Parking charge increases? Meter Madness!

I've just driven around Torbay today visiting the town centres of Brixham, Paignton and Torquay. I've also been to visit all the out of town shopping centres.


Why?


Because I can see that one of the Torbay Council 2013 budget proposals is an increase in parking charges. Somewhere I noticed that Teignbridge is thinking about similar action in response to government funding grants are cut.

In the centre of the towns parking is charged. At the out of town shopping centres it is free. Do I want to nip in and grab a pasty at a local baker and pay a parking charge? Or shall I park for free and grab the pasty from a supermarket? Hmm. Not and even playing field.

Some years ago I seem to remember Mr Tony Blair and Lord Sainsbury talking about parking charges for out of town shopping centres to balance the community profile. That seems to have slipped quietly into history.

Time and time again we hear about the need to reenergise the town centres and make them visitor friendly. Endless parking meters and high car park charges for increased council revenue rather than traffic control is really like shooting yourself in the foot!

Madness.

It's your community. What do you want?

A Christmas Mea Culpa

This must be the first year where we've not sent a family Christmas card and that is rather sad. It is also the consequence of many highs and lows. The highs have been atmospheric and the lows stomach dropping.

So let's start with the highs.

Luke and Kat's wedding in Spain (June)

Jude and Jess wedding in Devon (December)

Sam and Sophie engagement in Cornwall (November)

Then the lows...

Of course the major low of 2012 was the liquidation of Harbour Sports Limited after thirty-odd years of business. All three shops closed in early September. We've opened Paignton again as a partnership and hope to find someone to take on the lease. It's a good spot and hopefully others will think so too.

So there you go, no card this year but at least a Christmas greetings and the words of Edward Munkton.."He knows not where he's going for the ocean will decide and it's not the destination but the glory of the ride."

Blessings.

f

All on this bumpy journey together

My column in the Herald Express on Thursday, December 13th, 2012

MY FAVOURITE time for banging out my Herald Express column is the early morning just before the first splinters of light shatter the night-time darkness. But this is written in the mid-afternoon to the sound of Carol King (pictured) singing 'You've Got a Friend' via a BBC download from the Soul Music series. It was a good friend who pointed me in the direction of the wonderful Soul Music programmes and I recommend them to you.

Let me share two things with you. The first is the way in which music touches the soul and Carol King's song takes me to a time that I remember so well. A time of endless sunshine or so it seemed to me. The second is about the joy of friendship. I am, as many readers may know, a firm believer in social cohesion and the simple fact that we are all on this bumpy journey through life together.
Sadly, we too often lose sight of that theme as the spinners of truth dislocate that shared experience and selfishly take too much from the many.

Those who read my curious ramblings regularly will know that things for me have been far from easy recently and the haunting melody of 'You've Got a Friend' plus the distant echo of Carol King's beautiful voice actually makes me feel a little less beleaguered. Simply knowing that I do have friends is huge. I've always believed in networks, of people sharing, supporting and simply looking out for each other. These are good things, in my opinion.

Now about that sharing. One of my joys in life has always been my association with the energy of the Duke of Edinburgh's Award (now known as the DofE) because it offers such a wonderful platform for our young people. But, of course, it is not just the young because older folk provide support and without their help very little would happen. A couple of weeks ago I pitched up at the annual presentation ceremony of DofE award achievers in Torbay. Do you know that you cannot get an award without helping others, working as a team and being able to get through the various parts without giving up. The joy of meeting new people, working together and becoming lifelong friends is so important. Ah yes, you've got a friend!

As we rocket toward Christmas we need to keep an eye on the friend concept because in the maelstrom of celebration it is all too easy to lose sight of the lonely. When I was young, which now almost seems to be in a different time, I belonged to a group of like-minded people who went out to visit the lonely. When one of the old ladies that we used to visit died, the only people at her funeral were the three of us, a nun and an old priest. After the all-too-brief service, the nun handed over a cake that the lady had baked for us. I cried. Not just because the dear lady had died but for the first time I really understood the nature of loneliness.

Torbay and The English Riviera is, as many will agree, a wonderful place to live and is, of course, made up by numerous communities that have merged into a curiously convoluted conurbation.
I happened to be at a well-attended business network event the other day and bumped into a member of the Torbay Development Agency. Mayor Oliver had been speaking at the event and we were both reflecting upon what had been said as we face unprecedented budget cuts. There will be so many casualties as a consequence of the draconian budget reductions. He, my friend from the TDA, quizzically wondered about the fragile local social landscape and how we hold it all together.
Thinking about that it seems to me that unless we share a common identity and hold out a hand to neighbours then we will continue spinning in the damaging economic darkness of these curious times.

