March 1st is Polling day...

Independent Ray (left) and Tory Paul

The campaigning is nearly over. Tomorrow, 1st March 2012, is polling day in the Hedge End Shamblehurst by-election. The electorate have to make their decision now. I'm hoping for a good turn-out and hoping that the best candidate will win.

It has certainly been an interesting experience, a completely new experience for me. I've not attempted anything like this before. The hardest part was taking the decision to stand. It is not what I do ordinarily. I am not a career politician, as I'm sure you can tell...!

The election is also unusual because two of the candidates, Tory Paul and myself live within sight of each other. If we were so inclined we could supervise each others comings and goings and look into each others bedrooms. Well that would be possible if I didn't tend to keep the curtains drawn upstairs. The front of my house is South-facing and it gets very hot if the sun is out...!

It also happens that we work together. Paul is the Business Development Manager whilst I'm a humble Van Driver. As you can imagine, our contest has been the subject of some discussion at work with colleagues seeming to enjoy the novelty of the situation as much as Paul and I have. Naturally Paul and I have different opinions and we certainly don't agree on everything, but we have also been determined not to fall out over anything. We respect each others position.

Another interesting factor has been the different styles of campaigning used by the four candidates..

My campaign has been cheap and cheerful, not least because I've had to fund it out of my own pocket. I've only dropped one leaflet around the Shamblehurst ward, but that leaflet included various web addresses that electors can visit if they want to. I've been happy to let the electors seek the information if they want it, rather than repeatedly force it upon them.

Paul's campaign, for the Conservatives, has been very professional with good quality full-colour, A4 glossy leaflets that have been well argued and well presented. He's dropped several leaflets and knocked on lots of doors.

The Lib Dem's campaign has involved even more leaflets. Carpet leafleting, a strategy that Sir Arthur (Bomber) Harris would have been proud of, as it is designed to wear people down and break down their resistance. The trouble is, carpet-leafleting tends to have the opposite effect. It annoys the hell out of people and strengthens their resolve. By dropping lots of leaflets, I think the the Lib Dems may have turned-off as many people as they've won over. The Lib Dems have also been reluctant to let their candidate say anything, which is a shame. Their campaign has been carefully managed by the Lib Dem leadership in Eastleigh, endorsing their candidate but not actually letting him say very much. It has been obvious that the words on the Lib Dems leaflets (well, the ones that I've seen) have been written by the Lib Dem leaders in Eastleigh, rather than by the candidate himself. It is a strategy that seems to have worked for them previously, but this election is a very different ball-game...

The UKIP campaign is, sadly, something of a mystery to me. I've not seen any of their election material. I assume they've dropped leaflets, but I don't know for sure either way. Perhaps they've just been very successful at keeping their campaign material from me...!

So that's where we are tonight. I've said all I'm going to say and will leave it up to the electors to decide who they want to represent them.

The Polling station is at St Lukes Church in Shamblehurst Lane South, Hedge End, and is open from 7am until 10pm on Thursday 1st March 2012.

DIY Laser Wheel Alignment...

I see that Gunson have recently introduced a DIY laser wheel alignment tool, extending their existing range of wheel alignment tools for the DIY motor mechanic. They have even created a video to show prospective purchasers how to use their range of wheel alignment tools. It all looks so easy...



The laser wheel alignment gadget looks fabulous in the sterile conditions shown in the video, I would love one. Those wheel plates look essential too. I would have to order some of those at the same time.

Now that's not so much because of the savings on future garage bills, it would actually take me quite a long time to recover the cost of those two gadgets. I'd like to have them because if I'd done the job myself I would know that it had been done correctly. You see I have yet to take a car to a garage (or any fast-fit tyre shop) and feel confident that the wheel alignment job has been done properly. The steering wheel subsequently being in an off-centre position when travelling straight ahead is usually a good clue that it hasn't. So too is getting more steering lock in one direction than the other. The motor trade clearly has the advantage over the customer. It is not really possible for us to oversee what they are doing, certainly not in sufficient detail, so we have to trust them. If they say they've done it right we've usually got to take their word for it. 10,000 miles later, when your expensive tyres have scrubbed out prematurely again, it is far too late to complain. Even if you did, you won't get anywhere, because all they'll say is that the car has subsequently been kerbed...

