Well, well… Whoopee, another debate,
Not to find who you love, but more who you hate.
Who is most honest, whom can you trust,
Brown, Glegg or Cameron, Who’ll hit the dust?
Election days looming, and as it draws near,
Folks all of a dither, trembling with fear.
Will it be a hung Parliament? We’ll have to see,
Just to on the safe side, make noses for three.
Christine Coulton

I happened on your text by chance,
You tell me that you’re stuck in France.
Some bizarre excuse it would appear,
Volcanic ash has marooned you there.
Come on….. I don’t believe it’s true,
It’s too far fetched even for you.
I’ll bet you’re holed up in chateau,
With some French piece you’ve got to know.
You say you can’t take to the skies,
For years I’ve put up with your lies.
But this tall story seems unfounded,
That all Aircraft they have been grounded.
It’s so long now that you have tarried,
I’ve got divorced and have remarried
Christine Coulton

April 1st
Desperate for something to read, I purchased the only tabloid left on the stand. The Daily Express (Not my usual daily read) “however not to digress” On the leading page was a photograph of a great grandmother whom had recently been tagged, fined a £1,000, and given a criminal record for selling a goldfish.

There are times when the blood pressure tablets I take fail me, and my whole body seems to go tense, a surge of blood heads directly to my nose turning it bottle blue, and a sense of rage over comes me. This was such an occasion.

What scumbag of a misfit would take it upon themselves to persecute a mature lady for merely selling a goldfish?

Well it turns out to be a certain Mr Iain Veitch head of public protection (Whoever dreamt up that title deserves a medal) at Trafford Council.

It appears that the local Trading Standards Office set out to stitch her up by sending a fourteen old youth ‘who looked much older than his years’ into a pet shop which she owned to purchase a goldfish.

Apparently under the Animal Welfare Act of 2006 it is illegal to sell pets to children under the age of 16 unless they are accompanied by an adult.
We now live in a country where political correctness has created a class of dim-witted bureaucracy that has nothing better to do then hound an old lady who has never been in trouble with the police before.

I am glad that certain M.P’s have taken up her case, the sooner this conviction is over turned the better. The magistrate concerned must have been as dense as Mr Iain Veitch.

Everyday constrained by quotas, fishing boats discard a large part of their dead and dying haul, back into the sea. I trust Mr Iain Veitch bears that in mind when he next orders his cod and chips from his local chippie!

Having inserted my Visa Electron card into the machine (to pay for my shopping which was in excess of £100.00) the till operator asked me if I had an alternative method of payment, Because I knew there were sufficient funds in my bank account to cover the purchases made. I asked why?
The till operator then said this was what the till had requested. I told her there was not a problem with my card funding, and asked her to try again and add a £30.00 cash back to the total which was now £140.00.

Again I was told that my payment required an alternative payment. Annoyed, I again pointed out that there were sufficient funds in my account to make the purchases. I asked if it was okay to go to the cash bank outside the shop to draw enough cash to pay for my goods. She then called for an assistant who took my goods to the Customer Services counter.
On drawing £110.00 from the cash machine I noticed that the £110.00 and £140.00 had been deducted from my bank account.

Feeling very agitated I went back to the Customer Services counter I told the young lady that the two amounts had been deducted from my account. Perplexed she then telephoned my bank who confirmed that indeed the two amounts had been deducted.

The young lady said she would have to called for her Manager (after waiting10 minutes) another lady said she would again call for the manager (by this time my young baby was becoming very restless) after waiting a further 20 minutes a lady Manageress finally arrived at the Customer Services counter and informed me that the transactions had not been deducted.

Extremely annoyed at this point, I asked her why my bank had confirmed to the Customer Services that the deductions had been made. The Manageress then rang my bank who verified that the payments to Tesco had been made.
I was getting nowhere with the Manageress (now my baby was crying with hunger) Tesco had now taken from my bank account £250.00 for goods valued at £110.00 that I had not got.

Completely exasperated, I let the Manageress know that I would not be paying for the goods yet again, even though I had enough cash on me to do so.
I went on to let her know that I would be returning the next day if the situation was not resolved. She replied placidly it was OK, and not a problem.