So once again Carol King's words 'You've Got a Friend' might mean something more to us as we rocket toward Christmas. So when someone 'calls out your name' perhaps we should all 'come running' and make Torbay a better place.

Keep the smile!

More to life than sound bites!.

My column in the Herald Express on Thursday, November 29, 2012


LIFE is more than a sound bite. I'm writing this once again in the dark hours before dawn, a time of quiet reflection as the world sleeps. The thing is that once I am awake my mind kicks in and, for me, the new day has started.​ The quietness of the hour allows me some latitude without the daily onslaught of emails, text messages, tweeting, radio, television and other miscellaneous distractions. That daily modern condition impacts upon us all, of course.

There was a time, or so it seems to me, that I would read rather than skim the written word. Too often now I rely on what we casually refer to as a sound bite, that short burst of information that is all too easily lost within seconds. What is a sound bite? A sound bite is a short verbal burst that often tells too little of what is said, leaving the listener only partially informed. But that is the nature of our world today perhaps, a series of short sound and visual images telling only part of a story.

I don't know whether you have been watching the brilliant television series 'Homeland' starring Damian Lewis (pictured).

If you have then you will remember the start of each episode and the series of stark monochrome news clips. For me there is an echo, some 40 years later, of Simon and Garfunkle's Silent Night which has the famous Christmas hymn threaded with traumatic news clips of the day. Sound bites! So many of us these days exist on the sound bite clips that record these troubled times and that, I suspect, distorts reality. I say that because the sound bites automatically report the all too shocking news and can reinforce the feeling that little good is going on.

Certainly for me the past year has been a roller-coaster that has left me battered by personal events that make me tend to pick up the negative. Then suddenly up pops a flash of light, a moment of abstract amusement or an event that spreads a feeling of positive warmth! Let me tell you about an event that did lift my spirit.

Last week, I attended the 2012 graduation ceremony for the latest batch of locally trained social entrepreneurs. "Social what?" you ask. Some years ago social activist Michael Young set up a number of things that for me and many others demonstrate the power of social interaction in a way that does work for what might be described as the greater good. One of those outcomes has been the establishment of a number of schools for social entrepreneurs. What an odd word entrepreneur is! It is, of course, a sound bite word too often and covers a wide variety of business activity. Do a little homework and look at the dictionary definition and then look at the way in which it is used.

It might bring a smile to your face and make more sense of distorted sound bites. Locally a few years ago a school for social entrepreneurs was established at Dartington and trained folk in developing socially based business activity. So often in the past good schemes that help and build social cohesion were lost because of a lack of business knowledge. Lord Young was very aware of that and his vision allowed the development of training bases that gave a business framework, if you like, to the dream. I thought that the latest graduates — who become fellows of the School of Social Entrepreneurs after a one-year course — reflected the dramatic changes occurring in our world and really gave me hope for the future.

During the afternoon each graduate spoke with passion about their work and I have to tell you that I was hugely moved by each presentation. The graduating social entrepreneurs are Paul Savil (Re-Branch), Rachel Williams (Transitions), Katherine Ford (The Carousel Project), Anna Clarke (R-emerge), Kirsty Mooney (Families Together), Michelle Preston (Simply Dynamic), Alan Whittle (ES-GEN), Robin Causley (Sustain Ability), Sarah Ready (Torbay Food Bank), Greg Meanwell (Village of Kin), Richard Woodall (Unknown Film School) and Hayley Mogridge (Knowing-Me Life Books). What an afternoon and what a footprint these folk might leave as a beacon of light in a troubled world. I have no doubt that they will and if you have computer access do look at www.dartington.org/sse for more information.

My parting words were: "I wanted to say how much I enjoyed Wednesday afternoon. In these dark and troubled times we need more than ever to be looking for the greater good and your journey is already a beacon of light. Keep the faith, good luck and walk gently on the world."

The afternoon presentation offered so much more than a sound bite and as I walked back to the now parking metered Dartington Hall car park I felt hugely inspired and feel that our community will benefit from their vibrant ethical social interaction.

Keep the smile!

What sort of community do we want?



My Herald Express column 15th November 2012

THOSE of you who regularly read my rambling rhetoric may remember that I did actually welcome the arrival of Gordon Oliver's huge bushy palm tree that is now strategically planted in the middle of the Kerswell Garden roundabout.


It brought a smile to my face at a time when I seemed to have so little to smile about
Yes, it was expensive and, yes, there were doubtless many other things that might have better used the funding, however it really is a very powerful image for the English Riviera.

I certainly thought so when travelling back from Exeter one misty evening and came upon the beautiful floodlit image before me. In an increasingly lacklustre world it made me suddenly tingle and gave the feeling that I was arriving at a special place. It really was quite a statement and, as I say, it made me smile.