So if some decent DIY equipment is now available, I would prefer to take the measurements myself. I wouldn't be under pressure of time, as happens in the garage environment. It would be OK for me to mess around all day on Sunday if necessary, checking, adjusting, re-adjusting and double-checking until thoroughly satisfied. Until I know that the wheel alignment is spot-on.

But there is a problem.

The only flat level surface I've got to work on is inside my garage.

And because it is a single garage, it is not wide enough to allow the laser-tracking equipment to be set up correctly.

Gunson have come up with a good product here, well designed and simple to use, but for many DIY'ers, forced to work on their cars in the real world rather than in a workshop or double garage, it will be thoroughly impractical.

And I really don't think I'd be too popular trying to set the wheel alignment on the Worzel-mobile in Sainsbury's car-park on a Sunday morning.

Ah well, its back to the local garage I suppose...

Update 21/3/12: Well I had the tracking checked at a GOOD local garage. Initially I was satisfied as I was able to look under the car and see the readings myself. All looked fine, set to 2mm toe-out. The mechanic seemed to know what he was doing. No problem I thought.

On driving I found that the error in the steering wheel was slightly worse than before, which was disappointing. Having looked at the system the garage was using, I suspect the steering wheel wasn't locked in the central position when the adjustment was made. A simple but basic mistake.

Worse, on double-checking my Haynes manual and the interweb I found that the tracking on my Xsara should actually have been set to 1.5mm toe-in (+/- 1mm).

I put it right myself in the end. I'd noted that one turn of the track rod equated to a 1.5mm adjustment, so I lengthened them by a combined total of 1.5 turns, adjusting one side more than the other to straighten the steering wheel. In theory I now have 0.25mm of Toe-in.

The steering wheel is perfectly straight now and best of all, the steering is much lighter than it was. That's a really good sign that the tracking is correct and I have found the sweet spot where there's little or no tyre scrub.

Getting the tracking professionally adjusted helped because I now knew what the mechanic had set it to, I had seen the measurements and had a known starting point, but I still had to fine-tune the adjustment myself.

Why can't garages get this right, reliably so, every time, without fail...?

Fix Third Avenue...

I logged a problem on the FixMyStreet website earlier today. It will be interesting to see if anything is done about the problem.

The problem is in Third Avenue, Southampton, where my fellow van drivers and I regularly have to go head to head with an assortment of ruddy idiots driving on the wrong side of the road. I've had days where it has happened three or four times, on virtually every other inbound trip along that road. It gets a bit tiresome after a while...!

The problem is that Third Avenue runs parallel to a dual carriageway, so anybody who is unfamiliar with the area can be easily fooled into thinking that Third Avenue is also a one-way road. But it isn't...

The problem has become worse recently, as Southampton City Council have moved their Recycling Centre into that area. Traffic leaving the Recycling Centre is directed up Manor House Avenue where the see a sign pointing left showing the recycling symbol and reading "Exit". It is at this point that anybody who is unfamiliar with the area tends to be fooled into thinking that it is a one-way road. With the gardening and spring-cleaning season almost upon us, the problem can only get worse...!

What is also needed, at the Head of Manor House Avenue,  is a two-way traffic sign, as pictured above.

And some big white arrows painted on the carriageway, to make things clearer.

That's what I've suggested via Fix My Street.

I've had an email telling me that the report has been passed to Southampton City Council.

Lets see how long it takes them to do something...!

Nutter or Mugger...?

Recently, whilst innocently stood on the pavement waiting for traffic lights to change so that I could cross the road to use a cashpoint machine, I heard somebody say "Hello mate..!"

That'll be directed at me I thought, as I'm the only other person stood here.

I turned round and saw a man with a dog in his thirties stood slightly behind me. I'd never laid eyes on him or his canine companion before, a Golden Retriever. I'm not sure how old the dog was.

The approach was unsettling. A prelude to a mugging perhaps, or an approach about drugs, or an approach about homosexuality. Whatever the reason, innocent or not, I didn't much care for the situation. My defences were raised.

"Do you have any animals?" the strange man asked.

"No I'm afraid that I don't" I replied truthfully, grateful that I'd been gifted a way of killing the unwanted conversation, discretely checking behind me and hoping that a little green man would pop up soon. Either to allow me to cross the road or to abduct the person who had distracted me.

