?

To use “Pro Rata” does not help matters in my opinion.

I take it to mean that if you are five minutes late for your appointment, then you will be charged that five-minute proportion of the sixty quid/ hour charge — which is a fiver (it is a pound a minute charge).

Now, I don’t know about you, but I ALWAYS have to wait in the appropriately-named waiting room, even if I arrive bang on-time for my appointment.  So, if I arrive five minutes late, and I am placed for 10 minutes in the waiting room, what will happen?

Why can’t I charge the dentist for his lateness?  If my appointment is for 10am, and I arrive five minutes early, I ought to be seen at 10am.  If I am kept waiting, I would reasonably expect some reciprocity — perhaps on a pro rata basis?

Things are getting worse when National Health Service Dentists feel that they can get away with this sort of thing — and to add insult to injury, the notice is contained within a golden frame behind glass, and soundly mounted on the wall. This dentist must have a lot of free time — perhaps occasioned by too many missed appointments?

Do NOT Pick Up Dog Dirt!

THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN DOG MESS ON THE PAVEMENT IS WHEN A HUMAN BEING PICKS UP THE DOG MESS.

I saw it this morning: a woman watched her dog do it’s business. She then reached into her anorak pocket and produced a scrunched-up Morrison’s Supermarket carrier bag.  She pulled it over her hand, picked up the dog shit, and pulled the bag back over so that the shite was contained within the bag.

Now, this is wrong and disgusting on many levels in my opinion.  Let’s begin with the supermarket carrier bag — we’re supposed to be getting away from using these plastic bags as they last for millions of years on landfills and kill wild life. On top of this, Morrison’s carriers are largely clear and see-through — hardly appropriate for this purpose.

The next thing that gets me annoyed is that the dog is allowed to poop anywhere it likes, and the owner will pick it up.  This is not right; humans picking up after dogs is wrong — we’re acting like they are superior and we are the servants.

Think about it, a dog crap on the pavement is something to be avoided — and it can be avoided most of the time because is obviously present.  On the other hand, a dog poo that was lifted will leave residue and germs behind that are far less evident.  People do not see the danger and walk on the fouled region to then spread the germs on floors and carpets at home and in cars.  Kids drops things, bounce balls, and ride over such places to spread germs and infection far and wide.

The next issue I have with the pick-up scenario is the act of picking up the faeces — plastic bag or not. The way I see it, if you went to the toilet and did a poo, you would be just as separated from your own faecal matter — in your personal case, it’s toilet paper, in the dog fouling scenario, it is a plastic shopping bag.

The thing is you know that wiping your bum means you have germs and that you need to wash your hands — but people who pick up warm, freshly produced dog turds are in the street or in parks, and have no access to wash hand basins.  They are walking about with germs — and it is exactly as bad as not washing your hands after defecating in a WC.

How would you feel if someone walked their dog and then made you a sandwich?  I personally would feel that this is the same as someone making a sandwich after going for a dump and not washing their hands, or a mother changing a nappy and not washing her hands.

I saw Kim and Aggie’s TV show,”How Clean is Your House” a while back.  It was explained that germs from the toilet can spread upto eight feet away from the WC bowl.  They swabbed surfaces and items for laboratory testing, and faecal matter was discovered on toothbrushes and face flannels. Toothbrushes should be stored as far away as possible from toilet bowls — always inside  bathroom cabinets and with a case too if possible.

That is why toilets cannot be accessed from public rooms — especially kitchens,  but instead they have to be from hallways and corridors or, for example, in pubs and clubs, accessed via IVS spaces.  Toilets without windows have to by law have an extraction fan wired up to the lightswitch with an over run fo 20 minutes after you leave and switch off the light — yes, it is that serious.

People can be paranoid about sitting on toilet seats or touching toilet door handles or flush handles – yet, while germs are definitely passed via contact, there is a significant airborne spread. If you wipe your bottom — you are not coming into direct contact with faeces by virtue of the toilet paper.  Germs are in the toilet bowl, on the seat and on your wiping hand.  You will touch surfaces and spread the germs that jumped onto your hand.  Flushing creates the sneezing effect — a fine germ-filled mist or aerosol that spreads germs high and low, far and wide.  May people consider hand air driers to spread germs too — particularly when people wet their hands rather than washing them with soap and warm water.

