In praise of our vibrant city

THE other day, we took our grandchildren across the city to The Deep in Hull. We were thrilled to see the amount of development that has made such an improvement to our city. The Marina area is just amazing and my three-year-old grandson commented: “Wow, this is just great.”

We arrived at The Deep and had a really enjoyable time and we all learned new and exciting things.

When we left, we walked around the area and it felt so good to be part of this vibrant community with such dedication to development and improvement within it.

We hear such bad press about how Hull is bottom of the league or the most deprived city. Well, our family believe that the city council is certainly trying its best to create a very ambient and educational atmosphere within its city.

We feel that not enough praise is ever bestowed on the city planning department and its efforts to beat the budget cuts and recession to make this beleaguered city a good, clean and enjoyable place to spend time in.

Change will come...

From: Arthur Marson, Mountjoy Road, Huddersfield.

“WE must decide what kind of MPs we really need”, says Tom Richmond (Yorkshire Post, March 26). Every day, there are other columnists or letter writers stating that the current MPs do not meet their expectations.

How does one start to impress upon you that doing something about the present situation would be a worthwhile exercise?

Change will come, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Perplexed at parking

From: Mr SB Oliver, Churchill Grove, Heckmondwike.

As a motorist of more than 60 years, Norman Hazell (Yorkshire Post, March 24) admits to a knowledge of “everlasting problems” with parking around Headingley but then shows a lack of common sense and logic that his 60 years of motoring should have taught him.

He criticised the “parking hero” officer of probably watching him park in a permit-only zone before issuing the ticket, instead of “offering a word of advice to an octogenarian”. On his return, Mr Hazell saw the ticket and then checked around and saw the posted notice.

Had he done that before leaving his car, he would have been made aware of the problem. I am always puzzled why “victims” of parking offences make a more thorough check of the conditions after they get a ticket, instead of doing it first?

Collision of two societies

From: John Gordon, Whitcliffe Lane, Ripon.

Those of your readers who are worried about the Big Society should come to Ripon. We are worried about something much smaller, namely the Cabmen’s Shelter.

In Edwardian times when our cabs were drawn by horses, some kind philanthropist donated a shelter for the drivers to take cover from the rain (the horses were left outside).

Now that our taxi drivers are safely cocooned in their taxis, the shelter is no longer needed but it remains a part of Old Ripon and the Civic Society has managed to get it listed. The problem is the maintenance of this relic. Everybody says they like it and they think it attracts tourists but nobody wants to keep it sparkling.

It is frequently towed away for a month or two and given a coat of paint but there are Luddites who think it is sacrilegious even to mend it with Philips screws (anachronistic, you see). So the row goes on.

It’s not Big Society that worries us, but the Old Society.

Delisted from phone book

From: Terry Duncan, Greame Road, Bridlington.

I AM really mad, smoke is pouring out of my ears, because I have just called BT to find out why my telephone number has been removed from its latest local directory.

A gentleman politely told me that as my phone calls were billed by Virgin Media I could not be in the phone book.

However, I pointed out to the lovely man that I pay BT nearly £40 a quarter for line rental, so surely I should get an entry in BT’s directory.

He informed me that was not the way it worked.

So BT is isolating me from any friends I may have left, and denying them any chance of giving me a call.