Things appear to have calmed down just a fraction since then and the Senator – now an elder statesman when compared with some of the others, and Chancellor of the Exchequer to boot – no longer seems to offer journalists and columnists the manna from heaven (and somewhat off the wall) quotes which he could once be relied upon to provide.
In short, like some wine and certain types of cheeses (and virtually all samples of calvados provided they are left in the barrel until the very last moment before being bottled), age seems to have removed some of the impetuosity and replaced it with a measure of maturity.
Right now, if decent enough odds could be obtained, it would be worth a tenner with Honest Nev or whoever his successor is that Senator Ozouf is reading this wondering what on earth it is all about and anxiously scanning the page looking for where and when the boot was about to go in.
To put him out of his misery, it’s still the season of goodwill in the Clement household (at least, insofar as he is concerned) and all I want to do is give the lad a verbal pat on the back for seeking to halt the abuse of one of our traditional languages by advocating dropping the ‘Le, La and Les’ used to start the names of roads in Jersey.
As someone who clings limpet-like to this small rock’s differences from its northern neighbour – the United Kingdom – and who abhors the galloping anglicisation which has become a veritable plague, anything and anyone who seeks to cry ‘vive la difference’ in doing things the way we want them done will always get a bouquet from me.
He is absolutely correct to point out how ridiculous the inclusion of those little words is and rightly illustrates what he means by saying The David Place is plain stupid, or words to that effect.
While on the subject of that neck of the woods, one of the roads leading off David Place is what I have always understood to be Vauxhall but which is increasingly called Vauxhall Street, even by people who really ought to know better, Every time I see ‘street’ appended it grates, as does the outrageous ‘Sion Village’ at St John – the ‘village’ being added no doubt by someone whose Jersey roots are probably half an inch deep and no more.
All that said, and before universal condemnation is heaped upon the 12 parishes and their Constables, may I point out that the day after Senator Ozouf made his excellent point, Herself happened to notice that those road names in the Parish of St Martin where the French language is used are written correctly. There may be other instances elsewhere in the Island but in the meantime full marks to the St Martin Constable and Roads Committee which however many years ago did it all properly.
THE graphic pictures taken by a JEP reader of someone getting swept off his feet by the high tide at Bel Val Cove slip during last week’s storms serve only to re-enforce the point I sought to make last week about people’s stupidity and their apparent need to be told in letters two feet high when something is dangerous.
Years ago the warning from Jersey Coastguard (which used to be called the Harbour Office before galloping anglicisation sent that perfectly adequate term down the plughole) to stay away from the shoreline in stormy weather would have been laughed at, with most people pointing out that this was simply stating the obvious. Now it seems that a section of the public actually rely on such warnings to keep them out of danger.
That’s an awful responsibility for government departments and agencies that already have enough to do without looking out for idiots. In some places, stupidity which necessitates calling out emergency services is sometimes followed by a handsome bill. Perhaps we too should be considering that.
I KNOW I shouldn’t laugh but it seems that every time that lot in the Big House and their hired help decide to either simply matters or speed them up – invariably with the declared intention of making life easier, quicker and cheaper for the rest of us – someone lobs a well aimed spanner right into the centre of the works.
By all accounts, a new website intended to make submitting manpower returns easier for businesses ran out of steam after about 20 minutes because it didn’t have enough of its own power to deal with the demand. Their message to customers was that they were working with Jersey Telecoms to ‘increase our bandwidth and expect a resolution shortly’.
I laughed about it because it reminded of the very frequent occurrence in supermarkets when you finally arrive at the bleeper which logs your purchases and their prices but the woman in front (it’s invariably a woman) appears to be taken by surprise when told how much her purchases were.
There then follows the veritable pantomime of her rummaging around in various pockets, bags and other sundry orifices looking for cash, chequebook, debit or credit cards and, if she decides to pay in cash, then spending 20 minutes looking for 3p in coins so that the cashier can give her £1.60 in change instead of the mightily cumbersome £1.57.
It seems that that Population Office – another department spawned spontaneously from the bowels of the earth, because I’d never heard of it before – was caught on the hop in much the same fashion. Wouldn’t life be easier if women has cash or cards ready and States departments knew how to anticipate demand?
And finally,
I wonder if management bonuses at Jersey Telecom will be adversely affected by their ‘simplified billing’ cock-up?
