I am trying hard to be positive right now - honest - only when you hear the head of British Armed Forces admitting that he has a contingency plan for getting the army to distribute food supplies in the event of the country crashing out of Europe with no deal, one does tend to get a little nervous.
Us baby-boomers thought we had picked the right time to be born, but most of us also picked the wrong time to grow old. If, like me, you foolishly put all your eggs in one basket, then you might have reverted back to the good old days of dependence on the local squire for employment, and the Church for alms if in distress. I am too old for hedging and ditching now, so the end of this year could see me gathering Winter fu-el in full view of Good King Wenceslas.
The City of Bath is about to introduce a congestion charge, purportedly to clean up the air of the city. They say that they are responding to government guide lines, and are modelling their scheme on the now tried and tested London charges, but London is 60 miles across, whereas I can walk from one side of Bath to the other in about 20 minutes. I do not drive to London anymore.
The suggested charges are £100 a day for lorries and £13 for cars. They do not say if there will be any concessions for city centre residents like me, so I guess there will not be.
I am sure that Waitrose would recoup their losses by simply raising the price of their goods - they do that on a daily basis anyway - but I would find it hard to cover an extra £90+ a week simply to get to work. I imagined slowing down as I got older, but it is looking as though I am going to have to speed up.
As I said in the last post, all councils are having to make cuts and they are also encouraged to look for ways to increase their revenue. If all the city centre residents of Bath carry on using their cars (as most of them must) and they all contribute an extra £90-£100 per week to the council coffers, it will make absolutely no proportional difference to the air quality of the city, but it will be a nice bit of bunce for both the council and central government.
I live right in the middle of that yellow patch.
Have no fear about food. I cannot imagine any mainland European country saying they would refuse to sell us their cheese, wine, or sausage. The UK is a very important market, and all trade deals are reciprocal.
ReplyDeleteIf Brighton ever bring in a Congestion Charge (there is massive congestion), I would move.
To France?
DeleteI'm sure Brighton council have some kind of congestion charge in the offing, they ring every penny from motorists already .
DeleteI used to spend many pennies on machines on the Palace Pier when I was a kid.
DeleteI haven't been back for quite a while, but I hear that the Green Party have caused such awful parking problems that the town is now a nightmare for car drivers.
DeleteThey have also ruined the seascape with wind turbines.
DeleteThe Green Party (Lucas) and her cohorts have made a day's parking in Brighton cost around £30. Actually driving a car in Brighton is no worse than any other town along the coast. The plus point with Brighton is that if you don't need car ownership, there are very good car clubs.
DeleteTom, I can't see Rampion from Brighton, however, I can see it from the end of my road! I rather like it.
Are there residents permits? A friend of mine built that wind farm - with a little help from others.
DeleteResidents permits throughout Brighton and Hove' and also Worthing. Not sure about Shoreham yet but it will come as it's getting a lot of London/Brighton commuters. However, in the inner zones it's a case of 'put your name down at birth'!
DeleteThat is a huge amount for driving rights. Don't the citizens get a vote? Seems trying times all around. My husband would like to retire, but the way things are going, it isn't within sight yet. He tried fattening cattle on the farm and lost money on that two years in a row.
ReplyDeleteThe citizens are pissed on.
DeleteWe pay for the lightweight plastic bags used to weigh fruit and vegetables in. Our government says it's to reduce plastic pollution, but the absurdity is that we cannot reuse them for weighing fruit and vegetables again because there is no proof they are brought from home, therefore the plastic consumptions remains the same. However, they are biodegradable.
ReplyDeleteGreetings Maria x
And Maria, I was very surprised when I was in Tuscany in June that one used plastic gloves, light ones,to pick the tomatoes or peaches from the counter in a supermarket, to fill them into lght plastic bags...Absurd!
DeleteMoney money money.
DeleteBrigitta, for hygienic reasons but, unfortunately, they also add up to the plastic pollution; as Tom says, money money money...
Deletex
Seems a very large price to pay for living so near to such beautiful buildings Tom.
ReplyDeleteIn, not near.
DeleteThat is a very large sum each week, Tom. In Hildesheim, where I lived 19 years, you have no bus to go shopping (the center is 10 minutes walk away from our house, but if you are old and not fit - and especially if you have to carry groceries, it IS far. They might tell us, that delivery from shops or Amazon is nowadays available - hahaha: they pollute too. So: either good public transport - than it is ok with me, or it is just a form of highway robbery.
ReplyDeleteI had a Burgermeister's pass in old Salzburg. It cost nothing.
DeleteYou might get a reduction if you swap the Volvo for an electric car.
ReplyDelete= £15,000.
DeleteI need a large and powerful car in my work.
DeleteThe irony is that if I bought a pre-1970, 6 litre American pick-up, I would be exempt under most models of clean air schemes.
Delete....but I would be using 12 miles to the gallon in petrol.
DeleteDoes the centre have Park & Ride schemes?
ReplyDeleteYes. For visitors.
DeleteAnd people working in Bath, living outside the city.
DeleteWhoever wants to use it. I don't.
Delete£90-£100 per week is extortionate.
ReplyDeleteI know that.
DeleteI meant I agree!
DeleteI have the answer. Let's have a protest vote. What could possibly go wrong?
ReplyDeleteI know this is not the answer, just making extra travel time, but bus out to the car which is outside the city? How do they collect the money, do the tourists pay? Protest loudly as a citizen of Bath.
ReplyDeleteYou're right. This is not the answer. There is already a number plate recognition system set up which uses the enforcement cameras of which Bath has hundreds. If you do not pay, they fine you about 50 times the original asking price. Yes, tourists will also pay if they come here by car, and coaches will also pay and pass the costs on to the tourists.
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