Browse Sections
Interactive
Popular Sections
Partly cloudyBarlow's brief
| 
Submit Comments
There’s no such thing as a quiet taxi ride for our Vic.
advertisement
Why I'm going to adopt a low-key approach in future ...
Vic Barlow30/ 4/2008
IT’S A strange thing laying your life bare week after week in a local newspaper.
It wasn’t so bad when it was confined to Macclesfield, but now the good people of Wilmslow read my column it’s taken on a whole new perspective.
Macclesfield folk tend to store every embarrassing incident and yell it out in Mill Street, usually followed by bouts of derisory laughter. "Still getting bashed by old ladies, Vic?" Ah…ha…ha. Oh, what fun.
They remember articles I’ve long forgotten, regurgitating them at the most inopportune moments.
" Oh, we did laugh when you carried those bags of dog muck around in the back of your car," is not what I long to hear in a crowded restaurant.
Macclesfield taxi drivers unload the moment I get in the cab. "You want to write about them road works on Park Lane, Vic."
"Yes I…"
"Unlicensed cabs, never hear you say anything about them."
"Well I …"
"What’s supposed to be happening with the town centre development?"
I can usually slip out at this point without any pause in the barrage of questions.
Wilmslow people always act as though I’m not there. "So, you are Mrs B? How nice to meet you and…how do you put up with him?" Not, Vic, mind you, or your husband, just "him".
I feel like a mangy crossbreed adopted from some rescue centre. They don’t exactly ask if I’m house-trained, but you get the general drift.
The genteel people of Alderley, on the other hand, DO act as if I am there, repeatedly sniffing while examining the underside of their shoes.
So, I’m going to keep my thoughts to myself in future. No more personal asides, no baring my soul or exposing myself to ridicule.
Must go now… I have to bathe the pig.
The views expressed on this page are Vic Barlow's and not necessarily those of the Express
Most recent 2 of 5 user comments
Do you think you have to agree with Vic to comment on his piece? Aren't comments likely to divide between 'agree' and 'disagree' - isn't that the way the world moves on?
SC was making, quite wittily, a valid comment - that is, that we've read this piece of Vic's a lot of times before: he even refers to some of his previous comments.
What's wrong with that?
6/05/2008 at 16:42
Got an opinion you want to share?Should GPs have to undergo an annual test of competence?
| Card | BT Fee |
| Capital One BT Platinum Card | 3.0% |
| Virgin Credit Card | 2.98% |
| Barclaycard Platinum 'As on TV' | 2.9% |
| Capital One Platinum | 3.0% |
| Barclaycard OnePulse For London | 2.9% |
| Company | Typical APR |
| FirstPlus Exclusive Rate | 6.6% |
| Moneyback Bank | 7.6% |
| Alliance & Leicester | 7.7% |
| Halifax (Semi-exclusive) | 7.7% |
| Bank of Scotland (Semi-exclusive) | 7.7% |
| Barclaycard Personal Loan | 7.8% |
| Barclays | 8.9% |
| Provider | AER* |
|
CAHOOT 12 Month Fixed Rate Bond (Issue 1) |
7.01% |
|
ICICI BANK HiSAVE Term Deposit |
7.00% |
|
ICESAVE 6 Month Fixed Rate Savings Account |
6.86% |
|
ICICI BANK HiSAVE Term Deposit |
6.70% |
BirdBrain of Britain that is.
7/05/2008 at 04:38