Pavilion or having your rubbish collected?

THEY’VE never had it so grim and now councillors are asking us to recognise this by showing them a bit of sympathy.

With rampant budget problems and the grim possibility we may be just seven days away from seeing them dump the Pavilion, the Guildhall and God knows what else, they are clearly at their wits end over solving the financial quagmire which is slowly swallowing the borough.

So it is perhaps not surprising that Weymouth and Portland Mayor Margaret Leicester used a recent full council meeting to ask residents to show councillors a bit of sympathy.

She’s probably asking for the impossible since politicians are not renowned for popularity, but what she said just before her “sympathy” remark deserves much more consideration.

She pointed out that the public have demanded that there be no cuts to essential services and she asked: “Do you want the Pavilion or do you want your rubbish collected?”

On the face of it the question answers itself, but have we really reached such a crossroads that this is the only way forward?

Let’s suppose the Pavilion does have to close even if a community group can take over running it.

That means the town’s vital tourists will either broadcast all over the country that the Pavilion is “under new management” or, if councillors go against this and opt for demolition, that it is already in the process of being torn down.

What any budget debate next Thursday night must bear in mind is the knock-on effect of such a scenario which is bound to affect late summer bookings, Christmas visitors and most definitely the 2014 summer season.

That considerable cost has to be considered among the pros and cons of keeping the Pavilion going because any tourist town which destroys the centre of its entertainment for visitors must be awfully sure it has no other viable choice.

Take my advice and save your Valentine money!

TODAY is Valentine’s Day and a summit meeting with my wife has produced the ideal antidote to this sickly annual event so beloved of shopkeepers across the country.

Instead of us wasting money on two vastly expensive cards we are going to put the money towards going to see a film together.

The rest of you snared in commerce’s rose-tinted web may not fare so well if half the stuff I’ve seen on offer is anything to go by.

It will be a close run thing for some lover boy whether he receives a sloppy French kiss or a punch on the nose if he gives his sweetheart a fetching crimson bra, one cup embroidered with “full cream” and the other with “semi skimmed”!

Other somewhat less than tasteful tributes to l’amour include the inevitable teddy bears and even a nice crimson pair of fluffy Wellington boots.

Advertising departments have a field day from one car maker using the big day to plug their vehicle shown with empty front seats leaning towards each other to a manufacturer displaying one of its clearly well-filled bras with the slogan: “Valentine’s Day is no time to be apart”!

One of the worst – and this is true – tried to boost business by saying that flowers wilt and chocolates melt but a cockroach is forever, so “how better to express your appreciation for that special someone than to name a Madagascar hissing cockroach after them”!

Several reasons immediately spring to mind and avoiding divorce, a slap round the face and all your clothes being cut up are just three of them.

Yet, far from hiding such insanity, some people choose to take their embarrassment public and today will be full of sickly protestations of love in the national newspapers.

Make sure you keep a bucket handy for all those dreadful efforts such as “my darling bunny wunny” and “Love you big boy from your willing slave”.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you read an entry in the same Valentine’s love display which read: “Don’t hurry home. Your dinner’s on Page 27 and I’m off to mother’s”?

So please make sure that, whatever your way of marking today’s big day, you do it your way and with feeling. The wife’s really looking forward to seeing Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Everything, all the time

EASTER must be on the way because I stumbled across a choice of chocolate eggs while I was doing the last bit of my Christmas shopping.

By the time that Good Friday arrives on March 29th I shall probably be able to make my first choice of cards for this year’s Christmas celebrations.

Personally I blame it all on climate change, the EU crisis and the fact that shopkeepers everywhere are having to try and sell just about anything at any time of year to keep their heads above water. 

That reminds me. I wonder if I can get any fireworks yet?

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