It did, therefore, sadden me when some brainless idiot stripped the bark from one side of the palm. Why would anyone want to do that to a beautiful living tree? The bark will not grow back and the scar will become a tragic sign of these troubled times.

You may also have noticed that the bushy palm has a warm winter coat to guard against the cruel northeaster winds and now stands proudly rampant like a giant stalagmite reaching crookedly toward the distant sky. It has now metamorphosed into a hugely powerful signpost for the English Riviera Global Geopark. How clever is that?

Nick Powe, of Kents Cavern (the English Riviera Global Geopark champion), must be jumping up and down with gleeful excitement at this new monolith.

Perhaps this seasonal image adjustment was always part of Gordon Oliver's master plan for Torbay or is it simply just another happy accident? Answers on a postcard!

Oddly enough, I have always been intrigued by the mysterious Kents Cavern. Have you been there? It really is quite a special place and I am so very grateful to Nick Powe for showing me its hidden secrets a little while ago. At one point during the journey he turned off all the lights. I found myself in total darkness and complete silence.

Now numerous readers may well think that leaving me in a dark and silent cave is a good idea. Hmm. No postcards please!

But it's not just the darkness of course but the feeling of being trapped underground in a rocky hole. Years ago I used to go caving on the Cotswolds and have done the darkness bit before but I still find it rather scary. With Nick as a guide I always felt safe but those years ago exploring caves I felt anything but safe.

We always seek that light in the darkness. The thing about Kents Cavern is that it is a journey through time and when you reach the deepest point you know that this is indeed a very special place. It is a moment when, perhaps, you can truly connect with your ancestors. I found myself reaching down to touch a large stone and immediately wondered about the many hands that have done exactly the same for thousands of years. It gave me a sudden spiritual lift and perhaps a brief glimpse of eternity.
I think it is something that we should all experience and when you reach that deep subterranean place free your mind. Touch that distant time as you run your hand over the smooth surface of that ancient rock and feel the endless energy that perhaps connects us all.

Now here is something to think about. Having done the Kents Cavern bit, it is worthwhile taking a good look at where we are now and how this community has developed. This whole area is steeped in history and by understanding that social journey we can, perhaps, start to make sense of where we are going.

What sort of community do we want?

What sense do we want to make of our town centres and the neighbourhoods that surround?


My worry is that we are all so busy rushing around that change may happen that isn't for the greater good.
The dislocation of community is a possible consequence as our once vibrant main streets give way to the proverbial tumbleweed. This is not helped of course by the relentless onslaught of bright blue parking meters sending out an unwelcome message.

Do we really welcome visitors to Torbay or is there a more sinister meaning to be derived from Gordon Oliver's digit on the Kerswell Garden roundabout?

Keep the smile!

The Darkest Hour Is Just Before Dawn



My column in the Herald Express 1st November 2012.

As I write these words in the early morning a north east wind is battering my house in the dark hours just before dawn and I remember from years ago a song by the Mamas and Papas had the line “…and the darkest hour is just before dawn.” In the distance I can hear the waves pounding the beach and in the garden trees creak against the cold wind.


My daily routine starts before six and as the year trundles I find myself at that quiet time doing numerous things including walking my dog, Marley, to the paper shop. In these days of economic hardship the street lights in my road are switched off and so my journey starts in darkness at the darkest hour. I like the lonely time but do take care on Monday’s not to go base over apex having tripped over the recycling bins waiting for TOR2 collection!

Now this might sound rather glum, but it isn’t for two reasons. The first is that the first shards of light of the new day push away the darkness and the dawn lifts from the distant horizon with the promise of a new day.

The second is the memory trigger that song lines allow and the Mamas and the Papas for me somehow capture a sunny time in my life during the summers of ’70 and ’71 working in camps in the good old US of A. Everything seemed to sparkle then, or so it seems now !

It is all too easy, of course, to look back and say that the world was a better place but then, in the words of L P Hartley "The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there" we are reminded that indeed the past is indeed a different place.

There are excting things happening and last week I pitched up to a consultation meeting about the proposal for the new South Devon University Technical College for Engineering, Water and the Environment that is, if the bid is successful, to be built in the Newton Abbot area. The new university technical colleges will provide vocational education for the 14 to 18 age group and will be a partnership between employers, educational establishments, local authorities and other organisations.

The meeting was charged with energy and despite feeling a little battered beforehand I left with a new spring in my step! For those of you who surf the cyber world do Google the name and follow the various links to see how good this is. It was enough to have local MP Anne Marie Morris jumping up and down in the House of Commons! Once you’ve had a good read of what is on offer then you will understand why she needed to get her message across!

