82-year-old granny Pauline Bridge gets up at 5am daily to deliver newspapers on her bicycle; she’s quite the contrast to bicycling pensioner and funeral crasher Theresa Doyle
In September 2017, we featured a pitiful pensioner exposed for bicycling to funerals and their subsequent wakes with Tupperware boxes to raid buffet tables. At the time, Theresa Doyle’s atrocious antics were quite rightly slammed as “shameless,” but today we can share the story of an all-together better granny on a bike.
Lauded as “Super Gran” in The Sun this morning, grandma of six Pauline Bridge gets up at 5am six days per week to deliver newspapers on her bicycle.
Pauline Bridge, 82, took over the round, which encompasses 32 houses in Southampton, Hampshire from her grandchildren ten years ago and reckons to have covered around 5,000 miles on her 40-year-old bicycle.
Cheerfully, of why she does it, this spirited lady stated she aims to carry on until she turns 90 and remarked:
“I love it and I find it keeps me fit. I start at half six and it’s about a mile and a half. I deliver to 32 houses. I cycle every day, I always cycle.”
Of her, one of her granddaughters, Megan, 17, added:
“She gets up so early every day, Monday to Saturday without fail, in all weather conditions.”
“We can’t believe what she is still achieving and she puts us youngsters to shame. She is an amazing mum and grandma – and we are all very proud of her.”
In 2017, we featured the story of another bicycling pensioner, Theresa Doyle (AKA ‘The Grim Eater’ and ‘The Phantom Mourner’). Whilst 82-year-old pensioner Pauline Bridge cycles daily to deliver newspapers, Doyle, at the time 65, was exposed for bicycling to funerals of people she didn’t know to raid the buffets at the wakes that followed six-times-per week. Of her, Margaret Whitehead of Wargrave, Berkshire told ‘The Sun’: “She got my son Kevin to give her a lift from the church to the Irish Centre for the wake [for her deceased 42-year-old daughter, Catherine]. There were a lot of people at the funeral from Catherine’s work so I just assumed she was a colleague. When I spoke to her though she told me she used to work with Catherine as a waitress. My daughter never worked as a waitress. She was eating from the buffet like there was no tomorrow.”
Sadly, with the news moving online and print paper sales hugely down, the number of paperboys and papergirls in Britain is fast coming towards its end. Pauline Bridge claims she intends to carry on as a ‘papergran’ for at least another eight years, but will her services actually still be required?
As Britain likely moves into further lockdowns, drug dealers are changing the way they operate and communicate; they now bizarrely demand customers ask: “Is now a good time?”
IS NOW A GOOD TIME? – In June, Misha Glenny – the author of McMafia and a fellow at the Berggruen Institute – penned a fascinating article for the Guardian about how organised crime has had to adapt due to coronavirus lockdown restrictions.
Glenny highlighted how it was “too risky for [drug] dealers to move around” in cities like London and how prices had risen as a result. He rather over generously suggested “criminals are humans too” and were “abiding by the rules [of lockdown],” but also pointed out that the growth in online crime had been accelerated by COVID-19.
In a series of WhatsApp messages seen recently by The Steeple Times between a reader who works in the financial services sector and a London based drug peddler, the way in which such people have changed the way they communicate with their “customers” was fascinatingly illustrated.
We share said criminal’s messages below and highlight how he now uses that devoid of utterly anything phrase “reaching out” to communicate with his customers via all means other than Sim phone calls and SMS messages. He begins:
I hope this message finds you well. Just reaching out to inform you that I have changed my number from (old number: +44XXXXXXXXX) to (new number: +44XXXXXXXXXXX). Please save new number as old one will soon be inactive. Please make contact on WhatsApp/Telegram/Signal only (no Sim phone calls or SMS messages please). And as always, when referring my services to friends/colleagues/family, please call/message me in advance to inform me that you have done or intend to do so. Please also kindly forward me their contact details. Apologies if you have already received this message from my previous broadcast. Thanks.
