“How easy it is for so many of us today to be undoubtedly full of information yet fully deprived of accurate information.”
Criss Jami
Those of us who have played sport using municipal facilities will not have been shocked by a recent article condemning the quality. So to suggest this is a recent development is nonsense; to blame the cuts again is simply disingenuous.
The Sunday football team we ran finished almost twenty years ago and, even then, pitches were dire and maintenance minimal. Running hot water was rated five star – any water was a bonus – and the cold sponge had every chance of inducing septicemia. Each year the costs would escalate but for no visible improvements.
We also played indoor football and, after several years of increasing the price, one year they claimed no increase but simply shortened the booking by a third. That’s Bradford Council for you.
Today we have increasing obesity and football pitches that look pristine in mid-winter because hardly anybody uses them. What money does become available for recreation is often spent on political rather than sporting grounds.
The shambolic deals done to close Bingley and Queensbury swimming pools yet open a new one in Toller Ward are an example. Strange too that the Council found £362k (Freedom of Information Request – 02/18) for Bradford Park Avenue cricket ground.
These are pet projects ticking boxes, soothing party harmonies and sustaining power bases; it is a muddy business. Municipal sports facilities have always been crap in Bradford, it’s just that they are even worse now, austerity or no austerity.
Size Matters
Here’s an interesting piece on a concept being rolled out by Premier Inns – see here. There is a common misconception that staying in a hotel on business is glamorous but, working for Barclays this theory was blown to smithereens
Many years ago we stayed at the Dolby Hotel in Liverpool. We knew when we entered the car park that it was dinner at McDonalds. The rooms were cells and the shower was a sealed tube, like an upright plastic condom.
The biggest shock were the beds; we had prison bunks with the gap between the top bunk and the ceiling barely enough to turn your head.
I lost the toss to my roommate so glumly climbed up the metal ladders to see if I had any clearance from the fly infested ceiling with bluebottles being electrified by the minute in the not so sealed light fitting.
The day after we were on a training course designed to get us to sell an insurance product that nobody wanted and none of us understood, especially after a night in jail.
It was another day where the light at the end of the tunnel began to shine a bit brighter.
Quote Of The Week
As the The Scruffy heaved with customers the other night there was a cry from behind the bar.
“Michael” wailed Our Jackie unusually working and not sat dunking another Hob Nob on a tea break “‘Ave we got any crisps that are bloody in date?”
Later in the week her application for the vacant post of Sales and Marketing Director was sadly refused.
One Hundred Years Ago
Time to celebrate for those who had survived the war…but there was a cloud over the peace. The second wave of the Spanish flu pandemic had arrived and people whose resistance was lowered by years of war were dying in huge numbers.
Up to 100 million died world wide…doctors, undertakers and grave diggers could hardly cope…there is a special irony about those who had survived the carnage at the front only to be taken by influenza.
Lest we forget.
Big Al’s Bonfire
The Dept of Environment (DoE) have issued a warning to locals in the Idle area of Bradford for Saturday evening due to burning of toxic waste at The Scruffy.
Locals are advised to keep windows closed and those attending the fire will be issued with face masks; Big Al’s sofa is finally being laid to rest.
No sofa has been abused as much as this.
In the early part of the decade Saddam Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction were considered a far lower threat than this worn toxic pile of faux velvet.
Sky Sports have passed on their condolences and expressed gratitude towards one of their longest serving sofas. Jeff Stelling will be presenting Soccer Saturday live to count down the last hours.
Big Al will be on site at The Scruffy to light the fire – “one last time baby!” he said to shared howls from us the other night. The DoE advises that, subject to prevailing winds, it should be safe to open windows by the following Monday.
And Finally
Thanks to local celebrity Gary Kingett for this thought-provoking picture.
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