18 Feb 2025
What more can they take away from us? Laura Bill is incensed by the disappearance of many things we previously took for granted…
I went to Harpenden recently. Purely to park for free while I still could… Nothing earth-shattering happened.
I watched people struggle to get their kids out of the car thanks to the tiny spaces. I saw frustrated faces trying to find somewhere to leave their vehicle so they could they run into Boots to pick up a prescription for their sick elderly relatives. (Probably). I notice how already rammed the roads are at school drop-off and kick-out times.
How much harder will it be when you have to find a pay machine and faff around shoving coins or a card at it, perhaps with said children or a dog in tow, or try to navigate an app which keeps trying to register the car you sold three years ago…
People won’t bother. They’ll drive somewhere with better parking or at least a wider choice of shops.
Do we not already pay enough for our roads? The same roads that are full of potholes and either shut or slowing us down with temporary traffic lights.
Honestly. What else can they take from us? Haven’t we lost enough already?
Customer service. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. What has happened to shopping? Where are the staff? Whether it is a clothes shop or a food shop, rarely can I locate somebody to help me find something.
Last week I went into a clothes shop and saw a skirt I liked. I should have bought it there but didn’t (why do we do that?) Having already searched the website to check it was in stock, I went back two days later, trailed through a thousand items of clothing to no avail.
Hooray – a member of staff. They have no idea what I’m talking about so I carry on searching. I finally locate it but it’s only in XS or L. I could get into the XS but I like a bit of room to breathe so the small is what I need.
It’s showing as in stock in this store but no. It might be out the back in a box they haven’t unpacked yet or it could be “literally anywhere” in the store. Hmmm. Annoying.
How can they lose a skirt? The only option was to order it online, wait days for it to arrive and pay a £4 delivery charge.
I know I’m not alone in being frequently irritated trying to buy food with nobody seemingly employed to help at a till. It’s all do-it-yourself checkouts which might be just about bearable without the “request authorisation” message flashing up on the screen which then requires me to do a little bit of YMCA dancing to try and attract the attention of a human being and get approval for a packet of Lemsip.
Of course some places haven’t lost their touch but it does tend to be the more expensive shops. Is customer service only for the privileged nowadays? It seems so!
What else has been lost? For me, a big one is the ability to distinguish between satire and real life when listening to radio or watching television. I used to be able to tell the difference but now I genuinely cannot. First there’s the very right wing ‘Labour’ Government who seem to have abandoned anything remotely Labour and got into bed with Nigel Farage.
Then there’s the Trump takeover which is without doubt already impacting society at all levels. Waking up in the night to LBC broadcasting his plans for the Gaza Strip was the most freaky dystopian moment ever and left me certain it must be a nightmare.
Likewise with the Department of Education’s new initiative:“Now we’ve made Ofsted slightly less stressful let’s make it the most brutal it’s been while at the same time treat schools like children by giving them a report card.”
What?! The “rethink” of the process was the result of a headteacher dying by suicide. Just what have they re-thought…are they trying to lose every remaining teacher in the country? Some of these new policies make the old Government look like the Care Bears.
You wouldn’t consider it a luxury to be able to use public toilets. It started with the St Peter’s Street ones moving inside the museum in 2016. In 2022 we lost the causeway ones at Verulamium Park and those in Spicer Street as a cost-cutting exercise by St Albans district council.
Now we are losing more toilets in the Civic Centre, Drovers Way, Clarence Park bowling green and Abbey View athletics track. Hardly public convenience, is it?
Then there are the GP appointments. Once upon a time you could call your surgery and have somebody answer the telephone and maybe even book an appointment to see a real GP. You’re lucky if you can do either of those things now.
Some surgeries decide to close their online and telephone systems once they are “full” for the day, leaving poorly patients to ring 111 and beg for help. Quite often you might think you’ve got an appointment with a doctor only to discover that it is with a nurse or a physician assistant. People’s faith in the NHS is just dwindling and is it any wonder?
Have you wondered why you keep seeing Christmas trees outside people’s houses in February? This is because if you are not a ‘garden waste subscriber’ your tree won’t be taken away by the refuse collectors.
So if you’ve assumed that a Christmas tree is in fact household waste and not garden waste – as you might because…well, it is…then you could be waiting a while for it to be removed. You now have to take it to the tip yourself where once upon a time the bin men and women were allowed to remove it.
Until fairly recently, you could wake up, remember which month it was and guess what attire would suit the weather. But that ability to be able to predict the temperature outside has without doubt been lost.
There is no such thing as seasons anymore as it can be boiling in October and chilly in August. You can either carry around loads of layers or just opt to freeze or overheat. None of those options are conducive to a great day. We should have listened to Greta Thunberg.
What else can they take? How about the Post Office? The Quadrant is going to be run by Morrisons staff instead of trained Post Office staff and St Peter’s Street might become a franchise. This will mean there is no guarantee it will remain in the same central location nor have the same extent of services. For a lot of people, a Post Office is crucial and the threat of change or even loss is a worrying one.
What’s next on the list? You tell me…
