When your greatest pleasure is a cuppa and a cake!
I WAS amused by Quentin Letts’s list of 50 ways you know that you’re over the age of 50 (Mail). Here are a few more that I’ve experienced: When people use wireless to mean wi-fi, but you still use it to mean a radio. When you listen to gardening programmes on the wireless. When you shout at people on the TV who say ‘haitch’ instead of ‘aitch’. When you look for the CD player in your new car only to be told by the of driving. So, why has a single bus got priority over 99 per cent of other road users? The flow of traffic is restricted and the bus lanes are often empty. What would happen if everyone used the bus lanes and refused to pay the fines? They can’t put us all in jail! P. WILSON, Hull, E. Yorks. IT IS wrong to claim that cyclists do not contribute to our roads (Letters).
Local roads are paid for out of the council tax to which all householders contribute. Only motorways are financed by the Government — and cyclists can’t use them.
GEORGE RYDER, Swansea.
Beware cafe Mafia
THERE has been outrage that a cafe in St Mark’s Square in Venice charged £38 for water and two coffees (Mail).
Touring Italy recently, I was astounded by the number of occasions that our restaurant bill was hand-written on a scrap of paper. There was no proper receipt or an indication of the tax paid.
At a restaurant in Rome, I politely requested a fully itemised salesperson that in order to give you ‘improved connectivity’ the maker has taken it out. When you remember when the TV channels had continuity announcers in between programmes instead of talking over the credits of the programme you have just watched in order to squeeze in more commercials. When ordering something in a cafe, you remember when people said ‘May I have?’ instead of ‘Can I get?’ bill. This was refused and a stand-off occurred that only ended when tourists at nearby tables took our side.
In a cafe in Florence, we were served four small paper cups of coffee at a counter while we perched on stools. The price was clearly marked at the till as 1.50 euros per cup. But the waiter tried to charge 16 euros, claiming we had to pay for table service.
The argument was only settled when he was invited to accept the sum we offered or call the police.
This cafe was selling ice cream cones from a fridge outside with no prices displayed. Customers were surprised to be charged 10 euros a time. In Italy, I always check the small print at the bottom of the menu. Often ‘cover’ and ‘service’ will add 25 per cent to your bill. S. WARRILOW, Teignmouth, Devon.
Jobsworth PCs
ON THREE recent occasions, I have seen a policeman on foot. You won’t be so happy to hear they were all operating mobile speed cameras.
Why is it that when the police are criticised for not tackling shoplifting and burglaries, they still have the resources to target motorists for committing minor offences such as driving at 36 mph in a When TV commercials were limited to eight minutes in the hour instead of whatever the TV company thinks its viewers will put up with. When your greatest pleasure is a nice cup of tea and a slice of cake. When you have drunk the first mouthful of tea, you let out an: ‘Aah!’ When you look back fondly to a time when children had sensible names like, say, Trevor.
TREVOR BAILEY, Nottingham. 30mph area at a time of day when there is little traffic? It couldn’t be because such ‘crimes’ are easy to detect and prosecute, and we end up having to pay a fine.
Nicking motorists driving safely, but marginally above the limit, is cynical and unworthy of the police.
MERVYN CLARK, Crewkerne, Somerset.
Wrong cash priorities
CHILDREN are starving to death across Africa but we are sending rockets to the sun costing billions? Sorry, I just can’t take this as justifiable. BRENDA ROURKE, Giffnock,
Renfrewshire.