Clearly not expecting that reply, the strange man said "Oh, um , er" then paused and thought. Clearly still determined to engage me in conversation.

"What football team do you support?" he then asked.

This is really wierd, I thought. It would be a sensible enough conversation whilst propping up the bar at the pub perhaps, but a little unusual when trying to cross the road. Why aren't we talking about the weather or something equally innocuous? Even asking me about the state of the pavements would make a lot more sense at the moment, in the context of that by-election..

But I had to answer the question about football.

Aware that even the hint of supporting the wrong team can sometimes lead to all sorts of bother, I very carefully said "I just support good football really. It doesn't matter who's playing, I just like to see a good game". 

"Oh, um, er" was the answer. I'd successfully killed the conversation again.

"So if you did support a team, which one would it be?" was the next question.

I was stuck now. Unable to think of a way of politely killing the conversation.

"Well I suppose it would be one of the local teams. Its always good to see how they are getting on", I said non-commitally. Now grateful that the lights had changed and it was safe to cross the road.

"I support Man Utd and West Ham" the strange man replied as we crossed the road together, clearly pleased now that he'd got the conversation going.

"That's nice" I said, taking a snap decision to also say "cheerio", walk into the Bank and withdraw cash over the counter instead of using the cashpoint machine that was situated outside.

What would you have done...?

Worzel concedes defeat...

After a great deal of careful consideration, I have taken a very big decision today. I know it will please some people and disappoint others, but my circumstances are such that I know that this is now the right thing for me to do.

I have been building up to it for some time and everything fell into place this afternoon. The decision is now taken. It is irreversible

What is Worzel waffling on about now, I hear you ask....?

Well, I'm aware that there's a brief summary of this posting in the feed on the Eastleigh News website, so I thought I would have some fun with my opponents in the Shamblehurst by-election...!

I'm sorry to disappoint you all, ROFL, but I've actually taken the decision to buy some reading glasses. I've been putting it off for as long as possible, but conceded defeat and purchased a couple of a pairs today.

I don't have too much difficulty reading, generally speaking, but occasionally I do find the small print difficult. I have noticed myself reaching for the magnifying glass on a couple of occasions, which is a good clue that I need reading glasses. At least I've been able to postpone the evil day until I turned 50. I don't think my eyesight has done too badly...

What made me decide to go for it today, was that I saw that Poundland in Eastleigh stocked reading glasses. I couldn't believe that they were only a quid, I had to ask, but sure enough that's all they cost. A quid per pair.

Great, I'll have two pairs I thought. One to keep at home and one for the van.

Perhaps that will stop me from delivering parts to the wrong customers now...?

In praise of Blue Badges, and Mary Portas...

These blue badges are jolly handy. I don't qualify for one myself, but Big Joolie does so we use it when I take her shopping. The rules permit that.

The badge is allocated to the disabled person and is valid whatever car they are in. It is perfectly legal for me to place it in the windscreen of my car if I'm running Big Joolie around, provided she gets out of the car when I park it.

Even when going to the pub the blue badge is handy, as we can park in a disabled bay near the door and she doesn't have to walk any further than is absolutely necessary on her arthritic hip. Its brilliant.

A couple of days ago, we went to Portswood in Southampton. I couldn't find a vacant disabled bay, but the badge was still useful as it allowed me to park in a 30 mins only bay and not worry about that time restriction. We then had 3 hours to do what we needed to do, which was plenty.

I can even park on yellow lines if there is no alternative, provided there are no loading restriction and I'm not causing an obstruction. But I don't like doing that. Yellow lines are there for a reason and I'm conditioned not to park on them, so it is better to find another option like that 30 minute bay, if it is possible to do so.

The biggest problem that I can see with the blue badge is that it is so convenient and parking charges on the High Street are so extortionate, that many people are tempted to abuse the privilige. I can't prove it, but motorists "borrowing" Aunties blue badge to use for their own purposes could well have been why I couldn't park in the official disabled bay, with Big Joolie, on Friday.

There's no way I would borrow Big Joolies badge just to make parking easier and cheaper for myself. I only use it when she's with me and we're out on a trip together. If I'm out on my own, I park normally. I wish everybody would follow that basic rule.

