“The truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off.” Joe Klaas, Twelve Steps to Happiness
Last Saturday I went down to Happy Valley for my first jab. Deciding to park in the retail park near Forster Square Station, I wondered what casual visitors would make of this first view of Bradford city centre.
Walking past the wasteland of the old Royal Mail depot, I passed the graceful old arches where numerous tents and the smell of urine were evident. Is this really the first image you want outsiders to have?
This is compounded by the fact that these are potentially prime sites come better days for small, independent traders though rarely have I seen much here.
I walked past the Wool Exchange, down Market Street, still home to buildings of beauty, unimaginable to the cretins who plonk steel containers on street corners at will now.
In the queue at Rimmingtons, one of the oldest names in Bradford, I looked to where Carters used to hold so many attractions for us as kids before my city fell from grace.
Up Sunbridge Road, several buildings looked decrepit as the local winos hung around by the temperamental £30m pond, the decay self-evident.
With my jab done the young lady advised me not to drive home for fifteen minutes. “What will I do for fifteen minutes love?”
I headed out, best never to look back.
Let’s Talk About Dementia!
My Mum has dementia so there you have it. Strangely, we talk of this condition as if comparable to a sexually transmitted disease. Hush, hush, careful what you say.
We live much longer; we can replace hips and knees but the brain is unique. Yet there still appears to be some level of stigma about forgetting what day it is, as if remembering would distinguish one from the other anyway.
My Mum is no different, still the same defiant, stubborn and feisty character that kicked me on to better things than she ever hoped for.
I know many of you are coping with the same thing and would urge you to read a book called Contented Dementia – see here.
Recommended to me by a pal who only recently lost his mum, it will not turn you into an expert and, in some parts, is hard going. Then again, so is dementia. Stick with it as there are pockets of invaluable advice.
As newly appointed physio to my Mum, I know the lines she will trot out each day but why should that be a problem to me? Sometimes I need to check which day it is too.
The upside is that she needs no persuasion for extra exercises as she’s forgotten the first set after about five minutes. I’ll have her ready for Tokyo at this rate.
I’m not attempting to belittle this horrible condition but, certainly in the early stages, it is manageable. Crucially, it allows you to still see the same person you’ve always known.
She give me a conspiratorial wink the other day. “I’m getting better but we’ll have him downstairs on demand for a few more weeks yet.” Now that’s levelling up.
The Rot of Denial
Letter to the Bradford Telegraph & Argus.
Last night’s area breakdown (23/2) of infection rates demonstrates why we are miles off release here in Bradford. Based on MSOAs of approximately 7,200 people, this assumes a multiple of 13.89 to get to a crude rate per 100,000. Consider then the rates for the top ten areas in Bradford set against the average for England at circa 115. They range from 542 to 375, broadly in the same ballpark that sent places like Liverpool and Manchester into lockdown pre-Christmas.
Worse still, the same old places appear, showing little real change, despite a long so-called lockdown. And before anybody plays the deprivation/multiple occupancy homes/race cards consider areas across the UK – Hackney and Tower Hamlets amongst many – well below 100. It is a ticking time bomb here again and represents a massive failure on the part of the local authority who simply have no authority in many parts of the city, traded many moons ago for easy votes.
Several weeks on and this article confirmed our standing nationally.
For decades politicians have pandered to elements of the community resulting in a sizeable percentage believing that the law does not apply to them. Do as you wish. This has been brutally exposed by the pandemic.
Bradford is doing far worse than many similarly deprived parts of the UK. However, votes count and so you won’t get those in power speaking hard truths, even if they understood them. And so we stagger on.
As at 18/3 the rates in the top ten areas of Bradford still ranged from 417/100,000 to 278. Call that progress?
And Finally
Great news this week of Bradford based Carnuad Metal Box Engineering doubling its production facilities with a new factory…in Leeds!
Brian says
Hi Steve. It sounds like you are going down a similar route with your mum that Janice and me did. It’s very upsetting but hopefully you will have good days in amongst. I thought much the same when I visited Rimmingtons for my 1st jab. It’s not that long since we used to frequent the old girl on Friday nights but I wouldn’t be brave enough to go now! I would be interested to know the vaccination rates for Bradford. Probably as low as the infection rates are high. Ey oh