Is there something in the water?

By John Freeman on September 17, 2004

So let me see if I have this right…

— In the past few weeks in Lancaster, almost every councillor (except the Greens and some Skerton reps) have voted in support of a bypass route they’ve all consistently rejected in the past…

— Rather than spend money on toilets in Morecambe and Lancaster the latest idea sure to benefit public hygiene is to close them for all but limited times, so don’t drink too much while you’re out enjoying yourself (although pissing in back alleys, bus station walls and shop doorways are of course acceptable alternatives). It’s also OK to sell off toilets — Lancaster’s Brock Street toilets went for £58,000 or thereabouts – after redevelopment the property now must be worth almost triple that. Meanwhile in other countries, even impoverished Turkey, public toilets remain open some even with attendants to stop the vandalism that has necessitated closing them here. Rather than improve the loo situation the ‘Toilet Task Group’ has left us with stinking sheds in car parks well away from town centres where they might be some use…

— after protesting vociferously about the closure of local post offices (not that it did any good) the city council had no qualms about closing their offices in Ryelands where people from Halton and other outlying areas in North Lancaster were happily paying their council tax rather than add to the traffic numbers by driving to the town hall to pay there. Apparently this is due to some inter-department rivalry over budgets – a solution could have been found but it would have meant co-operation…

I was just wondering, when the “silly season” ended at the end of August, did anyone tell our Council?

John Freeman

The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.

He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.