Another Gripe

Hi everyone well as everything in January is very quiet, no money after Christmas, To cold to do any outside work, or painting. So my though to turn to Administration and getting everything in order for the coming season.

A gleam of hope came across my face last week when I realised I could get rid of my ISA’s which of course for years have accumulated me Bugger All in interest yes I could rid of them for good. I decided to invest the money in the new 65+ Bonds 4% apr  wow!  I’ll have some of that I said and started up the lap top the valves in mine take some warming up and a connection with the rest of the world when you are in a 60ft metal tube is somewhat difficult however difficult or not it was better than my first attempt at contacting the NA&I which was by phone realising that it would cost a fortune per min 0500 number and the young lady said I was in a 20 min queue. After an hour of being interrogated by a computer  programmed that had be designed to give anyone over the age of 65 a heart attack ( remember you can only get these bonds if you are over 65) I answered every question it asked me But! my size of underpants I thought why. Anyway you get my drift some questions are just completely irrelevant and some when you are over 65 you just cannot remember.

On completion of the form this same program thought now I will have him and asked for my money. Now I am not a tight person really but giving a machine a not so small a sum of money in my mind was like going to the Dentist Though not as painful as the next three days, having seen on line the money leave my account and not having as much as a receipt from NS&I you can imagine how tight my bum was getting? Not to worry four  days later I have notification by letter of my receipt so at least I had sent it to the right people.

Now it all started again with a nice big A5 envelope full of shi==te  it contained papers with all the questions I had previously answered on line but of course that wouldn’t be good enough do it all over again but this time in print and black pen only. WHY they already have that information WHY do they need it twice. After an hour I realised I was done, according to the leaflet only one more task lay ahead and that was to get it verified

Now I realise that this is to prevent money laundering and in such a world as it is today then that is sensible. This is where my big gripe starts to get my Identity and Address verified you have to provide a number of documents just like applying for a pass port, now that is all fair and just I have no problem with that. MY problem is the verification and the list of people that can verify your address and Identity. Just listen to these: Actuary, Notary Public (those two I got the dictionary out for), Teacher, Serving Police officer, Local Chemist, Doctor,  Dentist Bank official, member of the Judiciary and a host of other so called professional people. Now I know that 99% of our Police, Teachers, Doctors, Dentists, solicitors, and the rest are honest and upright citizens of our land. But lets face it we do have our ban ens. My point is this what makes them better than you who have known me for 30, 40, 50, 67 years? We live in one of the most big brother societies in the world anything bad about your Character is on file and easy to verify. Would it not be better to judge my character, address and Identity by the friends I hold dear and able to call on. In my case I know Teachers, Doctors, Dentists, EVEN a Teacher with an MBE but those cannot be called upon because they are relatives so what’s the Bloody Point

I believe that this system is a throw back to the Victorian era and subjugation of the Working class’s and the apprehension that to have a Profession you can be trusted? Yeh right?, Let me here remind you of the amount of corrupt Bankers, Politicians, Doctors What makes that lot more trustworthy than you.

That my friends are what I am fighting the forthcoming revolution on

NOW  I need to get out and start doing something whilst I still have some friends left

But on the Blog I intend to have one gripe a month I will always try to make them as amusing as I can. I will always mark the heading Another Gripe that way you can just delete.

God Bless All

Big Al