No rewind button – but we could press ‘stop’

There are still some of us around who remember happier days with lots of visitors who would stay for two weeks at a time and enjoy what we had to offer. We had a cheap way of life. There were floor shows held at our hotels, hire cars everywhere – and lots more to offer other than museums and walks to tell groups about the island’s history. Lovely days before decimalisation ruined and cheated everyone into paying more for less. Days when we bought petrol by the gallon a lot cheaper than we now pay for just a litre. Days before we were over-populated and the island traffic was only at an evil level during the summer months because of the amount of hire cars on the roads and not as it is all the year round these days because of over-population. Days of the market and fresh food. Days when grocers sold groceries, garages sold cars, butchers sold meat – and so on.

Not like today where places like supermarkets, garages and garden centres, to mention a few, feel the need to sell everything they possibly can and take away another person’s living so they can make more money.

We also had plenty of housing and buildings were built big enough and affordable enough for locals starting out on the property ladder to buy. Sadly, these days as many as six to eight houses are built on an area of land where at one time one house would stand.

The majority built today have just the basics of a living room, kitchen, bathroom (with the toilet in it) and a bedroom, a small garden if one is lucky, but no utility room or storage space. We had fewer children attending more schools, meaning the teachers could give more time to the needy pupils who were a little slower to learn.

I suppose we must look at it realistically and say the damage has been done. There is no rewind button in real life, but there is a stop button.

So can someone who has the authority take on some common sense and stop taking us further away from becoming the best place to live by making it actually one of the worst. I am not talking about people who can afford to live on this rock. I am not trying to knock them either. We all wish we had enough not to moan and groan. I am talking about making decisions for the people with less money and no large bank account.

Another thing one cannot help but wonder is – if when the changes being made by the Housing on rent rebate (for States housing tenants on low incomes) comes into force – where, instead of a person paying the amount of money for the place they live in at the reduced rate and that’s end of story, they will have to pay the full rent, then claim the extra amount (the amount they would not have paid under the old system) back from the Social – will they be taxed on the amount returned as an income?

This again is another decision made where the States have wasted a lot of money to change a system where a little tweak would have done the job. So in this department – like the decision on schools – our politicians seem determined to travel in reverse.

Never mind.

Still 24 hours in a day. Well for now anyway. I wonder if anyone in the States has looked at changing that one. Only joking folks, before someone takes it seriously.

ROD HAMON,

5, Rosemount,

Mont Arrive,

St Peter Port,

GY1 2AF.