In a further message, said individual laid his “is now a good time?” message on thick and continued:
Thank you for using my service and thank you for your valued custom. Moving forward I want to lay out my terms and conditions. In order for you to receive the best service and customer care it is advisable that you abide by them. They are as follows:
I will be your main point of contact for any disputes/feedback.
When contacting me please remember to use WhatsApp only (unless I advise otherwise).
Please message only and don’t call unless I ask you to you to (very important).
The first message you send should always be “is now a good time?”
Don’t engage in further contact until you have had a response to the first message. This is for your safety.
If I am unavailable you will receive a message with clear instructions to follow. Please follow them.
I won’t allways [sic] be available to meet you in person, and in this event you will be allocated an alternative driver. However I cannot guarantee you will be allocated the same driver every occasion I am unavailable.
You will be able to request a particular driver if they are available.
Contact the driver through WhatsApp only, with the first message being “is now a good time?”
All drivers carry the same stock.
All of my products have a distinctive packaging/branding.
If product presentation/quality is not up to standard it means that it has probably been tampered with and in which case you should report back to me immediately.
Allways [sic] make your order clear to the driver and have cash ready before they depart.
When referring my services to friends/colleagues/family, please message me in advance to inform me that you have done or intend to do so. Please also kindly forward me their contact details. And remember to tell them to use WhatsApp only using the phrase “is now a good time?”
And last but not least, always treat the driver with the same respect you would expect to have reciprocated.
Once again thank you for your business and I look forward to hearing from you in the future.
Our typically middle class reader – someone astonishingly typical of the majority using cocaine in Britain and a member of a social group where abuse of this substance is more common than alcoholism – sensibly wrote back: “Now is NOT a good time” and ended the dialogue. Sadly, many others will act to the contrary and that’s what will keep this vile piece of toerag in business now and “allways” [sic].
Misha Glenny’s 2008 non-fiction book ‘McMafia: A Journey Through the Global Criminal Underworld’ inspired the brilliant eight-chapter, 2018 BBC One series of the same name. A second eight-chapter series is due to be aired in due course.
Vast Edwardian mansion with basketball court in the roof in Illinois for sale at half price it listed for in 2016; it’s on for just £20 per square foot
A 7,072 square foot Dutch colonial mansion set on a plot of 1.38 acres in Watseka, Illinois that appears to be in surprisingly good condition has had its priced halved from £281,000 to £141,000.
Built in 1912, this Edwardian “turn of the century” four-storey house has 3 reception rooms, an “enormous” kitchen, 5 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, but what sets it apart is a huge former ballroom on the top floor that is currently used as a basketball court.
A half price mansion with a full size basketball court – 514 South 5th Street, Watseka, Illinois may be on sale for half price and offered as “sold as is,” but it does include some vast spaces including this former ballroom turned basketball court.
With garaging for 4 cars also, the property is located in a city that is 15 miles west of the Illinois-Indiana state line and that has a population of around 5,255 according to the 2010 census. “Notable people” from there, according to Wikipedia, number the Beauty and The Beast voice actor Rex Everheart (1920 – 2000) and John Allhands, the current mayor and a man credited with “pushing out drug activities and adding a marijuana dispenser and factory.”
The Numbers – 514 South 5th Street, Watseka, Illinois, IL 60970, United States of America
July 2020 – Price reduced to £141,000 ($175,000, €156,000 or درهم643,000) through agents Berkshire Hathaway, a 49.8% reduction on the sum in March 2016.
April 2020 – Relisted for £161,000 ($200,000, €178,000 or درهم735,000) through agents Coldwell Banker Residential.
December 2018 – Relisted for £213,000 ($265,000, €236,000 or درهم973,000) through agents McColly Rosenboom.
March 2016 – Listed for sale for £281,100 ($349,900, €312,000 or درهم1.3 million) through agents Rosenboom Realty.
