1997 Comment
1999 Comment
2000 Comment
September 1998
Date of journey 7 September 1998 Departure time 10.16
Comments
Two of us took the train for a day trip to St Ives expecting to arrive there
at 12.29. However the Penzance train was delayed and when we got to St Erth
(about 8 mins late) the connecting service had gone. The ticket office person
said "Nothing to do with me - I was on my lunch break - do you want a complaints
form?" My complaint is that if I had known I was going to have to sit around at
St Erth station for three quarters of an hour I would not have taken the train at
all. (I also think the European Regional
Development Fund are wasting their money if they are subsidising this
pathetic service.) If arriving 40+ minutes late qualifies for a refund, I'd
appreciate a refund.
Re: Bus Free-For-All
4 August 1998
Letter to Albuquerque's Weekly Alibi,
published in edition of 12-18 August 1998.
Dear Weekly Alibi
Dennis Domrzalski's piece about Councilor Bregman's free bus plan for
central Albuquerque raises an interesting scenario. But it's not only Denver
and Chattanooga that have free city center transit systems. Both
Seattle and
Portland (Oregon) have "magic carpet" areas where transportation is free. In
Portland there is a light rail system. In Seattle some buses run underground in
special tunnels. These are free, together with other bus services, within
designated city blocks. Maybe one day
Frasier
Crane will take a bus! Maybe he
already has.
All the best
Steve Savage, London
26 March 1998
Letter to the London Evening Standard
Dear Sir Unlike most US voters, if polls are to be believed, Max Hastings
is clearly no great fan of President
Clinton. Not of course that that makes him
unusual among British journalists. But his article in yesterday's Standard (25
March 1998) seems to be whirling around in a storm of Mr Hastings' anger. He
almost appears to blame Mr Clinton for the ill-advised US intervention in
Somalia, which of course was the brainchild of President Bush (supposedly a
foreign-policy expert compared to President Clinton) and his administration.
Then Mr Hastings blames President Clinton for doing the sensible thing and
getting out of Somalia.
He seems to disapprove of the President's African tour, to put it mildly, but
is perhaps forgetting that he is the USA's head of state as well as of
government.
But oddest of all is Mr Hastings' view that America doesn't take any interest in
Africa and that Africa's problems need to be somehow sorted out by the United
States. The USA does take an interest in Africa, for example (if indirectly)
through the World Bank, which exercises an influence on many African
governments (for good or ill). And surely the bottom line is that Africa's
problems aren't going to be sorted out by Americans any more than they were
sorted out by British and other colonialists, excellent farmers though they may
have been. In the final analysis, Africa's problems have to be sorted out by
Africans. Yours faithfully
Cabbages, kings and flying pigs
10 March 1998
Thus does the molehill move and give forth a mouse.
The British mass media purport to take all this nonsense perfectly seriously, as though anyone (a) understands or (b) cares about the royal family's bizarre fixation on the meaningless title 'HRH', or on flag-flying. Reporters enquire further about bowing and curtseying and are told that the position is in fact as before -- bowing and curtseying are entirely voluntary (as before, apparently) and advice has been disseminated to this effect, with the rider that the royals would be grateful if people would nevertheless observe customary practice.
Customary practice has been for all concerned to treat bowing, curtseying and
general obsequiousness as obligatory, on the grounds that it would be churlish
to behave normally.
It's hard to decide if this strange institution -- the British monarchy -- more resembles
Alice in Wonderland or
Through the Looking Glass. The
British republican movement is still tiny. With the monarchy emitting such guff, one has to wonder why.
Desperately seeking green sneakers
5 January 1998
A few years ago - many years ago, in fact - I bought myself a couple of
one-piece garments. Jumpsuits? Boiler suits? One of them was red and one was
green. I still have them. They appear to have shrunk over the years, but I
know that's just one more illusion.
Having bought these striking items of apparel, I decided I wanted to buy a pair
of green sneakers, or gymshoes, or plimsolls, or deck shoes. But it didn't
matter what I wanted to call them, for there were none to be had. Every
manufacturer, every retailer, with one mysterious accord, had decided there
was no money in green sneakers, nor any in green gymshoes, nor green plimsolls,
nor
green deck shoes. For one thing, the new generation of trainers was in. For
another, colour was out. After much searching, I bought some sneakers and
also something to make them green - paint, or dye. Pretty weird I must have
looked in my green jumpsuit when I'd painted up my sneakers, but that was
then, as they say.
A few years later, colourful sneakers, or gymshoes, or plimsolls, or deck shoes
were in again. But I'm one of those individuals who make up that fickle thing
known as the public, and as I no longer wanted green sneakers, nor gymshoes,
nor plimsolls, nor deck shoes, I didn't buy any.
When I went to the sales this winter in search of an overcoat, I was reminded
of that dispiriting search for green sneakers. A few years ago I used to buy
my coats at places like British Home Stores and Marks & Spencer. With one
mysterious accord, major clothes retailers have apparently decided that men
don't wear overcoats. They wear jazzed-up anoraks. Fun. They wear raincoats.
Moody. They wear leather jackets. Mean. Cool. But overcoats? Out. Out. Out.
I had just about given up. But I decided to check out a branch of Moss Bros,
although this was with some misgivings, since Moss Bros seemed to be calling
itself The
Suit Company. Would a suit company sell coats?
Yes, indeed! There were rails laden down with overcoats and I was so overcome
that I bought a rather elegant number with a
Pierre Cardin
label. Even though
the coat was in the sale, I was spending about twice as much as I had planned
to. But, hey, it was a bargain.
As I walked away with my coat, I wondered what was wrong with the name Moss
Bros. Maybe focus groups persuaded the owners that the old name was too - old.
They needed something new, sharp - something like The Suit Company. Probably
the same thing explains why British Home Stores changed to Bhs and dumped men's
overcoats.
But overcoats will be back in fashion one of these years. You can count on it.
What goes around, comes around. Just like my sneakers. Trouble is, when coats
are in again, I'll probably want a leather jacket.
Complaint to a railway company
Steve Savage
'The time has come,' the Walrus said,
'To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings.'
Through the Looking-Glass, by Lewis Carroll
The focus groups have had their effect. Word comes out of
London's Buckingham Palace that the queen is keen to modernise the
monarchy. Apparently what the monarchy
and its advisers have in mind for the new millenium are (a) tighter
restrictions on awarding the arcane title 'Her' or 'His Royal Highness', (b)
the flying of the Union Jack on the flagpole of Buckingham Palace when the
queen is not staying there and (c) loosening up the rules on bowing and
curtseying.