Bus shelters need rethink (From Gazette & Herald)

Bus shelters need rethink

MALTON, January 16, and a windy old morning too, and much the same yesterday, yet when a bit of sunshine broke through I decided I'd have a short ride on the bike. In fact I got as far as Eden Farm without turning a pedal almost - I aught to have known better - for the crunch was yet to come, and pushing back against that wind meant there was quite a lot of foot work to do.

I was on foot coming out of Ryton Lane, watching a rook flying backwards, who decided to give the wind best, as I had done, and I stopped awhile to examine the new bus shelters being erected near this junction. Old Maltonian Stan Cockerill taking the corner in his little red wagon must have seen my look of concern at these structures, for he called me later to give me his views. Earlier, I'd been puzzling how folk were going to get inside the shelters without having to walk on the road, as they have been sited almost up to the verge, and not finding any other entrance surely there would have to be a re-think. The one on the western roadside needs setting back five or six feet, as does the one on the Eden Camp side, and putting it to the other side of the footpath would be sensible. Having done that we then have two very acceptable assets for folk attending and departing Eden Camp.

Stan's concern was that with the shelter on the eastern side as it is, any vehicle having to take evasive action due to conflict with traffic coming out of Ryton Lane, might well plough through the shelter, and if it contained people, then it could be catastrophic, apart from it restricting the view of oncoming traffic. So, speaking with Northallerton office this morning I am told that it looks as though the contractor has misinterpretated the plans, and so it is 'being looked into. So hopefully all will be well at the final count.

Wednesday, January 15, issue had a front-page story about the police service wanting more money, which caused Mrs Sylvia Diggory some concern, but mostly about the fact that the chief constable was referred to as "Mrs" on two occasions, and not given her full title on every mention of her name. A difficult one, this, without being repetitive, and journalists try to vary things to avoid monotony. Sylvia, and I hope she will forgive me for doing precisely that, and not calling her "Mrs" again, feels that the chief constable should be entitled to her title at all times, despite the fact that she is also a "Mrs", and so no disrespect was shown. All a matter of opinion I think, and looking through the article in question I see that an attempt at variety has been made, by using her title, her Christian name and "Mrs". However, the abbreviation for councillor appeared no less than eight times whenever reference was made to one, and the word "Coun" got a bit boring. Whilst I agree that, if necessary, the description be used in the first instance, then I'm not keen on a repetition and am more than happy with just the Christian name being used in any further reference. Your views may well, like Mrs Diggory's, be different, but then that's what makes us all individuals, each with their own opinion.

There's lots of 'strange' instances of improper titles being used if you think about it. Police Constables are very often referred to as 'officers', when there are calls for more "police officers on the beat" etc. It isn't very often that officers go on the beat anyway, and so why aren't they referred to correctly as constables, sergeants etc. Then we have people who are employed by councils, mostly now referred to as 'officers', whether they be a junior clerk or a senior member of the staff. Goes back to the original description, 'local government officers'.

And going back to army days, the officers in my unit, up to the rank of major, and bearing in mind they held the King's Commission and were entitled to their rank, preferred to be called 'mister'. A sort of inverse snobbery? No, I don't think so. We were a very close unit, and operated our own form of discipline, so a lot of formality went out of the window.

I gather that if you are stopped by a police patrol 'cop' in the USA that you call him "Sir" unless you want more aggro!

Said in court: Q. Trooper, when you stopped the defendant, were your red and blue lights flashing?

A. Yes.

Q. Did the defendant say anything when she got out of her car?

A. Yes, sir.

Q. What did she say?

A. What disco am I at?

Updated: 11:20 Wednesday, January 29, 2003