Reading Roars!

Reading Borough Council and Chronicle Extra are leading a campaign to tackle Reading’s graffiti problem. Over the next 6 months, the worst affected areas will be cleaned up, according to Cllr Steve Waite.

Reading Chronicle editor Simon Jones comments on his blog:

…I guess it is an interesting debating point: where do you draw the line between graffiti being considered ‘art’ and graffiti being considered a blight on communities? I know my views on the subject, but I would be interested to hear yours.

I’m not too bothered about graffiti, though I dislike the mindless variety, such as swear words, misspelt or otherwise, and genitalia (our neolithic ancestors were also fond of phallic symbols, so maybe it’s a hereditary thing).

There are bigger problems than naughty ink to deal with - like our ridiculous congestion (traffic just gets worse and worse) and drink-induced yob behaviour. Graffiti can be exciting - and not just in an artistic sense (colourful images really do brighten an otherwise dull building).

I remember when I was a student in Madrid, several years back, and I spotted a youth defacing a wall on a fairly busy high street late one evening. I stood and watched while he sprayed what turned out to be the anarchy symbol - a circle containing the capital letter “A”. Was I repulsed? No, absolutely not. Here was someone young and politically motivated, demonstrating what he stood for. The act, while technically wrong, was more admirable than the disgusting, brainless behaviour you sometimes see of someone (no matter the sex) spewing in a gutter after one too many Stellas.

There were many other examples of political graffiti in Madrid (such as ETA no! and anti-Aznar slogans). It certainly wasn’t art but, in my opinion, tolerable.

Finally, two examples of great graffiti in Reading: round the back at The Hobgoblin (perfect for dry conversations) and the exterior wall of The Turks.

In an earlier post, I welcomed Reading’s Station Hill development, but added that we needed to increase cultural efforts to strengthen Reading’s recognition on the international stage.

And, appropriately enough, we may get just that - with a new stage of a different sort. According to The Stage (that word again), if the Station Hill project goes ahead, the development would include a 200-seat theatre for professional and amateur productions, film and comedy.

Developers Sackville Properties said that the theatre would not compete with The Hexagon (which will probably be replaced, anyway, by something bigger, powered by Thames river water) and South Street Arts Centre.

So the art of Reading beats on (though I’d still like to see a WOMAD replacement).

I was biting into a steak at an Italian restaurant (Bella Napoli) in central Swansea last night, when a bizarre thought entered my mind. I suddenly saw resemblances between the restaurant layout and the structure of this blog.

The restaurant bar was on my right, manned by a chirpy Rossoneri-supporting Italian with a penchant for The Sun’s Dear Deirdre. Bar… sidebar. Sitting atop the bar were the menus, and the bartender was ready to guide and answer any query I had (like the search box).

Similarly, ahead of me, running left to right, was the high street, like the header graphic on my blog. The kitchen behind me was like the blog footer and the important bit in between, the dining area, was like the column you are looking at right now, where the content is displayed.

Now and again, the restaurant received a visitor or two, but thankfully no spiders (yes, I’m a wuss: I don’t like arachnids).

Has anyone experienced anything similar? Or was my large San Jovese wine, quite simply, too large?

Overheard on the Thames Valley Park bus this week: “Seattle is a little like Reading.” 

I’ve not been to Seattle before.  Apart from grey weather, Microsoft campuses, other technology companies and perhaps, even, the Starbucks influence (the coffee corporation is headquartered in Seattle and has opened several outlets in Reading), what do the two places have in common? 

Any ideas?

Congrats to the Reading Chronicle and Evening Post for, according to Simon Jones’ Reading Chronicle Blog, they have been nominated in the 2007 Newspaper Awards.

The Reading Chronicle has been nominated in the Fujifilm Grand Prix Award category for its Polish language edition, a brilliant initiative. The award will be given to the title that has made the “most signficant contribution to future newspaper success”.

The Evening Post is nominated for the Goss International Premier Award, given to Regional Newspaper of the Year.

Both are top-quality newspapers. Fingers crossed.

The Thames Valley Park bus service is in danger of becoming a joke.

Around 6pm this evening, I joined an already large queue at Microsoft Campus bus stop to catch the TVP bus into Reading town centre.  Cars sped past, but no bus appeared and the queue continued to lengthen.  Although it wasn’t raining (or snowing!) - the sky was beautifully clear - the air felt very, very cold.  Bitterly cold.

And we waited and waited.  Still no bus.  Unfortunately my phone battery was dead, so I wasn’t able to amuse myself with a little game (if “amuse” is the right word) of mobile snooker, and my iPod music collection was on the stale side.

A group detached itself from the queue and returned to reception to call for a taxi.

And still we waited.

