In these politically turbulent times an accusation often
made between competing parties is of “running the country down”, the
implication being the painting of an unfairly negative picture of how things
are. “Modern life is rubbish” asserted Blur, one of our better bands, a couple
of decades ago. An easy conclusion to reach, especially as one ages and tends naturally
towards extra grumpiness. That’s me.
Given the potentially vast reservoir of material to go at
I’ve decided to post the occasional blog on aspects of our current quality of
life, or more honestly my quality of
life, since it will be arbitrary and subjective and selective, echoing my
experiences, attitudes and preferences. In the nature of things, anyone reading
this is just as likely to have completely different reactions. Never mind, such
is freedom of thought, and the basic truth behind the realisation that –
however crappy things sometimes are – we don’t have to live in North Korea.
So, quality of life is all relative, but it’s a good excuse
for a rant – like having a go at people who start sentences with “so”. So, I
hope it will be both more and less than that. I’ll start on a high.
On Easter Saturday afternoon the doorbell rang, but by the
time I reached the door there was nobody there. I found a bag containing a
bunch of daffodils hanging from the door handle. A couple unknown to me, but
who live round the corner, were delivering the same to every house
(approximately forty) in our thoroughfare. A random act of kindness – by
unknown strangers to unknown strangers - which made my day and improved the
quality of my Easter; the very opposite of so many random acts – again
affecting unknown strangers - that make the news these days.
Before Easter I received a letter informing me that my
branch of Lloyds Bank, in Nottingham city centre, was to close in the summer.
Though once the main branch in the city, for many years now it has been run
down, with fewer serving staff, longer queues, and the sort of ambience one
associates, perhaps unfairly, with eastern Europe pre-perestroika. Disappointing
but not entirely unexpected. However, over the Easter holiday I noticed that Lloyds
saw fit to screen an extravagant TV commercial, smugly congratulating
themselves on how they are “on our side”, and have been for 250 years. Not
pleased by this. This morning, visiting the bank - which is on the first floor
of a tired 1960s-ish office block - to pay a bill and to express my
observations on the tactlessness and hypocrisy of this advertisement to the
ruefully smiling teller, they thoughtfully had the down escalator working, but
not the up one. I wondered on whose side that
was.
Progressing across town I encountered a McDonalds undergoing
refurbishment and surrounded by protective fencing upon which were placed
posters suggesting how the new premises will look. Featured prominently were
self-service machines. I shan’t be bothering to discover whether these are for
ordering food, for preparing it oneself, or – having obtained it – for stuffing
it back into, and I’m sad to report that since my first euphoric visit to a
McDonalds in Las Vegas in 1978 my appreciation of them – with a few exceptions
(Swiss Cottage, Paphos) has been relentlessly downwards.
Continuing on my morning’s business, I went to one of two
city centre branches of W. H. Smith’s, the one that from time to time is
marginally more contaminated by staff and customers than the other one. I
wonder how this organisation keeps going, but I’ve been wondering that for
around 40 years now. Perhaps it’s because they’re so over-priced. Since the
counter was marked “closed” I disturbed a rare staff member and asked if it
might be possible to pay for my purchase. She pointed me in the direction of a
self-service machine, and when I expressed a preference not to use it, she
tutted loudly and went through the tedious rigmarole for me. I hope that in due
course she will be made redundant. I mean, more redundant than she already is.
I think one may judge my attitude towards trends in quality in the service sector. However, to end once more on a high, my quality of life has been enhanced in recent weeks by the weather and the Spring flowers, and especially by the tulips in our garden, which have been of above average brilliance and duration.
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