Spring appears to have arrived

The Lost Art of Gratitude (with thanks to Alexander McCall Smith for coining this phrase)

Many of you who follow me on Twitter will be aware that I have had 'sewage problems' of late. My next door neighbour and I were unamused to discover on Tuesday night that, only a month since the main sewage pipe into which our respective 'foul drains' discharge had been cleared, a further blockage seemed to be causing problems.

My poor neighbour had reached the stage where she was no longer able to flush her toilets. I was slightly better off and could still flush mine as my foul pipes have a longer stretch from the house to the sewer and so I had less build up of sewage to my house.

My neighbour and I are used to having to sort out building related problems for ourselves as we both have husbands who spend much time working away from home. However, in this instance, we gave a collective heave as we pulled off the heavy man-hole covers of our inspection chambers and stood, in the pitch darkness, shining my torch in to check on the extent of the problems therein.

Help was, however, at hand. The next morning I rang up Anglian Water to report a problem. The 'phone was answered after not too long a wait by an efficient lady who took the details, could see a plan of the sewage system I was referring to on her monitor, and informed me that, as my neighbour was unable to flush her toilet, someone would be out to us within 12 hours.

By late afternoon the man from Anglian Water arrived - a knight in a white van (if not on a white charger). With only rods at his disposal, he was unable to do more than move the problem down a bit so that my neighbour could at least use her toilet and have a shower that evening. But he arranged for a colleague to come the next day (today) and use a jetting hose to clear the blockage and move it on to the wider sewer on the road.

Mission was accomplished late this morning and I was very grateful that two extremely pleasant and efficient men had turned up, well within the time frames promised, and sorted out a distasteful problem.

So, I decided that I should get in touch with Anglian Water to express my gratitude to the two engineers they had sent out and my overall satisfaction with the service I had received from the organisation. This was when I encountered a problem. Nowhere on Anglian Water's website is there anywhere to leave a message of thanks. Nor is there any contact e-mail address given that I could have used. All I was able to find was an on-line query form which, judging by its wording, envisaged it would be used for bill queries and complaints. Indeed before I was allowed to send this form I had to find an old bill so I could quote my customer number (in the first field of the form). I just hope that the comments I made about the two gentlemen get seen by those they report to.

Is this what it has come to? Are we such an ungrateful nation of moaners and complainers that organisations such as Anglian Water assume the only reason we would want to contact them is to report a problem, query a bill or make a complaint? Is actually saying 'thank you' to people such a rare thing these days that no one who designed that website thought anyone would wish to do so through it?

Let me also, while I am on the subject, express my gratitude to Joseph Bazalgette (1819-1891, pictured above) the man who founded modern sewerage systems without which, I now believe, true civilization would not have been possible.

The Papal Visit - Musings of a Protestant Agnostic

I am angry at the prospect of the imminent papal state visit. Many others are too for various reasons which have been so rehearsed in the past few weeks that they need no recap here. I have just been listening to the radio where I heard an interesting discussion between David Starkey and Eamon Duffy – both historians whose work I admire. As I listened I started shouting out my agreement with David Starkey. I even tweeted it. Then I reflected on this and realised that the fundamental reason for my objection is that I am a product of my national inheritance. I may be an agnostic, but I am a Protestant agnostic.

Now, this may be strange. This is, after all, 2010 and there has been a great shift in religious adherence in this country, particularly with the presence of more Eastern Europeans whose religious affiliation, where is exists, is often Roman Catholic.

I have no problem with the pope making a pastoral visit to the UK in order to speak to the faithful. It’s happened before, it can happen again. There are many who will get a lot out of it, and I would not begrudge them that experience. However, this is to be a state visit – one that recognises the office of the pope as having both a secular as well as a spiritual authority.

Hold on, when did this country perform that volte-face? What happened to the Reformation of the English church in the Tudor period, the constitutional crises of the Stuarts which were fundamentally about an Englishman’s fear of the resurgence of the papacy as a temporal power over him? Yes, Britain (well England and Wales at least), which broke from the authority of Rome in 1534, is hosting an official visit of Pope Benedict at the cost of millions of British taxpayers’ money. British taxpayers whose country, strictly speaking, does not officially recognise the pope.

Now this may sound like the nostalgic ramblings of a history-loving, middle-aged woman, brought up in the days before multi-cultural diversity took hold. But there’s more to my point of view than that. It’s all to do with the nature of authority and the independence of the free-thinking mind; concepts that transcend cultural relativism.

