Re: Good bye to Salisbury

No, I am not leaving Salisbury, far from it. I am staying here until my body fails me or some unfortunate accident occurs.

I have become the latest person in my family to sign up to Amazon Prime (the reason for which is towards the bottom of this letter) after several years of resisting the urge of easy convenience, pretty much everything you can or want to buy, and having it delivered directly to your own front door. Yes, one click of the mouse on the "Buy with 1 Click" button, and hey presto - 24 hours later it is on my doorstep! Not once did I have to run the gauntlet and have the cost of parking in Salisbury.

Over the past six years of living just outside Salisbury, I have become accustomed to finding a parking space (pretty easy), paying for the parking space (easy with MiPermit) and spending some hours in the city with the family shopping and most of the time eating at one of the many good restaurants and pubs. I have been caught out before and received a fine for £50 (£25 if paid within a certain period) when I lost track of time and went over my paid for time by about 45 mins. I accept the fine - no problem. My bad, I should have sent another intimate text message to the machine at MiPermit and I would have been covered for another hour - oh the convenience! Amazing.

I was five minutes over my time last Saturday when out getting new glasses for my children. I noticed I was over and sent a text to MiPermit to extend which worked, however upon returning, in that five minutes I received another parking fine.

You can have your £25 Wiltshire council. Add that to my £95.88 per year for Amazon Prime Subscription, and for £120 thereabouts I can shop to my heart's content and not have to worry about your parking attendants jumping on my car and leaving me a weekend gift. The Prime membership will pay for itself as I worked out that in the last year I have spent over £224 in parking charges (plus the £25 fine) so I am quids in. Yes, I will miss our family meals at The Cloisters and the Cosy Club, also the many coffees and soft drinks at Boston Tea Party, and most of all browsing the market on weekends and getting mine and my kids haircuts at Jeff Js. But enough is enough. Amazon Prime and a new found zest to explore the country gastro-pubs and it's money in my pocket.

I hope it was worth it. It was for me.

Simon Zielonka

Idmiston