The matter at Customer services had lasted about 30 minutes. Fuming I returned home and rang my bank who once more confirmed that the two transactions had in fact taken place.
Upon explaining the circumstances, the Bank told me providing I had not taken the goods from Tesco the Bank were prepared to stop the payments if I wanted!

So I asked them to stop the payments. Having halted the payments to Tesco my bank account was then credited back with the two amounts.

Almost two hours spent at Tesco, ending up without goods equals’ trauma!

The whole experience was annoyingly inconvenient and rather distressing for both my baby and me.

As a regular shopper at Tesco (Wrekin Retail Park Telford) with a weekly spend in excess of £150.00 per week and due to their recent lack of care and support, from now on, the majority of my grocery shopping will be purchased at Asda at Donnington, there I find the staff more helpful!

P.S (The Customer Services assistant at Tesco although polite did not get involved when the manageress eventually turned up)
I wonder if anyone else has experienced a problem such as this with Tesco

Very dissatisfied former Tesco Customer on her way to Asda
K.B

Shrewsbury Town will get their chance to feature in the television spotlight in a new football show which starts next week.

Manish Bhasin is to front a new Monday night Football League show on BBC Midlands which aims to give fans unrivalled access to their teams.

Late Kick Off will provide in depth coverage of all 14 teams across the region – Burton, Cheltenham, Chesterfield, Coventry, Derby, Hereford, Leicester, Lincoln, Notts County, Nottingham Forest, Port Vale, Shrewsbury, Walsall and West Bromwich Albion.

The first show goes out next Monday (January 18) on BBC One Midlands at 11.35pm.
Leicester-born Bhasin, who fronts the BBC’s Football League Show after five years as the BBC’s Football Focus presenter, will bring his own sporting expertise to the programme.

The show aims to provide a mix of discussion, opinion, interviews and match analysis.

Bhasin will be joined each week by different guests and pundits from the world of football to talk about the weekend’s biggest games.

Regular studio pundits will include Derby midfielder Robbie Savage, former West Bromwich Albion and Derby favourite Darren Moore, and former Leicester and England goalkeeper Tim Flowers.

Bhasin said: “I’m absolutely delighted to have been asked to present Late Kick Off.
“It’s always exciting to be part of something that is completely new and its good news for Football League fans who’ll get to see more of their local teams on television.”

Has the world gone mad, or is it me?
For madness all around I see
They’ve closed a home, where some old dears
Have lived for many happy years.
And can some person tell me pray,
Why they moved them on the snowiest day?
We can find high wages for a high powered twit,
But skimp on essentials, like sand & grit
Priorities they don’t seem to matter
The ‘Fat Cats’ – They get even fatter.
Uncaringly along they barge –
And the ‘Asylum Inmates’ seem to be in charge!!

Christine Coulton. Telford. Shropshire

January

Friday 15th TOPLINE ROADSHOW and KARAOKE
Saturday 16th THE NEWS (Live band)
Friday 22nd DJ & KARAOKE
23rd THE USUAL SUSPECTS (Live Band)
29th DJ & KARAOKE
30th TNT (Live Band)

February

Friday 5th DJ & KARAOKE
Saturday 6th E.T.A (Live Band)
Friday 12th DJ & KARAOKE
Saturday 13th COLDROOM (Live Band)
Friday 19th DJ & KARAOKE
Saturday 20th GUTTERSNIPE (Live Band)
Friday 26th DJ & KARAOKE
Saturday 27th THE HYPE (Live Band)

Best Regards
PAL

On November 14 I bought an ironing board from Asda at Donnington Wood. It was the first item to go through the check-out and I propped it against the counter while I attended to my other shopping.

It was not until late afternoon I realised I had left it at the store. It had been my husband’s funeral the previous day so I was not thinking clearly.
A very uninterested member of staff on the customer service desk told me nothing had been entered in the returns book and Asda could not be held responsible.

I returned to the store the next day and spoke to the duty manager who was a bit more understanding but her reply was “there are a lot of dishonest people around”.
I hope the person who stole my ironing board sleeps well at night but dishonest people have no conscience so have no problem sleeping.

Mrs Maureen Reynolds
Wrockwardine Wood
Telford