Brighton Council & parking

In the post this morning was a nice letter from the Adult Social Care & Housing department of Brighton & Hove City Council. And I assume it has been sent to all the residents in my block of flats

It states:

“It has been noted on a recent estate inspection that some residents are parking cars on the verges, namely a Honda accord XXXXXXX and a Peugeot 207 XXXXXXX

“Residents are reminded that it is illegal to park on these verges, and if cars are witnessed parked on the verges again they WILL be removed and if the owners are identified we regret that Cathey XXXX your Housing Officer will have to take appropriate tenancy action”

Firstly I glad to say that neither of the cars listed are mine.

Secondly I’m not sure quite what “tenancy action” can be taken against me as I’m a leaseholder.

I have however replied stating that I hope that Council drivers will also be dealt with

 

Now as far as I can tell, there is no law prohibiting parking on grass verges, but there could be a byelaw. I have lived here for over  years and there has never been any signs saying that the is a byelaw prohibiting parking on the verge. I have also searched the Council’s own website and there is no mention of parking on grass verges.

I shall await their reply

The three for three meme

A few weeks back I was tagged by Danie as revenge for my tagging her in a previous meme. And now I’ve got round to doing my meme.

 

1. Top 3 non-work websites:

Facebook: I use this to keep up with what all my friends are up to. Even if I don’t use all the apps and play the stupid games on it, it is handy to keep tabs on others.

Flickr: I post mt photos here and like to browse what others (friends and random peeps) have uploaded

Ancestry: As one of my hobbies is tracing my family tree, I spend a lot of time on here searching census returns

2. Three favourite cocktails:

I’m going to have to draw a blank on this one as I don’t do cocktails – sorry

3. Top 3 karaoke songs:

I’d have to be *really* drunk to do karaoke, but the ones I’d sing along to are:

1. Bohemian Rhapsody – Queen

2. Money for Nothing – Dire Straits

3. Summer of ‘69 – Bryan Adams

 

And now to tag three more people: Hedgewytch, Lisa and Devygyrl

Email tracking

In March an new EU directive comes in to effect here in the UK. It will mean that Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will have to keep a record of emails sent and received through their mail servers. This will apparently allow the police and other security agencies to track communications by criminals and terrorists. In theory anyway. There are a few flaws in this idea though:

There is some doubt as to whether it affects all ISPs or just the larger ones.

It only requires ISPs to track emails, not private individuals or companies running their own mail servers.

It only requires logging of the sender and recipient, it does record the content of the email.

So to circumvent this legislation, it is only necessary for both parties to either run their own mail server or use a small ISP. It wouldn’t take a terrorist long to work that out would it?

And as the content is not stored, all the authorities will know will be that Bob emailed Fred, but they will have no idea about what was said. Bob could just be asking what the weather was like!

And the information that is recorded will be made available to any public body. This could be the Police, Government Agency or your local council. It’s one thing to allow the Police to have access to this information (and that’s bad enough) but why do the local council need it? Or the local Health Authority?

Whilst I accept that the Police may need to keep track of what criminals and terrorists are doing in order to prevent crime, this is just using a sledge hammer to crack a nut. Instead of directing resources at specific targets, a system will be put in place that affects everyone and can easily be thwarted by those it’s supposed to be aimed at.

Monday Meme

I hope/plan to do a meme every Monday in an attempt to get in to the habit of writing regularly. So here goes with a meme I’ve pinched from Devyl Girl.

 

1. What is your occupation right now:

I work for Royal Mail as a postman delivering mail in the Ditchling area of East Sussex. I’ve been on the same round for the past four years and I was covering it for holidays and sickness for the previous four. I cover part of the village, the outlying farms and an industrial estate – real mix. And once I get out on delivery I love the job.

2. What colour are your socks right now?

Black

3. What are you listening to right now?

“Once upon a time in the west” by Dire Straights – the live version on the Alchemy album

4. What was the last thing you ate?

Trifle. So small it was hardly worth bothering, but as my parents were feeding me I wasn’t going to complain

5. Can you drive a manual (stick-shift)?

Yes

6. Last person you spoke to on the telephone?

My friend Lisa, discussing going to the theatre tomorrow night

7. How old are you today?

43

8. What is your favourite drink?

Non alcoholic: tea.

Alcoholic: Single malt scotch whisky

9. Have you ever dyed your hair?

No

10. What colour did you dye your hair?

See answer 9

11. Favourite food?

Spaghetti carbonarra

12.  What was the last movie you watched?

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

13. Favourite day of the year?

Can’t think of a favourite day, I have a few days which I don’t like, but no favourite ones.

New Year Thoughts

So a new year lies ahead of us. Will we make the most of it? Or just waste it? Hopefully I will make the most of it, but going from experience I’ll just jog along the same path as I have for the past few years – ie going nowhere in particular.

Looking back on the last year, the things that stand out are:

Finding twitter and making new friends

Starting this blog, and posting everyday for the whole month of November – hard work but fun

Appearing on the stage – I hated every minute of it, but I’m glad I did it.

Having a wonderful holiday with my daughter

And I have no regrets either. Something did happen that, with hindsight, I wish hadn’t – but I don’t regret it. And no, I won’t be giving any further details.

And so to this year…

In the past I have set resolutions which I have almost always failed to keep. This year I’m just going to set ambitions – things I would like to accomplish during the year.

So this year I would like to:

Read more (or at least finish the books I’ve already started!)

Read the Bible more

Blog more

Take more photo’s

Not appear on the stage again

Not have so many late nights

Not get quite so stressed over work

And finally I would just like to wish you a good New Year. Make the most of it, enjoy it and don’t let the little things get in the way of anything you want to do.