Letters from Planet Wrinkly

Episode 13 - Digital Crisis

This month's whinge is about that great 21st century absurdity - IDENTITY checks. Or rather, the endless, relentless, utterly soul-destroying rituals required simply to prove that we are who we’ve always been. You know: Those Verification Codes/Online ID Checks/Facial Recognition software/Finger printing software/ and the new HMRC ONE TAX APP Brace yourselves, Wrinklies. It’s going to be bumpy.

Episode 12 - Motorway Madness

Have you ever been Stuck, Stuffed and Starving on the M5. If Dante were alive today, I swear, one of his circles of hell would be the stretch of the M5 between Junctions 28 and 30 which is permanently accident prone. Between selfish drivers, accidents, roadworks, the rubberneckers, and the ridiculous diversions, it’s a wonder any of us make it home alive, and could somebody please tell me what we’re actually paying Road Tax for???

Episode 11 - Self-checkout is not my job!!!

When did we become unpaid cashiers, ticket inspectors, baggage handlers and bathroom attendants? I never applied for any of these jobs. Did you? We're now doing everyone else's work without a contract, staff discounts, or holiday pay, yet here I am, scanning my own shopping like I’m training for a job at Lidl.  Who said going digital was quicker, easier and cheaper. You could have fooled me!!!

Episode 10 - No one asked me if I wanted to go digital!

Did you know that the Government has instructed British Telecom, through their off-shoot, OpenReach, to do away with landlines and replace them with digital fibre optic phone lines by the end of 2027. It's already started. Our roads are now blocked off throughout the land with OpenReach vans littering the highways and byways - how many Telecom engineers does it take to change a copper cable? and once you are connected you keep getting cut off because the signal is weak. If this is progress, then beam me up Scotty . . .

Episode 9 - People's Pets!!!

Pets or pests? Planet Wrinkly's heartfelt tribute to well-behaved dogs, traumatised cats, and the people who’ve turned them into emotional support nightmares! It may be the animals that are the problem, but it's their owners who need to be on a lead!