Mayor Gordon Oliver is so often under attack for decisions that he has made, but then so was his predecessor Nick Bye. I guess that if you seek public office then it is to be expected, but as I have said before no one has the right to insult. One thing that has come under attack recently is his whopping great palm tree at the bottom of Hamelin Way. Have you seen it? It stands rampant on a pile of pebbles in the middle of one of the busiest roundabouts on the English Riviera.

I happened to be driving back from Exeter early one misty morning and there it was! Whatever you might think about the cost it really is a bit of a statement. I am probably going to regret saying this, but I love it! My worry is that the poor thing may not survive having been happily growing in warm sunny Spain before being transported to a valley bottom in wintery Torbay. By the time you read this it may have its special coat on to keep out the cold. My suggestion for a palm tree warmer would be an ‘attack’ from the yarn bombing Guerilla Grannies! Have you come across their work? I happened to be walking on the Goodrington rock walk the other day and found these colourful little figures knitted to trees, handrails, seats and other fixtures. What fun! So my suggestion is to have them knit Gordon’s palm tree a warm winter coat! Of course it is not a serious suggestion but I do wish the majestic palm tree well and hope that it celebrates the fact that South Devon really is a wonderful place to live.

Keep the smile.

Shake to send negativity flying

My column in the Herald Express 18th October......

WHENEVER I write publicly it is my intention to end each time on a cheerful note, which sometimes, sadly, does take an effort.

I happened to call on a friend the other day who commented that my words were perhaps a little on the dark side. Of course, I pointed out the bit about always ending on a positive note to which he replied: "Not everyone gets that far!" A good point well made.

Of course at this time of year actually being cheerful can be a little elusive as the days get shorter and dark evenings seem to arrive too soon after lunch. Add to that the seasonal dampness after a shockingly soggy summer then indeed that cheerful grin becomes even more elusive.
Then I remember the daily message from my wonderful dog. I'm the first one up in the morning and there to greet me is the tail-wagging Marley.



We jog (well sort of jog) to the paper shop regardless of the weather. Too often these days the short paper run is horribly wet, but that doesn't bother Marley in the least. So how does he deal with the damp before entering the house? By a really rigorous shake of his coat which sends spray in all directions.
In so many ways I feel we should all do the same as the pressures of daily life seem to soak the spirit. Just give yourself a good psychological shake (you could do it physically as well) and send the negativity flying.

I'm smiling as I write this, so there must be something in it, or so it seems to me. Although I've taken a battering recently, as regular readers will know, the wallowing in self pity is not an option.
It must never be an option because it serves no purpose. I used to coin the phrase 'walking around with a face like a slapped kipper' at times when the smile is hard to find and yet a happy face is so pleasing. But gosh, it's hard at times.

So there you go Michael (he's the man who worried that people wouldn't get to the positive message at the end of my script), a positive start.

Mind you, I've seen some good stuff locally recently that really has lifted my spirit.
I had to smile the other day when visiting Hallett's the Bakers, with Adrian Sanders MP, when we came face to face with a giant pasty. This pasty is a real beast and it is now my ambition to get it into the House of Commons canteen. It was big enough to feed two and might in some way contribute to the slowing of endless torrent of empty political rhetoric.

Another smile radiated after Viv and Pete Fisher of the Villa Marina Guest House in Torquay won an award at the recent hospitality awards. They work hard and offer a brilliant service which is why people come back to them time and time again. I love our guesthouse culture because it celebrates exciting individuality and sparkling variety of choice. If you ever get the chance do have one of Pete's breakfasts and you will then know what I am talking about.

So, with all this in mind I found myself flicking through the Herald Express and attempting to find a common theme that somehow captured the essence of our community. Of course it is all too easy to take pops at those things that annoy and that is, I guess, human nature.

But here's the thing. If you are going to comment just make certain that you have something to offer s an alternative. It's so very hard when you've been beavering away only to have your efforts rubbished by a negative comment. Most of us are quite happy with supportive criticism but wince when the words are spiteful. I guess that the bottom line is that if you have nothing good to say then be quiet.

The other day I happened to be at a South West Innovation Centres breakfast event at Cockington Court where Dirk Rohwedder of Dartington School for Social Entrepreneurs was speaking.
The thrust of what he was saying was about building a platform for business development that was for the greater good of the whole community.

I noticed that the folk attending included Mark Green of Fruition, Nicola Fox of the Riviera International Conference Centre, Angela George of IMS (local Woman of the Year) and knew that I was in good company. The energy within the building was atmospheric and that really did bring a smile to my face.

These are hard times and recent energy price increases tend to be like a punch in the stomach.
Perhaps we can all fight back by adding an extra layer and reducing the amount of bonus revenue being extracted by the gatekeepers. We still have the small few taking too much from too many.

Hopefully, despite my friend Michael's comment, you are still reading and will face the morning mirror with a smile.