Anthea Turner How I See It...

HELLO,

This week is my 101st column for My Weekly – the per fect opportunity to celebrate one of my favourite TV Shows Room 101, in which celebrities banish their pet hates to Room 101. This mythical room was where the character Winston Smith was tortured in George Orwell’s 1984. Why 101? It was the number on the door where, as a BBC journalist, Mr Orwell (real name Eric Blair) used to sit through tedious meetings.

I bet you have your list, but here’s a little dip into mine…

I’m going to kick off with polystyrene cups. I’ve never had a cup of tea out of one that tastes right and to add insult to injury they’re an environmental disaster. The UK gets through 2.5 billion coffee cups a year and only 10% of polystyrene ones are recyclable. The good news is that single use plastic is set to be largely banned from April 2023.

DOG POO BAG FAIRY!

I just know if you have a dog, you’ll be with me on this one. Why do people pick up their dog’s poo then hang the bag on a tree or leave it on the ground? Which part of their brain thinks this is acceptable? Do they think a poo fairy arrives at night to collect their offerings? No one is ever that far from a bin.

BANK TECH Banks are going into my Room 101 – you can’t find them and when you do, they’re full of machines. In my local branch, there’s a collection of assistants who think they’re in an Apple store, walking around with iPads, wearing strange 1980’s bomber jackets!

A lady in her 70s came in next to me and said,

“Excuse me, could I have £50 in £5 pound notes?” The lad in the bomber jacket said, “Sorry we don’t have any cash here, just machines – try the post office.”

And if I hear companies say, “We are experiencing a higher volume of calls than usual” one more time, I’m going to scream! No, you’re not, you’re just understaffed, inefficient and want to push me onto your website which doesn’t answer my question!

I have so many more I could fill the magazine, but let’s end on cheap thin toilet paper. What’s the point? We just use more!

I’ll stop now and wish you a lovely week thinking about your own room 101. Love, Anthea X