Following on from my previous blog...

So true to his word, Mr Burkha told his troops not to start work until 6am. Did he? If he did, then did they listen? Here is my photographic evidence of the refuse collectors 'working' before 6:00AM. (Identities of the workers has been concealed)

The Runner

Pictured is the "Runner", a team of either one or two men who run ahead of the lorry, collecting black packs and piling them into larger piles. Here seen at 6:00AM coming out of FAWLEY GROVE 14. In driving past him to the top of Brandwood park Road, its a fair estimate that he has been running for at least 30 minutes, maybe even 60 minutes.

The Lorry

The lorry at the junction of Yarningdale Road and Brandwood Park Road with bin men (faces and registration number blocked), pictured at 6:02AM.

The Area covered by 6:00AM

Google map of the area cleared by 6:02AM. Red area is completely cleared. Green area has been prepared ready for the lorry by the 'runners'.

The Aftermath

10am and the recycling boxes AFTER being emptied. It must be pointed out that there are 3 teams on recycling day, team 1 collect normal black back refuse, teams 2 & 3 collect blue box recycling -paper/card and green box - aluminium and tin cans, milk and pop cartons and glass bottles. There the team that left this mess is not the one referred to above. Lets go back to yesterday's blog...

Birmingham City Council's Refuse Department refuse operator is VEOLIA, a company which boasts on its website a turnover of €36.1 billion at over 300 sites. Averaging £100 million per site. And my council tax pays for this? If I'd bought an item from a shop and it wasn't fit for purpose, then I'd go back and expect a refund.

DTW 29/6/2009

Tomorrow is Monday

8.30pm the night before refuse collection day. We have grossly inadequate recycling boxes, and our refuse collectors wont collect back bags from the front door.

Tomorrow is Monday, and whilst my ire (or Fire) is still close to boiling, I thought I would prepare for my usual Monday Morning run in with Birmingham City Council's Refuse Department (which is currently being under performed by worldwide transnational refuse operator, VEOLIA, a company which boasts on its website a turnover of €36.1 billion at over 300 sites which by my reckoning averages just short of €120 million (approx £100 million) per annum per site assuming American billions were quoted). Do Tyseley and Lifford Lane count as one site or two?

At my own ward meeting on 15th June, in Brandwood, I'd raised issues over the continual poor performance of the operator. Only little things, but each and every Monday, missing out recycling stuff, not collecting green waste, missing out black bags, allowing black bag contents to spill out all over the road. Representing the refuse department was John Burke, who handed out a flyer with his email address mis-spelt as john.burker@birmingham.gov.uk instead of john.burke. Sounded like a politically incorrect pun to me. I told him that I thought that the blue and green boxes were grossly inadequate for the amount of recycling my household made. He told me that I could have as many boxes I wanted. I then said I could easily use six green and six blue (In Birmingham we have blue boxes for recycling card and paper-but not Tetrapak or pizza boxes, and green boxes for recycling plastic pop bottles, aluminium and steel cans and glass bottles- not plastic bags, tin foil, milk bottles or Pyrex). No problem said Mr Burke, whom I'd told that 'Contact Birmingham' phone line had said all I could have was two of each box. I also commented on the fact that black refuse bags were no longer collected by the bin men from the bin, and had to be put out by us. Another comment was the timing of the bin men in the road. The 'pre crew' often came between 5:30am and 6am, and on a couple of occasions, so did the lorry. I'll be watching them, and using Mr Gregory's ward meeting as a precedent, will be filming them with a clock on hand to prove the time! Other issues of spilt refuse were blamed by Mr Burke on factors outside of his control, such as foxes, Rats and Cats. I will now post email correspondence between Mr Burke and myself, which didn't start for 10 days due to his email address error.

1) Is an email To John Burke (click here to see a snapshot of the email)

Dear Mr. Burke

Re Brandwood ward meeting on 15th July

Please note your email address on the supplement you presented at the ward meeting actually said john.burker@birminghamham.gov.uk I hope that that was a typing error and not some politically incorrect amusement on your staffs' behalf. This has resulted in 3 emails bounce back to me. so as one of the people whose council tax pays for your salary, I am therefore not impressed with your performance at the moment. It has taken me till now to phone you as I have had further pressing problems with the council. My local councillor, Mr. Mark Hill have been most helpful in the negotiations and I am sending him, out of courtesy, a copy of this email too.

At the ward meeting you specifically said that I could have 6 blue AND 6 green recycling boxes, despite what the staff on 'Contact Birmingham' phone lines told me. With regard to the extra recycling bins. On Tuesday afternoon 16th July, we were given ONE extra blue box. We now have two of each.
You also gave an undertaking that my house would be earmarked for 'collection point dustbins in front garden'. This did not happen on Monday 22nd.