An aerial image showing the house on its 1.38-acre plot and its proximity to neighbours. It is described by agents Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Chicago as “feeling like a country estate, but right in town.” Notably, they point out, it is not on a flood plain.The entrance hall is described as “impressive” whilst in addition there is a second service staircase elsewhere in the building.This reception room is currently used as an office. Plainly, the owner is not exactly inspired when it comes to furnishing choices, but the built-in bookcases are original.The drawing room is currently dominated by a rather unappealing leather ‘couch’ and a coffee table featuring two rather strange images.The room also includes an original fireplace.The large dining room is paneled and has a beamed ceiling.The kitchen is lauded as “enormous” and has new fittings. It is adjoined by a butler’s pantry.There are five bedrooms in total. The agent remarks that they are “nice” and points out that the master suite includes a private bathroom and a dressing room that could be used as a “lounge.”Another bedroom, this time currently dominated by a rather large bed.A space described as a “bonus room.”There are various cellar rooms beneath the house.The front elevation of 514 South 5th Street, Watseka, Illinois, IL 60970, United States of America gives indication of the Edwardian “grandeur” of the building. The agents suggest the house offers: “Tonnes of opportunities.”An aerial shot of the rear showing the large garage and the in-and-out driveway.The half price mansion is located in Watseka, Illinois. The small ‘city’ is situated south of Chicago and north of Indianapolis.
‘I Never Picked Cotton’ singer Roy Clark’s Rolls-Royce heads to auction complete with suicide doors and emblazoned with his initials in gold leaf
American Hee Haw host and country singer Roy Clark (1933 – 2018) was best known for songs such as Yesterday, When I Was Young and Thank God and Greyhound. Now, enthusiasts of this tobacco farmer’s son have the opportunity to buy a piece of his memorabilia in the form of a Rolls-Royce that he owned for some forty years.
Last offered without reserve at the Leake Auction Company sale in Tulsa in June 2019, the dark red 1964 Phantom V touring limousine by James Young was owned by the star from 1977 until his death. Clark paid $19,500 (the equivalent of £70,000, $86,000, €79,000 or درهم316,000 today) when he purchased it and after it was subsequently sold to a “noted private collection in Texas,” they lavished £24,000 ($30,000, €27,000 or درهم110,000) on servicing it in 2019 and 2020.
This month, RM Sotheby’s will sell the Rolls-Royce – which is currently located in Austin, Texas – as part of their 21st to 29th May ‘Driving Into Summer’ online sale. They have set an estimate of £49,000 to £57,000 ($60,000 to $70,000, €55,000 to €64,000 or درهم220,000 to درهم257,000). Of the car, they remark:
“The limousine is finished in a lovely shade of dark red and accented by a gold pinstripe running the length of the car. The initials “RC” are prominently featured on the driver’s side passenger door. The interior is trimmed in tan leather and is accented by beautiful woodwork throughout. The driver compartment features Smiths instrumentation, an AM/FM radio, and an altimeter in the passenger glove box door. Furthermore, the car is equipped with electric windows and air conditioning which is vented into both the driver and passenger compartments. A division window separates the driver from the passengers. The rear compartment is the epitome of 1960s luxury and features dual footrests, fold-out jump seats, pillar-mounted flower vases, reading lights, and a Smiths clock while fold-out picnic tables flank a small cocktail bar with crystal decanters and glassware.”
Little is known about what drove Evelyn McHale to jump from the Empire State Building and be captured in the “most beautiful suicide [photograph] ever” on 1st May 1947.
Berkeley, California born bookkeeper McHale was one of nine children of a divorced bank examiner. The 23-year-old worked at the Kitab Engraving Company in Pearl Street, Manhattan and was engaged to a college student discharged from the United States Army Air Force named Barry Rhodes. She seemed to have had it all, but chose to end her life from atop one of the most famous buildings in the world.