Eventually the familiar outline of the bus appeared ahead (after at least 20 minutes of waiting).  The vehicle stopped at BG, disappeared momentarily and re-appeared at the Microsoft entrance.

Then a few mutterings from the queue.  “It’s rammed,” said one.  It certainly looked full from where I was standing.

The security gate opened, the bus passed through and stopped before reaching us, letting several passengers out.  Belt loosened, the bus continued its journey, approaching our stop.

And then a strange thing happened.  The bus stopped again - at the tail of the queue.  The driver then very unfairly began admitting people from the end, not head, of the queue!  This prompted a rush of people from the “correct” end and an angry outburst was made by one guy, whose reasoning was ignored by the lady behind the wheel.

Luckily, I got a foot on the bus.  It was wrong of me to do this - others were before me - but the driver had made a mockery of the queueing system and I grasped the opportunity. 

Now, what next?  I’d expect someone to complain.  Loudly.  The TVP bus service appears to be letting many people down, for whatever reason.  I recognise that it’s a free service for people travelling between the business park and Reading, but the quality of the service seems to have worsened over a 12 month period and something should be done about it.  Perhaps it’s time to charge passengers to use the bus.  

My council tax has gone up again, as expected.  Thames Valley Police Authority accounts for the biggest increase (again), so I was interested to read the Police Authority’s Finances 2007/08 document sent by the Council.  The leaflet stated:

As a result of extensive analysis, and taking into account internal and external factors, we have decided that our operational priorities for 2007/08 will be to

(drum roll)

Reduce crime and increase the number of offences brought to justice, particularly in relation to house burglaries and domestic violence

So the Police Authority’s top priority is to cut crime?  The startling revelations continue:

• Improve safety and reassurance in your neighbourhood…
• Reduce the harm caused to communities by class A drugs…
• Identify and manage the threat posed by organise crime gangs and dangerous individuals…

The final priority was interesting: reduce the threat of, and our vulnerability to, terrorism.  Does terrorism really constitute a major threat?

The content of the leaflet is, however, in plain English, which is great to see.   There is so much bull spewed by public and private institutions these days, it’s astonishing.  This communication is crystal clear.

Returning to the subject of ‘cool’, I have to mention London St’s Global Cafe again, an island of cool in a sea of sameness.

I was there on a Thursday night recently and the music drifting from the speakers was captivating.  I was told that the artists were Anoushka Shankar, daughter of Ravi;  Goran Bregović, a guitarist from Sarajevo; and Esma Redžepova, a Roma singer and songwriter.  Is there anyone reading who can share this music with me?

I suspected that a standard class rail ticket for an early morning journey from Reading to Swansea (and back on Friday evening) was not going to be cheap. But £153?! The figure floored me. Even the lad serving me behind the bullet-proof glass at Reading Station had a chuckle.

Put it this way: I paid less to fly to Istanbul (on the edge of Europe) and back last November. At a little more than double the price, I paid for a return ticket to Bangkok, covering a total distance of some 12,000 miles.

Frankly, £153 to go to Wales and back (with no complimentary newspaper or packet of peanuts) is shocking. Despicable. How much would a peak-time rail journey to Inverness cost? How much to go by first class?

I chose to travel in the evening instead, paying a more sensible £57.

Numerous media commentators have recently said that London is the new capital of the world, replacing New York. Now that may or may not be true. Certainly the UN, whose headquarters are based in the Big Apple, isn’t what it used to be, and London is said to be the centre of the financial and business world. However, public transport in the capital is still shockingly bad, prices are ridiculously high and its pubs still close early.

Anyway, world capital status is an opinion, after all, and I doubt that many people will care all that much anyway, apart from proud New Yorkers (and possibly Parisians).

Now, n miles west of London is a prosperous town we all know and love: Reading. If our humongous neighbour to our right is now capital of the world, indeed “coolest city on earth” as James Harding today put it in The Times, what does that make little Reading? Surely there must be repurcussions of some sort?

Reading has unquestionably become more cosmopolitan in recent years, with a more diversified population, and cosmopolitanism is cool. The London effect can be seen on the high street, too, with the arrival of Starbucks, Caffe Nero and Wagamama (still no Borders, however), and there are bigger businesses in the town, spread around the M4 umbilical cord. But overall I would say that while there has been a rippling effect, London still feels very different (where is our street theatre, or our sushi bar with conveyor belt?).

London seems more, I’d argue, like a city state, unlike anywhere else in the UK, with its arms crossed.

In my opinion, while Reading should benefit from London’s economic success, the town must not lead a parasitic existence. We have a great opportunity to forge our own identity - as a regional capital. Reading must assert itself as capital of the Thames Valley and capital of the South East (London aside). Let’s have a flourishing arts scene, another world-class music festival, a WiFi network that we can use for free all over the town centre. Let’s use our rivers more.

We can make Reading cool too.