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quote:
Originally posted by William R
Hey Linda, Just noticed you`ve completed over 500 posts, well done lass!!! Bill.
Thank you, Bill! I hadn't noticed until Lady G pointed it out in an earlier thread. I'm still well short of giving Noel a run for his money!
As for the miners' strike - this being a mining area until that strike, we felt it hard here. 20 years on I can still see the pickets across the mine entries, the food collections in social clubs, the people pinched-faced from struggling to live on next to nothing. Forget the politics behind it, it was the families who suffered with the men caught between joining the strike and doing without or being bussed in past the pickets and having bricks put through their windows. There were no winners as now the country has no coal industry.
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Linda, Very serious topic this. Keeping it non-political, Barnsley was at the heart of it at times. I agree with your comments, sticking my neck out, some mineworkers applied for assistance from organisations (nameless) who searched through Rule Books to find ways out of paying, as the mineworkers were not in "undeserved distress" as they were able to work. They applied for their families to be assisted and got the same answer, it was up to the wives and families to use whatever measures they could to secure a return to work. I know how this was interpreted by some wives, the majority stood by their men. Travel through the Barnsley coalfield, as was, and see the big Morrisons Store, B&Q, Halfords, its unbelievable to see, yet we all go to shop there. Memories are very short, where greed is paramount. Sorry for pontificating. Cheerio, Bill.
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I was just thinking how Leyland has changed since the demise of Leyland Motors. Maybe the loss of all those jobs over the years has contributed to the delays in developing the town centre. A lot of shops have disappeared because of the drop in trade that the factories used to bring. The buses are probably not as busy, the trains too. It's a bit of a downward spiral. Things seem to be looking up recently, lets hope that business is on the up.
Martin ~
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Martin, Ater the war Leyland reaped the harvest by re-fleeting all the major bus companies in the country, then GREED took over, everyone wanted a slice of the cake, they overstretched, and paid the price. From a very sad ex leyland man, Cheerio, Bill,
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I came back to threats of power cuts in NZ-not enough rain water to fill the dams evidently.( it will rain in bucketfuls soon enough.We all know that.
I read the other day that there is a supply of coal under ground here to last 2000 yrs but the Greens have blocked proposals to allow businesses and industry to use coal on environmental grounds even as a temporary measure.
And I being a rebel refuse to save power by having freezing baths to bail out the Government.
Meanwhile our hot water supply is being cut on a regular basis.
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Bill, it was during the miners' strike that we started to see dads bringing their children in for treatment because the mothers were often trying to hold down two jobs to make ends meet. Nowadays it's common for men to share childcare duties, but then it was very unusual (esp in a "macho" area like this) to see dads. It used to be heart-rending to see kids in outgrown clothes because they couldn't afford new ones while their fathers were on strike. A couple of times I gave patients the bus fare to the clinic because if they paid the fare to town to get their teeth done, they had to do without something else. Hard times!
Linda, my cousin's told me about these govt requests to reduce power consumption - she's frightened to use the tumble drier. But at least your country's HEP is eco-friendly!
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I know that Linda but it's really a fear this Government has that they may have to do unpopular things like cutting power,so they run away from having to take these measures by relying on the good will of old style NZedders who have always willingly been prepared to do without and make sacrifices.
I'm careful with power-on a strict budget- but I don't see the sense of having businesses go to the wall for a principle.
It will rain soon believe me.
The last time a drought was threatened we all saved water like mad.Our house was surrounded with plastic milk bottles of rain water standing like soldiers.We tried not to flush the toilet too often and took other non-glamorous steps.
Then it rained and rained and one day I shot the soldiers.
I have no faith whatever in politicians-should have gone into politics and ripped off the system myself-plenty of free junkets abroad and all the other perks at taxpayers expense.They all do it and now we have MMP there are even more of them to latch on to my meagre taxes.
Here endeth the leson