The point I am labouring here is that germs are invisible and that they spread fast and far. Despite toilet paper and plastic bags.

• I therefore think there should be a ban on people picking up after their pooches.
• I do not think dogs should be allowed to poop anywhere: dogs should be made by their owners to poop in designated areas — perhaps in gutters at the roadside of the kerb (not on the pavement), where rain water will wash them down the drain.

We live in a world filled with MRSA, superbugs, allergies, and all sorts of illnesses that could be eradicated by better hygiene. The “Bag it and Bin It” campaign — I have argued here — is unhealthy for us all and something should be done.

Crossing Poles

A WALK THROUGH SHAWLANDS IS ALWAYS AN EXCITING PROSPECT.

It is an assault course of dog fouled pavements, illogically parked cars, overgrown hedges, bollards and crazy things such as the lamppost shown in the picture — please click on the picture to enlarge.

There is a pole for the no-entry sign located exactly where a pedestrian needs to cross — right where the kerb dips at the corner.  This pedestrian could be a partially sighted person, wheelchair bound, a mother with a pram or perhaps an elderly person with either a Zimmer frame or one of those electrical wheelchairs.

How annoying and unsafe!  Do people not think things through anymore?  If there is no guide and handbook on how to do this, if there is no legislation or regulation, what about the people who actually dug the pavement up and erected this pole?

Things are getting worse when people cannot think about their work, but simply do a shoddy bit of work and forget all about it.

If you refer back to this picture, you might see that there is another daft pole on the opposite side — just shown on the right side of the picture. Good luck to everyone who wants to cross at this junction.

Bollards

BOLLARDS ARE SOFTER THAN YOU THINK.

The council put bollards up to try to stop cars being parked in particular areas, but it is not working on account of the fact that bollards are made from cheap soft plastic rubbish!

The moral of the story is to drive slowly at the bollards to bend them out of your way, allowing you to park wherever you want.

Council tax money well spent!

What’s On Where?

I TOOK A SNAPSHOT OF THE LANGSIDE HALLS NOTICE BOARD BECAUSE IT CONFUSED ME.

I thought I would share it with you all because it serves as an illustration of how easily things can make matters worse when the intention is supposed to be all about making things better, clearer and simpler.

Christine Crawford, Tai Kwon Do and Irish Danciny are all on.  The most confusing is Irish Danciny, going by the diagram provided on the left side.

It would possibly be easier for newcomers to have some kind of overview plan or diagram, as you would get almost anywhere else. It might also help if there was some explanation of what Tai Kwon Do was — level of expertise, ages, teacher’s name and so forth.  What exactly is “Christine Crawford”? Is it a dance class, weight-loss group, flower-arranging or smoking cessation group? I do not think we’ll ever get to the bottom of “Irish Danciny”.

This is almost anti-information! Happy New Year!

Break The Law

THE POLICE ARE CRACKING DOWN ON US AGAIN. They have been out and about all week causing traffic congestion for shoppers.  It is the three old chestnuts — parking, speeding and drink-driving.

Something is wrong with a society when ordinary everyday citizens are more concerned with getting caught by the authorities than by criminals.  I have seen grown men brought to tears by parking wardens, simply because their ticket at the meter bay expired ten minutes ago.

Things are getting worse.  Yet, what I do not understand is why it has to be that way.  Sure, it brings in an awful lot of money — it is all a hidden tax after all — but I think it is too high a price to pay, for the downside far outweighs the income.

For example, instead of putting money in a meter, you could just swipe your credit card and settle up at the end of the day.  The argument about short-stay periods is nonsense; just have a different rate for long stays.  That would mean that no person would be criminalised, stressed and angry — the NHS would see the benefit, and we’d have less road rage and a general lifting of mood.

Speed cameras are bad, and speed limits are silly.  Drivers panic when they see a speed camera, and speed limits cannot be taken seriously because they do not account for traffic jams, bad weather, late night driving and so forth.

Why are we putting up with this silliness? Speed limiters exist — see the photograph.  If no car could speed, this would free up the police to catch people driving dangerously or carelessly under the effects of drink or drugs.

The state pretends to be nannying us, protecting us, keeping us safe — but the truth is that we live in fear of the state — they are not there for us, they are out to get us, to take our money and ruin our lives — either by the consequences of human mistakes or by making us so paranoid and stressed out that we cannot actually live our lives freely.

Happy New Year!