We therefore require 4 more blue AND 4 more green recycling boxes. In phoning you just now, one of your colleagues suggested that we might benefit from a blue wheelie bin and a green wheelie bin, but then you have the additional problem of them being a 'most sought after valuable and nickable asset', particularly by people who don't have one.
Would it be impertinent to request 3 black dust bins too? With 5 adults and a toddler in the house we are finding our land fill output increasing too. We are finding it quite impossible to store our household waste beyond Thursday, and have to visit Lifford Lane regularly each week.

Best Regards

David Wilson

2)Is A reply from John Burke (Click here to see a snapshot of the email)

Mr Wilson

I am sorry for the confusion with the email address.

I did wait to see you after the meeting but I am afraid you had left before
me.

Following the meeting one of my staff did call the next day but the young
man at home could not advise him what you needed. I had agreed to look at
supplying additional boxes if there was a need and Gary did drop off the
additional box. I understand you have a large household but it would be
extraordinary to supply 6 of each type of box.

I will print this off and arrange for my Ward officer Gary to call on you
to discuss both your recycling issues and refuse problems.

John Burke
Principal Operations Manager
Fleet and Waste Management
Environment and Culture
Lifford Depot B30 3JJ

Now is it me? Or is he talking from his arse? I said those things to him after the meeting, in front of my friend Frank and my cousin Jim. How can he reply with such condescending, presumptive arrogance? Is he standing for election next year? And just brushing up on his brushing aside?

(Mental note to self: You're still going on about presumptive arrogance)

DTW 28/6/2009

"SHAME ON YOU MR GREGORY" or "DAVID GOES TO SWANSHURST GIRLS SCHOOL"

I have been not that political during my lifetime. Recently following run ins with council employees I have found it is possible to make a difference to my lot by accessing my local councillors and local MPs. That in mind, on Friday 26th June 2009, I attended the Billesley Ward Meeting, as a member of the public who uses facilities in the ward that are currently under threat. Due to a mix up with my cousin Trevor and friend Frank, thinking start time was 7.30PM, we mistakenly arrived at the venue, Swanshurts Girls School, half an hour late. We found ourselves in the middle of the item that I was interested in, The fiasco at the Billesley & Yardley Wood Community Centre. From what I gather, the centre not only has an annual general electrical inspection, but also a five yearly major inspection. This years 5 year inspection had unearthed several major problems in the electrics. The inspection had been performed by a Birmingham Council Contractor called Dodds, and they had also given quote of £50,000 for repairs. The councillors attending the meeting were Sue Axeford and Len Gregory. Colin Hughes (billed as the invisible man by some other attendees, as he never answers his phone or returns calls) was absent.
Mr Gregory blatantly, with a presumed arrogance, failed to answer adequately every single question put to him by the floor. He was evasive and vague.
EVERY SINGLE QUESTION WITH AN AIR OF ARROGANCE ONLY POLITICIANS SEEM TO EXHIBIT!

Swanshurst Girls school, venue for the meeting.

Then, having talked to my own councillor, Neville Summerfield the next day, (who was just out pushing leaflets into the doors of my road) I told him about my own voting habits, being Labour from age 18 right up until the last election, and then having been told with a Glaswegian presumptive arrogance by New-Labour MP Steve McCabe, that "if I didn't vote New-Labour, my vote would be wasted", I promptly voted for the opposition. I firmly told Neville that following Mr Gregory's blatant lack of regard for his ward (which is part of my electoral constituency, Selly Oak), I would not vote for his party at the next election either. I am now wondering whether to go green or orange or indeed, just spoil my paper letting New Labour Whip Mr McCabe and the Tory fighting the seat, Councillor Dawkins, what a couple of despicable toe-rags I think they are! Then as my voting paper is not secret, I would probably be rounded up, and made an example of...

Back to Friday night, following Mr Gregory's arrogance I left the meeting. I made sure that both he and Mrs Axeford were aware what I thought of them by repeatedly shouting "Shame on you Mr Gregory" and "Shame on you Mrs Axeford" as they left the meeting.
Furthermore, I am not sure what action I can take as to the police filming the meeting, with one junior plod pointing his camcorder and focusing on the faces of people speaking. Surely there is some point of law or byelaw being broken, or freedom being infringed here?

As Eric Blair wrote "BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU"
Mind you he also wrote "ALL PIGS ARE EQUAL BUT SOME PIGS ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS" which is quite profound knowing some of modern uses of the Porcine adjective.
DTW 28/6/2009

Diana Revisited

Marc Bolan ironically said following the death of Elvis on 16th August 1977 "I'm glad I didn't die today" meaning that his death would be greatly overshadowed. Ironic because a month to the day after Elvis Presley died, Marc Bolan died too on 16th September 1977, two weeks before his 30th birthday. He was a passenger in a Mini 1275GT driven by Gloria Jones.

