Friendly chat

Hello, I watched a very critical video regards the state of Coventry, focusing on what it describes as areas of deprivation, (crime, poverty litter & so on.......) on YouTube. It's easy to become depressed. I'm sure that most folk that post on our forum, have an attitude of self repair. Recalling times past. I do! The fact that we are posting comments means that we are being thoughtful. Having a positive state of mind. Even more I'm so grateful for the existence of our forum. Most of us recognise the problems associated with poor housing, but when we see photos like the one focusing on the Singer factory, the streets are clean. Look at old ground photos of Hillfields, one of the areas mentioned in the video, where furniture is discarded out into the streets. There's none of that in the old photos. There was a true sense of pride of living, in spite of the hardships. Folk cared & weren't afraid to use a broom. I had a Saturday job at Lillies grocery, in Primrose Hill St, delivered stuff to homes in & around that area. I loved it. Trying to analyse what's going on, reflecting on the posts of Pat & Mayjan, folk did things for themselves. Now, it's when are the council going to do something. Does a state of mind create slums? I don't think the video commentary uses the word slum, but that's what it means. I was very sad watching the video. I wonder? The Video

I think that there are a lot of things going on. People are now generally less law abiding and happier to offend/annoy others. There are fewer people around to enforce the rules and fewer punishments. Street cleaning is hard with all the cars, even if the council could afford it. People are wealthier, so have more stuff to dump and can afford new rather than repair. Those who don't own property have few reasons to maintain it. Most people have fewer skills to look after their patch and rely on professionals to fix things. Professionals are scarce and expensive. The buildings are aging, which encourages people to treat them as low standard. Looking at the different ages shows both worse and better. The Board of Health maps show most newer properties had nicely laid out gardens for veg and flowers, however even by that date the gardens were being removed. eg The first block of housing on Wellington Street had done away with the gardens of 3 properties on King William Street. Bit by bit the gardens became housing or yards with bare ground and storage sheds. They weren't obviously littered but they were grim. Front gardens fell to road widening or hard standing. The war saw blocks destroyed and often replaced by businesses, making suburbia into industrial estates. A similar process had happened to the ancient properties in the centre. First a proliferation of poor houses over gardens and then blocks demolished and replaced by factories. In those days the mess/dirt was even worse than it is now with all sorts of unpleasant activities including butchery and rendering. By the time photography came along there wasn't much pretty about city centre streets. The city has had waves of enthusiasm to clean up, improve housing and for a while people respond and treat their area better. Two of the most common misdemeanours in the Constable Presentments in the 1700s were 'muck' and 'bad pavement', where householders were required to clean and repair the stretch of road in front of their property. So the more it changes, the more it stays the same.

Hello, Horse muck comes to mind. Underneath the back of Kings green grocery horse drawn cart that came to Sewall Highway on Fridays, I learnt was for what the horse did. "What's the buckets for, Mum?" .

Hello, Please enjoy a safe & happy day. There was a time when Sundays were as much of a rat race (Chapel rat race, I tell it as it was), as any other working day, to a day that I now look forward to. No Pam dinner anymore, but I relish what I once had. Watch out for heavy showers, today & tomorrow. Love to you all.

Philip, without sounding too flippant, my prayers have been answered. We are having gentle showers at the moment and about time too. I think we deserve it down here for a change.

Last year I had access to the British Newspapers Online but it was only a one year subscription gift and I let it lapse after Christmas and waited for an offer. Just got a 25% off code and I'm back in business!

I was born in Coventry, grew up in Hillfields and after watching that video I can't believe how bad the trash and drug usage is around the city. In the 50s we used to have the Rag and Bone man go around the areas around town and they would take anything you wanted to get rid of, they used to go up and down the streets yelling rag and bone, rag and bone! Also I lived on King Edward Rd and all the locals used to dump their unwanted furniture and anything else that would burn on the bombed building site opposite the post office. When Nov 5th came around the pile that had been collected would be set on fire with an effigy of Guy Fawkes on top. Obviously it was a different world back then but the question is, why is there an epidemic of trash? Is the collection system in Coventry broken or is the moral fibre of the people broken?

Hello Dave, I don't think it matters where we are, what you call the "Moral Fibre", is patchy wherever we go. Headlines this morning concerning a murder in Bournemouth: "Bournemouth stabbing: Police issue CCTV image of beach murder suspect". A decade ago, I was on holiday in Torquay with a Coventry chum. One morning, we were going for a stroll before breakfast, where along the sea front every shelter had been vandalised, including the bus shelters. Once, holiday destinations that were enjoyed by thousands, have become home to those who have no work or do no work. East coast resorts were possibly the first to become such ghettos. It's everywhere now. In local news, police have issued a photo of a bloke, wanted for pouring urine inside buses in Coventry.

It's certainly broken in Warwickshire. WDC (Warwick District flaming Council) now only collect the bins once every 3 weeks! It needs to be collected once every week. Bins are overflowing everywhere, with much of the rubbish bags on the floor at bin enclosures, attracting vermin. The people who make these decisions are criminally negligent. After all, they still want full council tax paying on time

Cherwell empty trash v recyclables on a two week cycle and kitchen waste weekly. The service is efficient and I have no complaints. Whenever I walk past a piece of litter I recall the booming voice of Mr Ison, Headmaster of Stoke Primary school, saying "Pick it up!" When you replied "It's not mine sir" he would say, "That doesn't matter, do you want to live in squalor?" I think we must begin to accept: the consequences of the de-industrialisation making the country poorer; the break-up of communities and formation of ghettos through multiculturalism; and families through non-committal to marriage. We expect the local council to have provisions for homelessness, the disabled, special-needs children's education etc. the list can go on-and-on. When resources can not meet demand something has to give. Perhaps it's up to us as individuals to try and ensure we do not degenerate into squalor and not always blame the politicians. When my eldest son (a chemistry professor), sees me picking up other people's rubbish he admonishes saying: "Dad, you will pick up some Novichok one day!" - Where's my HazMat suit?

We take a walk around our neighbourhood and sometimes we take a bag and a grabber. It's not much but it takes no time to pick up trash on the way round. It makes us feel useful to help the sidewalk and grass verges tidier.

An irksome question - If ladies are called 'birds' what are men called ?

Galahs? See, I speak Australian but with a terrible accent.

Oh, billabong! It's SATURDAY! Or for our friends down under its well on its way to being Sunday.

Usually anything the "birds" want !!!!