Upon my Soul

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Warwickshire County Council offers a service allowing “older people” to bring in their old slippers and replace them with a pair, which it claims can cut the risk of falling over.

For a fee of £5, participants receive a fitting session, a new pair of the Velcro fastening slippers, and advice on how to don them and avoid accidents around the home.

It has also been disclosed that the firm which makes the special slippers charges local authorities £3 a pair – £2 less than the council charges.

Matthew Elliott, Chief Executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: “It is astonishing that while the council claim they have your best interests at heart by providing these slippers, they then fleece you for more than the manufacturer is charging.”

I have no problem in trying to reduce accidents, but to make a profit from the sale shows the council has no ‘soul’!

I wonder if the new slippers are marked 'left' and 'right' - just so they know which slipper goes where!

What do you think of my new slippers?

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Another little tale, again in Warwickshire.

The local Police Community Support Officers in Solihull were handing out clip on bells for the old folk in the summer. The idea was that the bell was attached to the purse or handbag and any movement was rewarded with a crisp tingling noise.

The local supermarket, reported that on Thursdays, (when the pensioners were paid) it sounded like an invasion of Morris dancers.

The idea was that if they got mugged the bell would ring as the suspect made of with the purse! Of course the mugger would have to be thick to realise the bell could be removed by unclasping the bell clip.

And now for a song.......

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This song was written by the black American, James Bland. James was born in 1854, attended High school in Washington and then went on to Howard University to study law.

As a light relief from his studies, he took to learning the banjo and earned a little pocket money from his performances.

He enjoyed music so much that he gave up his studies and joined a troupe of ’black faced’ minstrels. Ludicrous as it now seems, it was required for black people to assume make up when they appeared in minstrel shows.

He wrote at least 600 songs for himself and other minstrel performers, some of whom published his work as their own.

In 1881 he left America for Europe where he remained until 1900. By then, the vogue for Minstrel Shows was over and he died penniless in 1911.

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