But there is another side to this. If I'm out on my own, I tend to go to places where I know the parking is easiest. Which means I wouldn't go to places like Portswood ordinarily. So the blue badges can actually help bring more custom to the High Street.

Or put another way, difficult parking will reduce the amount of trade that is attracted to the High Street.

Its true. When walking round Portswood  the other day, I thought it was quite an attractive little shopping area with a reasonable range of shops, but I wouldn't go there ordinarily because parking is tricky. I'd only go to Portswood if on a specific mission and I needed to visit a specific shop. If I can buy the items anywhere, I'll go elsewhere if the parking is tricky.

That 30 minute restriction in Portswood for instance, barely leaves me time to cross a tricky road junction and walk to the shops and back

The Portas Review picked up on this last year. If we want our High Streets to recover, Town Councils need  to stop thinking of the motorist as a cash cow and/or a nuisance, and make parking easier.

Town Planners, please note...!

Campaign capers, no 1

I've been out leafleting today, covering 450 letterboxes in 3 hours 45 minutes. Feet, hip and crotch were all sore when I got home, due to all the walking and chafing of trousers...!

Despite that, it was a thoroughly enjoyable experience. Even the sub-zero temperatures were OK.

It was rather unnatural though, pushing leaflets that promoted myself through other peoples letterboxes. That's not the sort of thing that I would usually want to do, it is not my personality, I'm no extrovert, but it clearly has to be done if standing as a candidate in a by-election.

One of things that I thought might happen this morning, was that I would kindly be given one of the opposition leaflets. Sure enough, that duly happened..

My Tory competitor, near neighbour, colleague and mate had been out leafleting too, with a team of helpers, and he subsequently mailed me to say that he had had the same good fortune.

Although we are competitors, our politics are very different, we get on OK and agreed to meet up to compare "trophies", to see what the Lib Dem candidate was saying.

I thought I'd be courteous and also give my competitor one of my leaflets. He's going to pick one up anyway I thought, its in the public domain now so why not...?

On meeting, I was most impressed to find that he already had one of my leaflets, literally only a few hours after I'd stuffed it through somebody's letterbox. We had a good laugh about that...!

I expect the Liberal Democrats campaign HQ also had a copy of my leaflet in their hands very quickly. These party machines are really quite impressive sometimes, frustrating but impressive...

No wonder the independents struggle to get elected outside of the Parish Council environment. It is very difficult for one-man bands to compete with these well-oiled party machines, not least because of the considerable resources, people and money, that they can throw at election campaigns...

A problem more dangerous than speeding...

There's a lot of fuss about speeding where I live at the moment, with a new Community Speedwatch team and our unimaginative, vote-hungry Borough Councillors being pictured on their newsletters holding fake smiles and a 20mph sign. I understand that next year they're going to be holding red flags...!

Now really chaps. 30mph limits are OK around town. 20mph limits should be the rare exception rather than the norm. We buy cars to get us from A to B efficiently, but doing so depends on us being allowed to drive them...

If we're campaigning for greater road safety, there is an even more dangerous problem that we need to tackle.

Undertaking. The act of overtaking another vehicle on its left.

The Highway Code, rule 163, states;

• Only overtake on the left if the vehicle in front is signalling to turn right, and there is room to do so.
• Stay in your lane if traffic is moving slowly in queues. If the queue on your right is moving more slowly than you are, you may pass on the left.

So you can overtake on the left when traffic is queueing, but rule 163 is clearly not a licence to undertake free flowing traffic doing Motorway speeds.

In practice, what seems to happen on the Motorway is that impatient motorists overtake on the left when the traffic is free flowing and moving at speed. If there's a gap and the opportunity to weave through traffic those impatient fools will go for it.

Now I write about this tonight, because I encountered  a really good example today of why undertaking is dangerous.

I was in lane 3 of the M27 and shortly about to join the M271, so I needed to change lane. There's a huge blind-spot on the left of the van and another blind spot behind (due to the twin rear doors), so I tend to do such lane changes steadily, in two separate manoeuvres. Being cautious has saved me from bending the van on a number of occasions.

My lane 3 to lane 2 manoeuvre was routine. No problem.

