Tamara's was a joke, but the way our local government really works is often
a joke too.
Currently we're all being encouraged to recycle and different district/local
councils have different methods of doing this. In Poole, we currently have
two waste bins - a grey one for household waste which is collected every
week and a blue one for stated recyclable materials which is collect
fortnightly. We put everything in the recycling bin that is stated that we
can.
Some councils have started collecting household waste one week and recycling
the next. People are not happy because, in the recent hot weather, bins
smelled and some had maggots in, even though the waste was wrapped. Those
council's reasons for collecting fortnightly instead of weekly is "to
encourage people to recycle more." If you are already putting everyting that
can be recycled in the recycling bin how can you recycle more?
Then there are free bus passes for the over 60s. If you are disabled, you
used to be able to have 25 pounds-worth of taxi tokens instead of a half
price bus pass if you were over 60. Didn't cover much in the way of taxi
journeys, but it was a help. Now everyone over 60 can have a free bus pass
and the taxi tokens have been withdrawn. The reason given is that nearly all
buses now have a low entrance floor, so people with mobility problems and
wheelchairs and get on and off them. True. But what do people who have
difficulty walking do to get to the bus stop and when they've got off the
bus at the end of the journey? The people who made this decision don't seem
to understand that mobility problems means difficulty with walking, not
necessarily difficulty in getting on and off a bus. Then they add that if
you can't really use a bus you can pay to join a charity scheme (after
you've been assessed by a non-medically qualified social worker as being
unabe to get on and off a bus), which will collect you from home and take
you to one of two destinations in the town for the price under 60s pay to go
on the bus. (My horizons stretch a bit further than the shopping centre or
the supermarket which are the two destinations.) So the free bus pass
applies only to the abled-bodies over 60s. If you have mobility problems and
can't affod to run a car, or just can't run a car, you have to pay for the
charity scheme or for taxis regardless of whether you can afford it or not.
Fortunately I can both afford to take taxis and I drive, but there are
plenty of others in my are who can't. So I've started taking neighbours
where they need to go. I've also got a free bus pass, which I will never
use. I've paid for it in my local taxes, so I'm having it. It's also a free
identity card.
This are just two examples of many I could cite of why I'm convinced that
your brain has to work in a very strange way to work for the council.
Jean in Poole, Dorset, UK
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