Who remembers that week, twenty years on, in September 1997, a week of outrageous mourning for Diana Princess of Wales, a woman who, if you believe the press, had had more cocks than Bernard Matthews! Working in retail at the time, the shop where I worked was forced by the press to close on the day of the funeral or made to feel uncaring. I remember a column in the local rag, The Birmingham Mail, where 'concerned' Brummies could whistle blow on shops that had said they would remain open on that Saturday Mourning.

Well who else remembers the other people who died on 31st August 1997? Henri Paul, the chauffeur and Dody Al Fayed, Diana's boyfriend of the moment. Searching the internet for other deaths on that day is quite difficult. One of interest (And purely because I love the film, Back To The Future) is an American character actor called Will Hare who played Old Man Peabody in that film. (Hare is picture here)

Fast forward nearly 12 years. The internet is more comprehensive, and the list of deaths in Wikipedia for yesterday is currently 8. The list is Don Coldsmith, 83, American author; Farrah Fawcett, 62, American actress, anal cancer; Michael Jackson, 50, American singer–songwriter, cardiac arrest; Shiv Charan Mathur, 83, Indian politician, Governor of Assam since 2008, Chief Minister of Rajasthan (1988–1989); Mian Tufail Mohammad, 95, Pakistani politician, cerebral hemorrhage; Sky Saxon, 63, American rock musician (The Seeds); Anil Wilson, 62, Indian academic, Principal of St. Stephen's College, Delhi (1991–2007), pancreatic cancer; Yasmine, 37, Belgian singer and television presenter, suicide.
As you know this may be subject to editing by the faceless c*nts at wikipedia (who removed my edit in 1960 births, announcing my birth, because I was neither famous nor infamous) as causes of death may alter in hindsight, and of course others may yet be added.

Of those 8, Sky Saxon, Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson are familiar to me. As a young teen, I enthusiastically watched Farrah Fawcett in Charlies Angels. Say no more.

Of those 8 only one will allow the public grief shown over Diana's death pale to insignificance. That's right, Michael Jackson. On the radio today as I chauffeured my daughter to work, she listened to a well known national radio station. I heard the same DJ who made derisory comments about MJ four years ago, singing his praises and shedding a few crocodile tears. You are a disgrace, you Fat Unshaven Hypocrite...

DTW 26/6/2009

PS. Of all the MJ jokes currently going around my favourite is this one:

Farrah Fawcett has passed away on the early hours of Thursday morning Pacific time. At the pearly gates St Peter and God said to her 'Now you have passed and led an exemplary life, I will grant you one wish. Ms Fawcett thought long and hard and then said "I wish that the world were a safe place for children" God paused for two seconds then he killed Michael Jackson...

OPEN LETTER TO VODAFONE

From: David T Wilson

Wednesday 17th June 2009

To: Vodafone Ltd
Vodafone House
The connection
Newbury
Berks
RG142FN

Dear Vodafone

I have been a customer of yours since 1999, when I moved from Mercury one2one. My first number was 07******029 and it was cancelled by you about 5 years ago, after I’d changed numbers and was not using it. My second number was 07******442 and I have had that since 2001.
Since last year I have been using this as my back up number to a contract phone (with a different network) I moved networks as I was getting fed up with the continual pettiness of Voda, coupled with the fact that you could give some 3rd rate cricket players hundreds of thousands of pounds in sponsorship deals at my expense. You have made no attempt to contact me to find out why this phone was not being used as much as it had been in the past, but recently this number has received a spate of texts from you telling me about tariff options, and that your roaming charges are being reduced by YOUR benevolence. I was under the impression that all the UK mobile operators had been obliged to cut roaming charges by The EU? I digress. I did not receive a single text from you informing me or reminding me of the terms of service regarding minimum of at least one call or text every 6 months. You just cut it off.
Phoning your 0870 0776655 number last night TWICE from my landline, I was told by a Scottish sounding female called WYNN that it was my duty to check the terms and conditions AFTER 10 YEARS!!
Well you also took about £15 to 20 of credit from me at the same time. In my world, that is theft. Whether it’s in your small print or not.
Vodafone have now lost one customer, in me, which won’t make any difference to the vast amounts you make off the other saps nationwide, but I will make it my business to tell as many friends, family and colleagues about my dissatisfaction and disgust with you.

Yours most unsatisfactorily

David T Wilson

DTW 17/6/2009