Today is Tuesday October 17th 2006 and I'd like to take the opportunity to share a part of my day with you, to give you a little insight into what life is like in the UK today and to share my thoughts on it.
I returned home from work, prepared dinner in the kitchen, left it to bake/steam and then took a mug of coffee with me to the PC. I checked my emails and then I looked at the news on the BBC's website. Two news articles drew my attention, crime and justice related, and I didn't know whether to rant or cry.
Firstly, in the "Other Top Stories" section, this caught my eye: "Internet user admits 'web-rage'". We are told that "an internet user has been found guilty of what police said was Britain's first 'web-rage' attack". After two men had traded insults in an internet chat room, one managed to trace the other using details obtained online. In December 2005, the convicted travelled 70 miles and beat up his victim with a pickaxe handle.
The article notes that a Detective Constable of the Metropolitan Police said: "This is the first instance of a web-rage attack.'"
How I wish we'd stop using these newly created labels such as web-rage and road-rage and trolley-rage which somehow detract from the reality. This was assault.
Secondly, I saw this little gem and immediately felt sorry for the guilty party: "Fine for letter in recycling bag". Here we are told that "Magistrates have fined a man £200 after finding him guilty of putting paper in a recycling sack for bottles and cans only - breaking council rules." How dare he? How dare anyone? Councils, to whom we pay loads of tax are there to provide and facilitate public services, the collection of refuse being one of many. This has improved through the introduction of recycling and is thus more environmentally friendly, albeit the service itself is generally reduced (through a hidden or less hidden reduction in the frequency of collections). But now we see the draconian application of the ever burgeoning quagmire of attendant rules and regulations being taken all the way to court!
A fine of £200 for one misplaced letter?
This is also a time in which it was recently discovered - horror of horrors - that some councils had silently and stealthily introduced hidden microchips to the "wheelie bins" used for refuse collection, with more councils set to follow the trend. Non-recycled refuse is to be monitored by weight by home - so the councils can fine you for chucking out too much that heads for land fill...
I think that tonight I will be dreaming of the various ways of how to secure wheelie bins, recycling boxes and their storage areas. Your refuse is now a major risk area that needs to be secured. If the council don't get you, a selfish neighbour, a passing yob, or a disgruntled colleague may set you up for a fall. If I come up with something by the morning, I think I may even apply to the BBC's programme Dragons' Den for some investment funding for this business. Refuse is valuable, refuse is BIG business...
For some light relief, I took two phone calls from friends, one of whom is a keen Amazon watcher. That's this Amazon and not the rainforest. He watches the prices keenly. He informed me that the price had come down today on Ian Rankin's latest, so I ordered it, along with Andrew Taylor's latest, and while we were talking. This is also the era of multi-tasking.
Never a day goes by without a little crime fiction...
Murder One will be my first stop!
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 20 October 2006 at 09:19
I hope you have a good trip Peter. Murder One on Charing Cross Road might be an interesting stop for you. But don't go looking for Crime in Store/Crime on Store as it closed last year.
Posted by: crimeficreader | 20 October 2006 at 08:18
If someone is willing to do what he does, and others are willing to take his advice, well, that's how consumer economies grow, I guess.
I am on my way to the UK this weekend, by the way. I plan to spend money on, um, books.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 20 October 2006 at 08:10
Thanks for the laugh, Peter!
"...day traders in book futures..." - that is how I think of my friend and I've told him! But it's always nice to save the odd pound or two when buying so many books...
Posted by: crimeficreader | 20 October 2006 at 08:00
Lord above, price-watching on Amazon ... day traders in book futures ... It's almost enough to make me want to junk my computer and flee for solace to a good secondhand bookshop.
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Detectives Beyond Borders
"Because Murder is More Fun Away From Home"
http://detectivesbeyondborders.blogspot.com/
Posted by: Peter | 20 October 2006 at 07:42
Thanks both.
I read that you have until November (not sure which date exactly - the 1st or the 11th possiibly) to update your post. So far for me, it's all on here and I haven't tried to upload yet.
I wanted to try and capture the day, the time and place - and I hope I managed it. It is an historic record afterall.
I'm a grumpy old madam these days; not at all happy with the state of our culture, environment and way of being. But I guess that people in the future will laugh at our present decline into demise...
What might become of the wheelie bin? What of the silently installed microchip to momitor refuse?
One day, they'll say "My gran saw that. She eeked out the microchip with a Stanley knife over four hours, cut her hand, got an infection, went to hospital, got MRSA, and then died. But she died for her beliefs. I want to be as real."
I did this because I'd like to think I'll meet the future somewhere, sometime. Of one thing I'm certain: my best bet is here, as it won't be through grandchildren.
Posted by: crimeficreader | 18 October 2006 at 22:11
I wish I had done what you did -- I tried to post on the history site a couple of times but could not get on. I should have posted my post for posterity on Petrona! I read in the times today that the site was down a lot because of traffic, and according to that article the bulk of posters were schoolkids and people sciving at work! But some of the quotes were very nice.
Liked yours also, Crimefic. Thanks for sharing.
Posted by: Maxine | 18 October 2006 at 19:23
Excellent CFR - I love the way both the features you picked out were related to crime - very appropriate for your blog. They are also a clear indication of the new preocupations of our times - the internet and the environment.
Posted by: Clare | 18 October 2006 at 18:57