“Elegantly attired and wearing a silk scarf, white gloves and a pearl necklace… [she is said to have] carefully removed her coat and neatly folded it, next she placed her black pocketbook on top of her coat [along with her makeup compact filled with family pictures and a handbag]. At 10:40am: Patrolman John Morrisey of Traffic C, directing traffic at 34th and 35th Avenue, reported seeing a white scarf floating lazily down from the heavens. Moments later this peaceful, dreamy scene was brutally interrupted by a heart rendering boom” as McHale had jumped 1,050-feet to her death and a crowd had converged.
Photography student Robert Wiles is said to have run over and captured a “poignant and surreal photo.” It was the only image of his ever published and Life Magazine captioned it: “At the bottom of the Empire State Building the body of Evelyn McHale reposes in grotesque bier, her falling body punched into the top of a [United Nations Assembly Cadillac limousine].” The driver was “in a nearby drug store, thereby escaping death or serious injury” other reports added.
A note found in her pocketbook announced: “I don’t want anyone in or out of my family to see any part of me. Could you destroy my body by cremation? I beg of you and my family – don’t have any service for me or remembrance for me.” She had crossed out the following: “My fiancé asked me to marry him in June. I don’t think I would make a good wife for anybody. He is much better off without me” and then ended: “Tell my father, I have too many of my mother’s tendencies.”
Of the image, one commentator later remarked: “Evelyn’s gloved hand appears to be serenely touching her pearl necklace, and her legs crossed as if taking a nap,” whilst another added: “Evelyn McHale will go down in history as something akin to a fallen angel, as poignant and iconic as Marilyn Monroe.”
She was cremated with no service, grave or memorial and her fiancé reportedly said of her: “When I kissed her goodbye, she was happy and as normal as any girl about to be married.” He remained single for the rest of his life and died in Melbourne, Florida in 2007.
Many ‘sightings’ of Evelyn McHale wearing bright red lipstick and “looking distressed” on the 86th floor observation deck have been reported and in the years since her death, she has been recalled in the works of Andy Warhol, David Bowie, Pearl Jam and Taylor Swift amongst others.
The United Nations Assembly Cadillac limousine that the body of Evelyn McHale landed upon after falling 86 floors from the observatory deck of the Empire State Building in New York City and the original image (unedited) taken by Robert Wiles. It has been has been compared to the photograph by Malcolm Wilde Browne of the self-immolation of Vietnamese Buddhist monk Thích Quảng Đức who burned himself alive at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11th June 1963.An image clearly showing the damage to the car from above.Joséphine Wister Faure created a ‘mixed media sculpture’ of the car that the body of Evelyn McHale hit on 1st May 1947. Her sculpture is described as: “An interpretation of the photo, revisiting the impact of the image and the trace this woman left, both literally and physically. Also being true to her last wishes in which she specifically asked not to be seen. Inside the car the radio is playing 1947 NYC broadcast.” It was exhibited at the Boite Noire Gallery in the Pacific Design Center in Los Angeles in 2015.
Bath pensioner gets very, very, very worked up about the quality of stamps available in a Post Office in a WHSmith store
Right now, whilst most people are either worrying about the health of their friends and relatives or their next pay cheque during the coronavirus lockdown, a man named Dave French from Bath, Somerset has other priorities.
Last month, Mr French contacted SomersetLive to moan about the quality of service and stamps in his local WHSmith. Speaking to the local newspaper’s senior reporter Richard Mills, the 68-year-old remarked:
“I buy hundreds of pounds of postage stamps for correspondence and parcels. I prefer to buy sheets of commemorative stamps the first day they are issued. When legibly franked and postmarked they take on a second life… So, I was disappointed soon after the new Post Office in WHSmiths opened to be told that they had not received the new stamp issue.”
After returning on another occasion, after getting what he ‘thought’ he wanted, this moaning Minnie added:
“I returned a few days later to the Smiths Post Office and bought what was left of the newly issued stamps. Very attractive but when I got home I found they had been ripped across and parts of them missing. Somebody hadn’t noticed you are meant to use the perforations. What kind of staff were they employing?”
