Whispering Smith Column published in the Littlehampton Gazette January 8th 2015

MANY of you have seen and even commented on the sad horse parked on the grass verge along the Yapton Road. Well, one morning just before Christmas, a reader contacted me to say the animal was lying down on the frosty windswept grass and asked me could I do anything about it? I tried, I rang the RSPCA and could only get a recorded message – much like the one you get from BT and we all know how that works out – a distant voice offering multiple choice  dialling alternatives. One of which led me to another recording telling me I should contact the local highways department. I rang WSCC and was told to contact the RSPCA. I explained my difficulty and they agreed to contact them for me. They rang back in a little while asking if I wanted to report a dead horse. I said, no, the animal  did have rather a long face but was very much alive. OK, they said and then advised that the RSPCA had no authority to deal with roadside tethered animals and just so long as it was being fed and watered they could not interfere. Credit to the West Sussex Highways they did try even though it seems they could do little about it other than to refer it again to the RSPCA who, together with their miserable answering machine, get no credit whatsoever. I mention this because the same reader telephoned me over the weekend to say the horse was no longer there and wondered if it was ok. I have no idea, have you?

IN pub, café, restaurant or almost anywhere that people gather the ubiquitous cell phone is perched on the table waiting for a call. On Hove station the other evening, out of 42 people waiting for the Littlehampton connection 34 for of them were engrossed in the little screen. What did people do before the iPhone? Maybe they actually talked to each other…

DENTIST last week, first filling in seven years and that the result of a greedly chewed Quality Street toffee. Boring procedure, laying in the chair staring at the ceiling wondering why, instead of having restful pictures on the walls where you cannot see them, they do not have such pictures on the ceiling where you could?