I read the other day a piece in the Independent on-line by Johann Hari. He was exhorting British Roman Catholics to boycott the papal visit and cited, among other things, the pope’s lack of action over paedophile priests and his condemnation of the use of condoms in countries where HIV and AIDS are widespread. Though I agreed with much of what he wrote, I felt Hari was missing the point. He was employing an ‘ad hominem’ argument to persuade a group of people whose basic belief is that the Pope, whoever he may be at any point in history, speaks as the head of the church; the spiritual descendent of St. Peter, and not as a fallible man whose moral probity or integrity can be called into question. Such is the nature of authority in the Roman Catholic Church. I am aware that there are many Roman Catholics who want to see change and who do not agree with, and much less put into practice, many of the pope’s ex officio pronouncements. I would say to them that change will never happen in your lifetime while the notion of Papal supremacy and authority continues. It is now 2010 and high time you followed the lead of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and began to question the objective reality of that authority and its power over you. Some of you may well see the use of condoms as a greater evil than the AIDS epidemic. Fine, I suppose, if you’ve arrived at that view as a result of your own questioning but please, not just because you have to give lip-service to a Mediaeval figure-head.

And to think that this visit was, apparently, the brain-child of Gordon Brown, a boy brought up in a Scottish Presbyterian manse! Was he paying no attention when he studied the Reformation as part of his history degree at the University of Edinburgh?

Planted this delphinium last year. Not bad considering I've done nothing to it since!

Living Without Music?

I was listening this morning to the religious current affairs programme on Radio 4. I'm not usually up so early on a Sunday but I'd had to drop my son off at the station as he was booked on the 7am train to London. He is going to the 'Wireless' festival in Hyde Park. Music has been an important part of my son's life since he was quite young. So it was with great sadness that I heard a discussion on the subject of Muslim children and music. It would appear that some Muslim parents are withdrawing their children from school music lessons as, in some circles, music itself is seen as un-Islamic and evil.

Just two days ago I was at a concert in Norwich Cathedral. It was the last ever school music concert in which my son would take part. He has just completed his A-levels and will officially leave school next week. Watching him sing in the choir, I could see in that 18 year old face, the traces of the five year old singer at his first school concert. When he played his drum solo, to loud applause, in the wonderful acoustics of the cathedral, my maternal pride was at an all time high - a feeling shared I'm sure by the mother of his friend who played the most sublime sax solo. But most significant of all was the fact that this was the final school concert organised and conducted by a truly inspiring head of music at the school, Mr. Colin Dowdeswell. He is retiring after 27 years in that position. And I wonder whether my son's musical career would ever have started had he not had all the musical opportunities afforded to him at school and inspired by that man and his staff.

It started with school music lessons but has gone beyond that. My son and friends have formed various bands outside school and have played at several venues in the Norwich area. All this began with an interest in music fostered at school. It is for this reason that I feel such sadness that some children will never get the opportunity to explore music. What it must be like to live in a culture which denies humans the right to enjoy such pleasure I simply cannot imagine. For me (in the words of John Miles):
To live without my music
would be impossible to do.
In this world of troubles,
my music pulls me through.

When is a cold -call really a call to help you stop getting cold calls?

I have just received the most paradoxical of cold 'phone calls. I have been registered with the Telephone Preference Service for the last 8 years (i.e. since I have had my present 'phone number). It used to be a good, free, service but in the last six months or so I have had more unsolicited calls than I had ever received in the previous 8 years. My sister-in-law had noticed a similar increase and we had both intended to contact the TPS to find out what was happening. I never got round to it (don't know if she did).

So, a short while ago, my 'phone rang:

Mr. Man from call-centre in India: Hello. my name is -----, calling on behalf of V---

Me: Hold on, do you know I'm registered with the Telephone Preference Service?

Mr. Man: Oh yes, madam, that is why I am calling, You are still getting unwanted marketing calls despite your registration with Telephone Preference Service, is that not right? Now we at V---- are offering a service that guarantees that you will receive no such calls anymore.

Me: And how much do you charge for this service?

Mr. Man: Only £5 a month, madam.

Me: No thanks, bye!

Dear (sweet) F.A. I understand there's an upcoming vacancy for the job of England manager