Mr French supposedly then visited again. This time, he found: “On my third and final attempt to get decent service in Smiths, there was the usual long queue, nowhere to sit and the priority was the staff fixing the self-service stamp machines.”
Summing up, the pensioner concluded by sharing his fury: “Speechless, I left and will not be returning… Ralph Allen [an 18th century British postal service reformer] will be turning in his mausoleum in Claverton churchyard… I won’t go back there.”
One thing is for sure about customer from hell Dave French’s decision: The workers of WHSmith and the Post Office of Bath will be eternally grateful.
For those looking to self-isolate in luxury in London, taking a ‘residence’ at The Milestone Hotel in Kensington could be the perfect option (if you’ve got £7,700 per week to spare)
If you’re rich, want to self-isolate during the coronavirus outbreak in London and don’t even want to go out to do shopping, you could do worse than move into a ‘residence’ within The Milestone Hotel overlooking Kensington Gardens and Kensington Palace in W8.
Though the Red Carnation Collection hotel, on its own website, is described as “temporarily closed due to current travel restrictions,” serviced apartments within the property are still being advertised online as available.
Listed on OnTheMarket.com for £7,700 per week ($9,600, €8,600 or درهم35,200 per week) or the equivalent of £550 per room per night ($685, €615 or درهم2,515 per room per night), a 743 square foot single-level, third floor apartment includes a reception room, two bedroom suites and a kitchen.
It is described by Harrods Estates as “beautiful” and “sumptuous” and having the “warm sense of being in your own private home.” Featuring a “vibrant and sophisticated” decoration scheme designed by Bea Tollman, the hotel’s founder, the agents laud the “contemporary polish that so cleverly blends with balancing the traditional features.”
‘Characteristics’ available to those taking the space include full 24-hour hotel service, access to the hotel’s health club, daily housekeeping services, 24-hour butler and room service and a full grocery shopping service.
The neo-Gothic former private home in which this ‘residence’ is situated became a hotel in 1922 and has been known as The Milestone since 1986. It has 43 guest bedrooms, 13 suites and 6 long-stay apartments and in 2019 unveiled a leopard print carpeted suite in honour of the Duchess of Sussex named the ‘Meghan Suite.’ A blessing or a bonus, depending on your view of the wayward on-off royal, is that the likelihood of the former Miss Markle popping in for tea at this time of lockdown is as likely as the Queen riding by on Shergar the racehorse.
The exterior of The Milestone Hotel, 1 Kensington Court, Kensington, London, W8 5DL, United Kingdom.The main bedroom.The second of the bedrooms.The kitchen of the apartment has a look of something from the 1990s, but is perfectly functional.A floor plan of Apartment 6, the ‘residence’ offered.
Vile paedophile and rapist Adam Marchment is a scumbag with no remorse for the crimes he committed but one also of the belief that he is “getting ripped off” over the food he has to buy in jail. Sentenced to ten years in 2016 for attacks on a 14 and a 15 year old, this extra virgin olive loving jailbird wrote in prisoners’ magazine Inside Time in November 2017: “I’m really starting to get frustrated by Her Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service… Prisoners have access to the outside world and will question the utter rubbish they try to feed us.” Let this tattooed monster – who named himself ‘Man on the Run’ whilst breaching his license conditions for over 37 days in October 2014 – eat porridge!
Matthew Steeples reviews Chelsea townhouse hotel San Domenico House
San Domenico House is a hidden secret; a small hotel that’s physically minutes from the bustle of Sloane Square yet literally a world away from it. (more…)
Estate agents often use clever photography to promote properties and urge sellers to tidy up and brew hot coffee before viewings. The brochure for a one bedroom flat in Stanhope Gardens in London’s South Kensington, however, is an example where an agent has done anything but. (more…)
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