A Stranger's London
God bless the little old ladies
It would be interesting to know from Mr Shaw Taylor, presenter of London Weekend Television's Police 5 programme how many of his Sunday afternoon crime investigations are solved with the help of the ubiquitous little old ladies.Before I came to the U.K. one of the popular stories that made the rounds among the "Been-to" (an old fashioned term for the lucky few who had lived in Britain) community was how helpful or a nuisance (depending on how you viewed an encounter with one of them) these old ladies could be.
We were told that they were forever looking through their lace-curtained windows and listening to strange noises in the neighbourhood and were so efficient that many crimes had been solved with their apt descriptions of victims of circumstances surrounding crimes committed or about to be committed.
Well, not being a criminal and never having dreamt of deliberately committing a crime I have never given a thought to all the little old ladies in tennis shoes who flock the trains, tubes and buses after the early morning rush hour until I was confronted one day by a shop supervisor.
I had gone into a shop to buy a few things with my 3 year old son who had two lollipops purchased on a pavement sweet stall. Just as I stepped outside after paying the shopping bill the supervisor called me back to point out that I had not paid for the child's sweets.
I calmly explained the situation to him but he rather chose to contradict me in a rude manner which immediately made me see red. The fact is I don't like being called a liar, more so, when the issue at stake was about a petty crime which, if newspaper reports on shop-lifting is anything to go by, otherwise respectable folks have never recovered from their shame on leaving the magistrate's dock.
Well, I managed to convince the chap after examining the wrapper of the sweet which, luckily showed that it differed from what's being offered for sale in that shop, whereupon my indignation knew no bounds.
I accepted his profuse apologies after giving him a lecture on manners and went on to demand who told him that my son had taken sweets from the shop. It turned out to be - you've guessed right - a little old lady who, apparently, on seeing my son pick the unwrapped sweet which he had dropped assumed it was the shop property, made the report and quickly stepped outside. God bless the little old ladies, London's crime busters.
Running for England
"LOOK at her, so innocent, so frail, she only weighs about six stones, so thin and yet so powerful, so peaceful, she wouldn't hurt a fly, such very H-U- G-E talent, such incredible talent, doing what she likes doing best, running, just praying that people will leave her in peace to run… She knows she has to run out in front, not only is that her accustomed place, she dares not risk running in the bunch. where there is so much pushing… and hustle and she might fall or be injured... how very gracefully she runs, so effortlessly… and yet with such power, look at those thighs, running for the first time in an England vest, feeling so proud of it, knowing she has to give her best for her country, her adopted country, look at those shoulders, not a trace of fatigue and she increases the distance between herself and the rest with every stride… incredible... astonishing, not like anything that has ever been seen before on the athletic tracks here in Britain. Such a phenomenon, only 18 years of age, running in shoes this time but really she prefers to run barefooted... just listen to that crowd they all love her their hearts go out to her..."A BBC TV sports commentator rabbiting, while Zola Budd ran in the 1,500 metres race in Birmingham last week-end. Zola Budd, readers will recall, is the South African girl that has been granted British citizenship for the purpose of participating in the Olympic Games for Britain.
By the way, she did win the race and in spite of 'nothing like that having ever been seen on track in Britain before', the 1,500 metres record set by the home-grown Wendy Sly did not even come close to being challenged.
Since Zola Budd was imported into the UK under a special unnumbered licence by the Daily Mail newspaper, the paper had been most unwilling to let other papers talk to their prized possession.
However, last week-end, the rest of the press did manage to talk to her. Asked The Guardian: was she surprised to see so many Blacks running in the England team? A short intake of breath and then a barely audible answer from Zola: Yes, she was surprised even though she had seen British athletic competitions in her native South Africa, she was quite surprised at the number of Blacks in the England team...
A cuppa tea
The English are changing their character more drastically than anyone imagined: a report just published states that the most traditional of British institutions is disappearing.Tea-time has become the least important meal of the day after breakfast, lunch, evening meal and even snacks. Six years ago, the traditional tea-time was third in popularity behind breakfast and lunch. The report says that Britons are eating some 83 million fewer teas than they were four years ago.
Whatever is going to happen next if the traditional 'cuppa' should disappear from British homes? One wonders whether that explains the weird behaviour one notices: withdrawal symptoms.
