Saturday, 14 February 2009

Observations On City Life

It has to be 13 years since I last worked in the centre of Local
Big City and while some things are unchanged there are a fair few
noticeable differences to be observed while feeding my nicotine habit

  • The numbers of police on the streets appears to have
    increased dramatically – hang on, they are not “real
    police”* - they are PCSOs; a “great” government
    invention to allay public fears on crime by putting more bodies on
    the street to create the illusion of greater police numbers.

  • Every second person now seems to be talking on their mobile
    phone while walking around, I am amazed that I do not see more
    pedestrian collisions on a daily basis.

  • If not on a phone then a large number of them have an mp3
    player plugged into their ears.

  • People talking in foreign languages (Eastern European,
    African, Far Eastern, Middle Eastern etc) to others or on phones are
    much more prevalent than before – nowhere close to being a
    sizeable proportion, just more than I remember overhearing in the
    past.

  • There are greater numbers of mobility/disability buggies
    roaming the streets – are more people disabled now than 12
    years ago?

  • Greater use is being made of the city bus services, on some
    stretches of narrow pavements walking past a bus stop is now a major
    obstacle course.

  • Urban cyclists are a law unto themselves and I have witnessed
    several near misses with pedestrians in the last few weeks.

  • A number of banks have closed premises and nearly every one
    has been turned into a bar/pub.

  • Smokers are now no longer allowed to indulge their habit
    indoors and can be seen huddling together for warmth outside almost
    every office/pub/shop – looking a wee bit like emperor
    penguins.

    * As used on The Wire
  • 3 comments:

    Michael said...

    That's real police as in real poh-lice then?
    Give it another few years and those pubs'll have changed into Poundlands.

    Sezme said...

    A lot of the same "changes" have happened around here, too.

    The police of whom you speak...are they more of a civilian force that can observe crime but not really do a whole lot about it? (Just wondering.)

    There is a bowling alley that I drive by every morning. It has a tent set up outside to accommodate smokers, to help them brave the elements. Makes me glad I quit. (There are days where I'd really like one, though.)

    DBA Dude said...

    Michael, The way retail is heading over here they will soon be the only ones left!

    rt, They are indeed civilian support workers who do not have the power of arrest - from a distance their uniform looks just like that of a regular police officer. Bit of a con really.