Wednesday, 8 October 2008

The Baldrick of St Brelade's Bay

http://www.thisisjersey.com/2008/10/07/heres-a-quick-and-easy-way-to-save-1-million/

Here's a quick and easy way to save £1 million - From David Râtel.

I HAVE a cunning plan, one which will save Jersey's long-suffering taxpayers the best part of £1 million. It is simply to scrap the plans to rebuild the vandalised public toilets at the Winston Churchill Park in St Brelade's Bay. Proof that they are not needed is the fact that everyone has managed quite well without them for the last six or seven months. There are three other public toilet buildings in the bay, and all the hotels, cafés and restaurants provide facilities. If they are rebuilt they will only be attacked again, so let's not bother.

When Blackadder's servant Baldrick came out with "I have a cunning plan", you could be sure that what followed was an idea of such idiocy and daftness that Blackadder would sigh with despair.

I feel very much the same about reading Mr Râtel's exceptionally stupid letter. Here is a man who thinks only of himself, and he can quite easily walk the the other toilets and use them. Perhaps he should try using a wheelchair and seeing how easy it is to use the other toilets in the bay.

I can tell him - from someone I know who used to drive the disabled transport from Maison Les Landes - that the official line is that the toilets in the centre of the bay are simply not suitable for access for disabled people in wheelchairs. There's no room there to make any facilities there either. And the perfect place for their special mini-bus is the car park by the Winston Churchill park, hence also the ideal place for a toilet.

Mr Râtel should be in the States. They are always on the look out for members who can only think in terms of people like themselves, and not ever consider that there might be people who are different, and need other facilities. "Let's not bother" fits the bill perfectly.

Anyhow, it's early for Halloween, but he can have the Baldrick's Pumpkin Award for most thoughtless suggestion of October 2008.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

He had a go for deputy in 1996, St Brelade.

Maybe he's planning on giving it another go.

Like you said he's definately got potential.

(:p

TonyTheProf said...

You HAVE got a good memory.

Yes it was back in 1996!

Deputy Mike Vibert - 865 votes

Deputy Max de la Haye - 566 votes
elected Connétable 11/10/99

Graham Thorne - 519 votes
David Ratel - 498 votes
Angela Trigg - 486 votes
Nick Le Cornu - 361 votes
Tom Jordan - 359 votes

He didn't do too well, but Tom Jordan, former Deputy, really got hammered. I seem to remember a really weird interview with him on CTV at the time. Now Tom writes the odd inane letter to the JEP. His hotel is gone, and flats are being built there now.

The Rat's wife was in charge of the redecoration of the L'Horizon foyer area when they revamped it in the 1980s, and we were always hearing about it at the St Brelade Resident Assoc Meetings, along with Joe Meade's doing estate agent things at Priory Farm (and how he couldn't do some nights because he was doing the funny apron thing).

A medal was deserved by all who put up with the indeterminably boring meetings. But we did save a public footpath from L'Horizon's expansion plans, so some good came of it. And we did have the formidable and wonderful Good Egg and Lifesaver, Constance Brown.

Gerald (Ackworth born) said...

Well as someone who has used these toilets on a trip from Maison des Landes I'm so glad they did get rebuilt.