Roger

Paid my customary Bank Holiday Visit here today ... Very amusing as always! Quirky staff ... Busy! Loads of people getting rid of their 'green' debris! Love this place!

Quote from Eastern Daily Press article Sounds like that car insurer might be taking a big hit ...

Couldn't agree more ... It's no different to a pampered footballer telling his Club what's going to be happening ... The Council should be laying down the rules to BB ... I echo the above for next Wednesday's meeting. EXACTLY which area's qualify for three cuts. I'm specifically interested about Churchill Gardens as I live there. The grass is so long that I am worried about my dogs' picking up 'ticks' as they walk through it. Also how come the contractors have cut around College Green down to the junction with College Road (roundabout + verges etc) then abruptly stopped? College Road and around Penn Grove Road/Admirals Close is a disgrace ...

The opening post was long and a ramble ... Attention does not normally extend to that length of post! ;-)

They must have spent a fortune on those blinds as that building has a lot of glass at the ground floor level ... staff must have got a bit moany about being stared at? Plus how much did that anti tramp shutter cost? As everyone used to ablute/doss in that doorway ...

The HT piece appeared very soon after I had Tweeted the HT that the poll had exceeded 400 votes .... And the article then mentioned that very fact ... The Author of the article is uncredited again so I suppose you will have to make yer own mind up!

Sorry ... I think I was typing as you were posting ... I'm not convinced at all that 'visibility splays' are being addressed properly as you have raised that one ... For the uninitiated that means the views at a road junction and such like ... I don't think the natives are arsed about what any sort of contract with Balfour Beatty says ... Grass is green and it grows and it should be dealt with. Incidentally Balfour Beatty were up my way the other week cutting some grass round Churchill House (now operated by the Tech. College I think) so there must be some sort of paperwork about them doing these open spaces ... I feel a bit sorry for Hereford City Council as they seem to be getting moans directed at them when they haven't got a budget for grass.

Rather large triffid in Churchill Gardens ... It has certainly celebrated it's first birthday ... I have at least paid for 7 cuts of grass in the Council tax (which has somehow reduced to three) but when it's reached 23rd May and the first of the paltry 3 cuts hasn't happened then someone must be having a laugh somewhere. It's a total shambles and the natives are getting restless ... Anyhow ... Off to look for my dog ... It's only got short legs and I've lost it at the top of Churchill Gardens ...

Signed ...

I was looking at the list of candidates last night ... The postal ballot form is one and a half feet long with a list of 71 Candidates representing 11 Parties. I also looked on the Council website and looked at the addresses of the Candidates. A lot from Birmingham and I think only one from Herefordshire. A woman representing Labour from Leominster. To be honest none of the options looked overly attractive to me. I think the motivation for going to the Polling Station will be to register a protest vote for many and thats probably going to fall into Ukip's hands. However with the rain, and what I perceive to be apathy, over this Election I can't really see the turnout getting to more than 20%.

From the application ... Also seems as tho there are going to be more signs than you can shake a stick at regarding keeping the noise down and not taking booze off site ... Apparently no Welsh signs ...

However ... On a positive note there is now a free Community toilet at Whitney On Wye toll bridge ... Whitney On Wye Community toilet

I think you tried to cover all bases there with that post ... I don't think anyone is remotely arsed whether a 3AM or 4AM finish is viable for X Y or Z ... The market will shake itself out once the Council relax a bit ...

The business model has obviously changed to selling stuff from a pop up tent as opposed to paying zillions of pounds of business rates from a building ...

I hope it's permission for Sunshine Radio to be played ... Can't imagine a live band would have the stamina to play 6AM to 9PM all week ...

Who is providing the sythe's for this scheme? Do you have to buy yer own?

I don't blame them ... There's a history of various undesirables using the bogs there. I think they probably put that sign up reluctantly. Regarding The Grapes being on the toilet scheme ... They may well have a philanthropic motive but they probably hope that people actually might decide to make a food/drinks purchase having entered for their ablutions ...

The whole problem with this open door free movement policy is that EU people just arrive at Dover with a passport but with very little else. They certainly don't bring a copy of their criminal record from their Country of origin. People who have got a pretty extensive criminal history elsewhere then just get a clean slate here. We've got enough of our own home grown criminals so I don't see why we should blindly accept additional crooks from elsewhere in the EU ... with the added bonus of a 'clean slate' incentive for them when they arrive ...

I hope the meeting doesn't just end up kicking the problem back into the long grass!

Your view. And I'll live with it ... I'm in the current age where information is exchanged a million times a second. You seem to want to revert back to the Stone Age ...

I think a core strategy should be to cut the grass ... Once that is achieved then move on to bigger targets ...

Nigel Farage fails to show as Ukip 'carnival' ends with Winston McKenzie calling Croydon an "absolute dump" Re UKIP leader Nigel Farage failed to turn up at a political rally that ended with a senior party official and Croydon candidate branding the town an “absolute dumpâ€. The event outside the Whitgift Centre this afternoon, dubbed a mini-carnival, was supposed to answer critics who accused Mr Farage of racism following an interview on LBC. Instead it quickly descended into farce, as arguments broke out between Ukip supporters and protesters, which played out in front of the nation’s media. Ukip officials even booked a band - Croydon-based Endurance Steel Orchestra - to play during the "carnival of colour", but the group performed for just a matter of minutes and later said they had not been told it was a Ukip event. Croydon Advertiser

Hereford public loos to reopen PUBLIC loos are open again in Hereford city centre, working on a ‘pay as you go’ system. On Saturday the conveniences on East Street reopened – making it the first public loo in the city to reopen after, 12 months ago, Herefordshire Council announced that all the county’s public facilities would close due to budget cuts. Hereford City Council stepped in, helping to fund loos on East Street and, by next month, those on Union Street. The toilets use a coin-operated lock, costing 20p, which will help contribute to the cleaning costs. However they will be free for disabled users, who can access them using a RADAR key – a scheme which allows diasabled people access to more than 9, 000 loos nationwide via a key they purchase from their local authority. Hereford Times RADAR keys readily available on the internet for a couple of quid

This has been bubbling in the media for a few days now. The result of LBC radio trying to trip Farage up (and probably succeeding) over one particular soundbite about Romanians. However most people will not be distracted from looking at, what is, a far bigger picture. As has been alluded to there are Elections coming up and all Politicians will say or do anything to increase their potential vote. Or to throw mud at the other sides. As will the media/press to get a story It is all rather easy to call someone a xenophobe or a racist when they are highlighting certain groups of people. For instance Romanians. Last time I looked it wasn't groups of German beggars causing havoc around Marble Arch in London. Nope ~ it was Romanians. Similarly the last time a shop was raided in the Shire for dealing in dodgy cigarettes it wasn't a Spanish tapas bar. It was an 'Eastern European' grocers. And the next time a shop gets raided for tobacco here you can guarantee it wont be Tesco's or Morrisons. It will be an Eastern European food shop. Or should I say an Eastern European shop fronting for an Organised Crime Syndicate. Anyway. These elections. I will probably vote for the least worst candidate. And maybe that candidate might not even be worthy of attracting my vote ...

How has the game changed? Everything still closes at 1.30 AM ... ? Wife was moaning tonight that we need a decent Specialist Food Shop in town ... This was whilst she was watching this She said she wanted a shop and not some pop up tent!