But just as I started the lane 2 to lane 1 manoeuvre, I noticed a blue Rover in my rear view mirror, closing quickly, travelling probably 20mph faster than the 60mph or so that I was doing, and darting from lane 3 to lane 1 in an attempt to undertake me. A split second later the blue Rover appeared in the passenger door mirror and was virtually alongside me, just as I was driving over the dotted line between lane 1 and lane 2, part-way through my lane change.

Good observation allowed me to alter my line, leave a bit of room and avoid a big shunt. The driver of the Rover braked hard and ran over the hard-shoulder before dropping well back without any horn tooting or light flashing, clearly having realised his mistake.

When clear, I completed the lane change and slowed down a bit more. Just to make the point about impatience.

Personally, I hope the other motorist messed himself - big time.
I trust he has now learned the lesson.

Undertaking at high speed is contrary to the Highway Code and is dangerous, particularly when undertaking vans and lorries which have blind spots.

The rule is there for a reason.

Franchising and Local People...

I've just been looking at a web page which describes the franchise opportunities with the Local People group, the people who own the HedgeEndPeople website.

I'm not really minded to take it on at the moment, I've more than enough on my plate as it is, but it was an interesting read nevertheless, comprising slick presentation and a sales pitch to be taken with a large pinch of salt.

Look at the a day in the life page. It is clearly an idealised situation, designed to appeal to Mums who are desperate to work from home and fit their life around school hours, but is heavily qualified by;

This timetable is for illustrative purposes only and your actual working hours will depend on how you decide to run your own franchise.

Or put another way, your day will usually be nothing like this really. Nice as it sounds, there are 1001 everyday problems that will stop you from living your life like this...

The your earning potential page is another good example. It contains a table which shows the earning potential of the franchise, but those statistics are heavily qualified by;

...we show some example numbers for your first year only to give you an idea of the sort of money that you could earn with a localpeople franchise. These numbers are built on very basic assumptions and are for illustrative purposes only...

Or put another way, the statistics in that table do not reflect the real world, where business are cautious about advertising in the midst of a recession.

And of course the one very important thing that they don't tell you on this website, is how much the licence and monthly royalties costs. That sort of omission immediately tells me to steer clear of the idea.

My observation, partly from the response to the adverts that appear on this blog, is that in the real world there is a significant risk that the cost of a franchise might prove to be more than you can earn via the income from local advertising revenue.

So don't be tempted by the slick presentation and the sales pitch. Having personally contributed a lot to the HedgeEndPeople website over the last few years, my advice is to venture into this sort of franchise with great caution.

My top tip is if you want to get rich quick, don't become a franchisee. Be inventive and become the franchisor instead...

Where the Big Society would make a difference...

I was very surprised yesterday, at how concerned Big Joolie felt about the prospect of snow and ice. She was petrified really, about the prospect of it returning over the next few days.

Big Joolie walks with a stick these days, partly because she previously fell over on untreated pavements whilst venturing out to the shop for a packet of fags. She clearly doesn't want the same thing to happen again, maybe breaking a hip or a wrist this time, risking being admitted to hospital on a Sunday and not coming out...

We did venture out in the car yesterday, to the local Toby Carvery for a liquer coffee. That was partly because I wanted to test the ABS on the Worzel-mobile, which I haven't been able to do previously. The other reason we went out was that Big Joolie hadn't been out for a couple of days, and was bouncing off the walls of her flat...

I was surprised to see that even the walk from the disabled bay in the car park to the pub entrance, through the light slush that had accumulated in a wintry shower, proved worrying for Big Joolie. She is unable to shift her weight or alter her balance very quickly if needed to avoid a fall.

So why is it that our local Council cannot be bothered to clear pavements of snow and ice...?

I'm sure there are lots of people having this problem, including the lady pictured in the photo.

I guess it comes down to the question of money, and Council Tax.

I'm always one of the first to complain when Council Tax goes up. That's because I now have to work for a whole month to pay my annual Council Tax bill, but if we could reduce some of the wastage, on new or refurbished Civic Offices, on outsourcing work  (esp Care Homes) to Private Contractors at ludicrous rates that are milking the Taxpayer, on unnecessary Consultants and so on, perhaps it would be possible to do more about icy pavements...?

Even giving all the able bodied males in the area, esp the unemployed ones, a snow shovel, a couple of bags of de-icing salt and asking them to be prepared to clear a section of pavement would be a useful improvement on the current situation...